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 literary laureates list their picks for great American novels, rarely are crime novels brought up in the same breath. Sure, there were plenty of bestsellers in the genre that led to more acclaimed film adaptations (Mario Puzo’s The Godfather being perhaps the most obvious), and certain authors like Jim Thompson were even lauded for…
Sometimes people are just assholes. Here was this incredible rock formation, formed over the course of hundreds of years of erosion, minding its own business—when a group of people decided to take revenge on a blameless artifact of nature by destroying it. It seems a friend of the “duckbill” assassins had broken his leg climbing…
Lily Gardner, author of Betting Blind—the 2nd Lennox Cooper Mystery—was kind enough to answer some of Criminal Element's questions about her beginnings as a writer, her inspirations, and living in Portland, OR.
Betting Blind by Lily Gardner follows former P.I. Lennox Cooper as she attempts to help a friend avoid a scandal involving blackmail and eventually murder, while uncovering secrets that link to her past and deadly threats (Available March 29, 2016). In the rainy city of Portland, Matilda Bauer has been blackmailing her parole officer, Fulin…
On Thin Icing by Ellie Alexander is the 3rd in the A Bakeshop Mystery series where Jules Capshaw finds a dead body in the freezer of her bakery as her ex-husband just happens to show up and become the lead suspect (Available December 29, 2015). It's the dead of winter in the sleepy town of…
While you sit at the dinner table this Thanksgiving trying to solve the mystery of what exactly the canned cranberry sauce is made out of, take time to remember the greatest, unsolved Thanksgiving mystery of all—D.B. Cooper (actually Dan Cooper, if not for a media miscommunication) and the hijacking of Flight 305. On November 24,…
A Batter of Life and Death by Ellie Alexander is the second book in the Bakeshop Mystery series featuring baker Jules Capshaw in her hometown of Ashland, Oregon (available June 30, 2015). Reality TV meets cozy mystery, with a little bit of murder thrown in. The town of Ashland is known for its Oregon Shakespeare…
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the annual Left Coast Crime mystery writers’ convention took place in Portland, Oregon, returning to the Rose City for the first time since 2002. The four-day conference, which drew roughly 650 people with an additional 30 day passes sold, was held March 12th through March 15th at the Doubletree Hotel, and…
Meet Your Baker by Ellie Alexander is the debut in the new cozy Bakeshop Mystery series where a recent culinary school grad returns home to help her mother run a bakery (available December 30, 2014). Welcome to Torte—a friendly, small-town family bake shop where the treats are so good that, sometimes, it’s criminal… After graduating…
