Mardi Gras is the ultimate festival for food, fun, and mayhem, which also makes it the perfect time and place for a fictional murder or two. While Mardi Gras (also called Carnival in some countries) means “Fat Tuesday” in French, it really describes the entire season from Epiphany (January 6) to Mardi Gras day, the…
I readily admit that I am a total Grinch. There are many reasons for this, though having worked retail for half of my life is perhaps the largest one. So when my beloved October ends and November creeps in, with its now unavoidable Christmas trappings of bright lights, cliché music, and saccharine movies, I am…
A little more than a year ago, I talked about the enduring Father Brown mystery stories by G.K. Chesterton. I was delighted so many Criminal Element readers admitted that they, too, were lifelong fans. For a while now I’ve been thinking about how fictional clergy/spiritual leaders couple their ecclesiastic training with their personal curiosity to…
Throughout history, technology and social conditions have changed, but human nature usually doesn’t. So crime has always been part of our world and unless things change drastically it will continue to be part of society well into the future. The one thing that will change in the future though is how crime is committed and…
Imagine, you’re walking down the aisle at your favorite bookstore. You pick up a book and read the back cover…then you read the first few pages, but you’re still on the fence about it? What’s a self-respecting bibliophile to do? Well, you may just buy it on the hope and the prayer that the book…
The Girl is Trouble by Kathryn Miller Haines is the second book in her “The Girl Is . . .” young adult mystery series (available July 3, 2012). Iris Anderson and her father have finally come to an understanding. Iris is allowed to help out at her Pop’s detective agency as long as she follows his…
The Strange Fate of Kitty Easton is the second in the Laurence Bartram series of World War I-era mysteries by Elizabeth Speller (available June 26, 2012). When former infantry officer Laurence Bartram arrives in the village of Easton Deadall, he is struck by the beauty of the place: a crumbling stately home; a centuries-old church;…
The Return of the Swallows by Aileen Baron is a contemporary thriller featuring archaeologist Tamar Saticoy (available June 5, 2012). Tamar Saticoy, an archaeological consultant for Interpol, once again becomes mired in the devious world of the antiquities trade, this time in Thailand and California. When Tamar finds a body buried under a burned mud…
The Providence Rider by Robert McCammon is the fourth installment in his series of historical thrillers featuring Matthew Corbett (available May 31, 2012). Matthew Corbett is a problem-solver. That’s not a judgment; it’s a job title. Employed by the Herrald Agency, he’s part detective/part vigilante, and over the course of his brief yet eventful career…
Don’t Ever Get Old by Daniel Friedman is a funny thriller featuring a feisty retiree who can still kick some serious butt (available May 22, 2012). I can’t think of a more unlikely hero than Baruch “Buck” Schatz. Okay, so he spent decades in the Memphis PD and was quite the hotshot detective—that ended in…
