This year's Thrillerfest was a blast! Hosted at the Grand Hyatt in New York City, it was five glorious days of meeting authors, hearing their stories, getting advice and writing tips, and schmoozing with authors, industry, and fans alike. Criminal Element was lucky enough to be there for it all, and in case you missed…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! A new Kate Burkholder novel from Linda Castillo and the latest from Daniel Silva and Kathy Reichs highlight an exciting week…
Crime and mystery fiction’s diversity attracts a broad readership. For instance, I prefer the soft stuff and am attracted to the puzzle rather than grizzly details, while many of my friends enjoy peeled skin and body parts. Knowing that, it seems immensely impertinent for me to try to compile a “best of” list on my…
The second day of CraftFest is technically CareerFest, with two tracks: one for independent (self) publishing and the other for traditional publishing. As I am yet unable to split myself in twain like a liver fluke and inhabit two spaces at once, I visited the first panel of the indie track and the second panel…
Mystery conventions are a great way to find new mystery-loving friends and hear directly from your favorite authors – and maybe even meet some of them. All of these conventions feature keynote speeches or interviews from big name guests of honor as well as author, expert and fan panels talking about all sorts of subjects.…
Crime fiction is cheerfully described as an addiction by many of its fans, including such diverse personalities as Sigmund Freud and Woodrow Wilson. Just as neurochemical addicts have an endless menu of obsessions to gorge on (alcohol, tobacco, narcotics, gambling, chocolate, sex…), crimefic addicts have an ever-growing and ever-mutating variety of subgenres to sample. But…
In the past month or so, to much local acclaim, two Australian telemovies based on mystery novels by Golden Dagger-winner Peter Temple introduced an interested populace to former criminal lawyer and current gambler/enforcer/cabinet maker/detective Jack Irish. Played on screen by Guy Pearce, Irish is a rakish, rumpled, damaged soul seeking redemption in all the wrong…
Bouchercon is a guaranteed good time. Seriously. Even if you never leave the bar and spend all your time listening to conversations, you’re bound to meet up with some great people and hear some really cool stuff. Here are some of the gems we overheard this year: “John Connolly smells am-ayyyyyy-zing.” “Lee Child smells pretty…
Bones Are Forever by Kathy Reichs is the 15th Temperance Brennan forensic thriller (available August 28, 2012). I’ll be the first to admit that I am an unabashed Kathy Reichs fangirl, but even for me, this book was not easy to read . . . not because of the writing, but because of the emotions…
Years ago, before I had children, I worked for a large bookstore chain. I read everything that looked even slightly interesting, and I developed a love for crime stories. I carried that appreciation into my movie and television viewing. Mysteries are great, right? They puzzle your brain, and if the solution can be found in…
