Life Is Short and Then You Die is the Mystery Writers of America’s first teen anthology, edited by #1 New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong. Short stories aren’t easy to write. I wrote my first short story in Killer Year, an anthology edited by Lee Child, published more than a decade ago. It was one of the…
“If I could make a living writing short stories I would” That was Jeffery Deaver earlier this week at The Mysterious Bookshop at the launch event for Invisible Blood, a brand new anthology series edited by crime fiction legend Maxim Jakubowski. Cards on the table, I hadn’t heard of Maxim until a copy of Invisible…
We like the dependable. We say we desire unpredictability and we do when it comes to how a story unfolds. However, when it comes to protagonists in a series, we generally enjoy feeling confident about how our hero, or anti-hero, will feel about a given situation. That’s usually what readers want and it sells books.…
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! This week is a monster pub week! We've got the first in a new series from Arnaldur Indridason, a new Jack Reacher…
Check out David Cranmer's review of Lee Child's 22nd Jack Reacher novel, The Midnight Line!
The Midnight Line by Lee Child is the 22nd book in the Jack Reacher series. I dip into the Jack Reacher novels every few years and have enjoyed these visits with the wandering, destructive, one-man tango. Lee Child's latest plot is a decent one. On a stop while traveling toward the Lake Superior region, Reacher…
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…
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 lost James Bond-inspired novel from Donald Westlake and a new James Bourne thriller by Eric Van Lustbader highlight a great…
To a detective character from a big city like New York or Los Angeles, the Midwest might look like one big flyover zone. But to plenty of mystery writers (myself included), the Midwest looks like home—and a good setting for a crime novel. We have plenty of cynicism to counteract that apple-cheeked, earnest idea…
