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John D. MacDonald

Q&A with Bobby Matthews, author of Living the Gimmick

By J.B. Stevens

August 5, 2022

Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Bobby Mathews, an exciting up-and-coming author. His new novel Living the Gimmick ($14.95 paperback and $4.99 eBook) was released last spring and is getting rave reviews. His follow-up, Magic City Blues, is due later in the year—both from Shotgun Honey. J.B.: Bobby, thanks for speaking with me, it’s…

Four Books That Led Me to Jake Lassiter

By Paul Levine

April 20, 2020

More than 30 years ago, unhappy with my job as a lawyer, I read four books that changed my life. No, they weren’t self-help books. They didn’t advise me to take up meditation or yoga or psychedelic drugs. They were novels with flawed protagonists. I’ll tell you about them in a moment, but first, let…

5 Tough Guys & Gals to Love

By Stephanie Broadribb

October 5, 2017

Read Steph Broadribb's exclusive guest blog about her favorite action heroes and follow the link at the bottom to claim several free stories from internationally bestselling authors! I’ve always loved Westerns. You know, the lone cowboy rides into town, sorts out the bad guys, and moves on. I guess that’s partly what inspired my short…

Second Acts: The Second Novels of Six Great Crime Writers

By John Keyse-Walker

September 12, 2017

Read this exclusive guest post from John Keyse-Walker about the second novels of six of the greatest crime writers ever, then make sure to sign in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of Keyse-Walker's second novel, Beach, Breeze, Bloodshed!   I am in the happy position of having my second novel,…

Backgammon: “The Cruelest Game” in Film and Literature

By David Cranmer

April 26, 2017

Renowned gamesman Barclay Cooke (1912-1981) called backgammon “the cruelest game.” Memorable hyperbole? Perhaps. But vital skills are needed to play: intense concentration, clever strategy, and an ability to see ahead to possible traps—and still the probability of the roll can level the steel nerves of even the finest. That brutal unpredictability translates well to the…

Setting is Everything

By Gordon Chaplin

July 5, 2016

I can’t read a book of any kind—thriller, literary fiction, memoir, biography, even history—unless the setting speaks to me. I need to feel, with all my senses, the physical world in which the writer is trying to involve me. Often, that’s what I’m left with years later when I think of the work: not the…

5 Great Crime Novels Meet 5 Great Jazz Tracks

By Andrew Cartmel

May 11, 2016

Although reading is a largely visual task (albeit in practice and not in the sense of a picture), what makes it so enjoyable is the imaginative task of creating a world with all of your senses from what is being described through words. And, as often is the case, music is the perfect accompaniment to reading—the…

Tropical Summer Reads

By Kristin Centorcelli

May 25, 2013

Summer is right around the corner, and how better to pass the time than with some reads set in exotic locales or, just as fun, on the beach? Whether you’re looking for something light and breezy or a walk on the darker side of summer, no worries, we’ve got you covered! If it’s a light,…

John D. MacDonald

John D. MacDonald: Full-Color Noir

By John Geraci

November 6, 2012

Wikipedia lists John D. MacDonald as a prolific writer. Ya think? Seventy-eight books with more than 75 million copies in print, plus nearly 500 short stories? That’s not prolific, that’s Brobdingnagian. Compare that to Raymond Chandler, whose career output was six novels and about two dozen stories. But there is more than just tonnage to…

The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper by John D. MacDonald

Florida, It’s A Mystery!

By Terrie Farley Moran

August 17, 2012

First, I need to tell you that John D. MacDonald has left us a huge legacy of pulp, hardboiled fiction, and thrillers written in both novel and short story form. The scope of his work is nothing short of amazing. (You did know that Cape Fear was based on his novel The Executioners, right?) But…

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