When asked about my Caitlin Strong series, I always describe them as modern-day westerns. And, in fact, the thriller form itself owes a great deal of its heritage to that genre. Having grown up with the films of Audie Murphy and Roy Rogers—not to mention classics like Shane, The Magnificent Seven, and High Noon along…
The famously acerbic author, poet, and alcoholic Charles Bukowski once said, “Without literature, life is hell.” Sure, he was likely drunk and didn’t remember saying it, but that doesn’t make the quote any less profound. Great works of fiction entertain and inspire. They educate and heal. Yes, even crime fiction. In fact, especially crime fiction.…
Our book, I Got A Monster: The Rise and Fall of America’s Most Corrupt Police Squad, explores the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), a gun-seizing unit praised for getting guns off the streets and supposedly stopping crime while simultaneously creating crime and running what one cop later called a “criminal enterprise” within…
My main character Van Shaw is a Seattle guy. Like Shaw, I’ve lived away from the city’s gray embrace for many years. When we return, we see its transformations through fresh eyes. During the pandemic, Seattle is undergoing its biggest sea change since a certain e-commerce giant bought most of South Lake Union and a…
Ever since reading Nancy Drew in third grade, I’ve wanted to write about crime. Or, more specifically, the mystery that so often comes hand in hand with crime. Between third grade and the time I eventually wrote Fake Plastic Girl and Fake Plastic World, I had many years to dive deeper into the world of…
Most crime stories have a beginning and an end. They start with the crime, then the investigation by law enforcement authorities—and finally the solving of the case. But that’s not the way it works with cold cases. All we have left is unanswered questions. Which is what makes cold cases so fascinating. As a longtime…
“Find my heart, and you will spy my treasure.” —”Gentleman George’s Lost Hoard” from Sugar and Vice Lost treasure. The phrase conjures up chests of gleaming gold, crates of sparkling gemstones, and every wish granted. In Sugar and Vice, the discovery of a pirate skeleton—one who was rumored to have been buried with a…
Music means everything to me. If there were ever a day that music was to inexplicitly vanish from the planet as an art form, then I would most likely never be able to write another word. The two mediums are that intertwined with me. I’ll try to lay it out for you. I’m sure at…
Balancing the demands of law-enforcement with family isn’t always easy, especially if you’re a single parent. Fortunately, as a former detective for Santa Fe PD and now the newly elected sheriff of Del Sol, New Mexico, I can offer a few dos and don’ts—mostly don’ts—to help you harmonize the two loves of your life. My…
Despite being the subject of countless romance and literary fiction novels, the City of Light also wields the dark and disturbing ambience for thrillers. Dead end pedestrian streets, loose cobblestone, underground lairs, and mass graves stemming from epidemics offer up the perfect setting for a tense narrative. Get transported to Paris’ atmospheric arrondissements in each…
