“Reading,” said the writer and aphorist Mason Cooley, “gives us someplace to go when we have to stay where we are.” The world might be starting to open up after the pandemic, but with lots of us staying home this summer what better way to get those travel vibes than a good book? Before I…
One of my favorite elements of storytelling is momentum. Reading a well-written thriller is a bit like standing in a river current—whether it’s a violent tug or a steady pull, the narrative is always moving inexorably forward and taking you along with it. With escalating stakes, white-knuckle action, or a dazzling concept explored to its…
In the old days before streaming video, the only place you could reliably see a Chinese martial arts movie was on your local TV station’s Saturday afternoon broadcast of Kung Fu Theater, or some similarly named program. Chances are it would a double feature—Shaolin Executioners followed by Dirty Ho, perhaps—featuring guys in bad wigs and…
What is noir? It’s legendarily hard to define but you know it when you see it: Dark streets slick with rain. Seedy hotel rooms lit by a reddish neon glare. A wisp of smoke curling up from a cigarette in a shadowy corner. Desperate men and women with obscure motives and shifting loyalties. In Asia,…
Portland–and Oregon in general–has had its share of crime: We’re the home of D. B. Cooper, the I-5 serial killer, Diane Downs, Tonya Harding, and Westley Allen Dodd. The Green River Killer and Ted Bundy committed some of their crimes here, and a cult in eastern Oregon once tried to poison a river that fed…
When the pandemic started, my suggested movie stream was filled with films about deadly viruses. Contagion. World War Z. Children of Men. Knowing that I enjoy thrillers, the algorithm behind my entertainment choices apparently decided to select several from the genre steeped in my current circumstances. I couldn’t watch any of them. For me, stories…
When you write mystery/thriller novels like I do, one of the questions frequently asked by editors, reviewers, and readers is: “But is this story really believable?” It’s a tough balance to maintain in a fiction book. If the story is totally “believable,” it might also be boring, But you don’t want to push the envelope…
The Riddle of the Traveling Skull (1934) is an incredible book and my sixth favorite novel of all time. At the beginning of this story, the protagonist comes upon an oddly adorned human skull in a travel bag, and what follows is the wildly twisting investigation of the aforementioned cranial artifact. After reading eighty pages…
How does one account for the sheer number of mysteries in which food, both for good and evil, features prominently? So prominently that it’s virtually a character itself—or at least a character witness. Perhaps it’s because food (the cooking of it, the eating of it, the sharing of it) offers so many lovely options for…
Looking for a fun, light read to curl up with over these cold winter months? Look no farther than a cozy. Not only do cozies have murder, mystery, and a dash of humor, they oftentimes offer recipes, craft instruction and more. But as of late, we’re getting a little bit more in our cozies—a little…
