Everyone who’s old enough remembers where they were when Kennedy was killed. The mention of Elvis and Lady Diana Spencer provoke similar recollection. Why is that? Simply because they were famous? Or because they touched the lives of so many? Maybe your favorite Elvis song, played continuously on a loop, woke you from a ten-year…
Donut Disturb by Ellie Alexander Baked goods, a wedding, and a murder mystery—what more could you want for a cozy fall read? In the 15th installment of Ellie Alexander’s A Bakeshop Mystery series, the filling is looking grim for pastry chef and amateur sleuth Juliet Capshaw as everyone in town gathers to celebrate Thomas and Kerry’s…
These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant In Kimi Cunningham Grant’s These Silent Woods, a father and daughter live in isolation in a truly remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. They have no electricity and no connection to the outside world. Only two others know about their hidden residence, including their friend Jake who visits…
Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist Nothing quite puts us in the mood for spooky season like this vampire story which has become a modern classic. Set in Sweden, 12-year-old Oskar is intrigued by the murder of a teenager. The crime seems to have been part of a ritualistic killing and the…
Introduction by Sarah Stewart Taylor, author of The Drowning Sea, part of the Maggie D’Arcy Mystery Series set in Ireland When I’m traveling, my favorite moments—and memories—are those when I suddenly see a place in a way I couldn’t have if I’d stuck to the tourist quarter or only visited the highlights in the guidebook.…
Alger Hiss, the Soviet spy at the center of my novel, Gods of Deception, hardly fits the mold of his contemporaries, such infamous Cold War agents as Kim Philby, Guy Burgess, Anthony Blunt, Donald Maclean, and John Cairncross (the Cambridge Five), who were all plagued by fears of exposure, alcoholism, and some would say self-hate…
My novel Darling Girl used the bones of the original Peter Pan story to ask, “What would Peter and the Darling family be like today if the boy who couldn’t grow up, got older? And what would Neverland magic look like in our world?” I’ve always loved fairytales, and as an adult, I’ve been intrigued…
Ever since Margaret Truman conceived the brilliant Capital Crimes series in 1980. Washington, DC has been the dominant, if not exclusive, setting. And the latest entry, number thirty-two overall and my second since taking the reins, Murder at the CDC, is no exception. With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to list…
When I first started reading, I thought of fiction and non-fiction as two sides of the same coin, one nation perhaps, but cut in half. They were East and West Berlin, always divided, and with a heavily guarded border running down the middle, an impenetrable wall that could never come down. Then I read James…
Two billion books and counting. Agatha Christie is not only the best-selling fiction author of all time, she’s a cultural icon, almost synonymous with mystery itself. Whether you’re a seasoned Christie fan who’s read every single one of her sixty-six detective novels, or just setting out on the great treat of discovering her work, these…
