Welcome, friends, to my first attempt at a blog! My name is Brad Friedman, and throughout much of my life I have developed a set of interests and passions which, if you know me, you know that I love to talk about. This blog is my chance to praise, pan, extol, criticize, and expound (hopefully in an interesting way) on these interests, which will include the following:

•  MYSTERIES: I have been a fan of mysteries since my early days with Encyclopedia Brown and The Hardy Boys, but it all crystalized at age 11 with my first Agatha Christie novel, And Then There Were None. Now I am lucky enough to have met a wonderful group of fellow Golden Age mystery lovers, many of whom are experts and practitioners in the field, and some of whom have marvelous blogs of their own. I look forward to adding my take to the mysteries I have read and the new/old ones I am discovering through this wonderful group.
• FILMS: The first movie I ever saw was Gigi. I was around four. Since then, my relationship with films has been warm and friendly. My favorite director is Alfred Hitchcock, which ties in nicely with the love of mysteries. I hope to spend some time talking about films, old and new.
• THEATRE: By profession, I am a theatre arts teacher and director. Occasionally, I act as well. I have very strong opinions about the plays and musicals that I see, and like all critics, I love to share my thoughts. Every year or so, I head to New York and watch and review as many shows as I can afford.

For example, this past summer, I got to see FUN HOME! What a brilliant show, a musical that says something of great consequence about the human experience, about family, sexuality, love. Juxtapose that with SOMETHING ROTTEN, which takes the history of Shakespeare and of musical theatre and mashes them together into something hysterically funny, and you get a taste of the wonderful theatre experience I had!

If any of these topics interest you, I hope you will visit me often and reply when something strikes your fancy. If we disagree, I promise to always be respectful of your differing opinion, and I hope you will show me the same courtesy. Please have patience with a first time blogger who will try and make things interesting (and add pictures!!)

I have joyfully accepted the challenge by my friend Curtis Evans (check out his blog here – Curt has done so much, in books and blog, to elucidate the public on the depth of artistry among the Golden Age mystery writers, and his work is helping to bring about a publishing renaissance in old-time mysteries.) to take part in a “Tuesday Night Club Bloggers” group about Agatha Christie, my favorite mystery author, who recently celebrated her 125th anniversary. Look for that first post next Tuesday!