When I’m at work, teaching drama students and musical theatre students and film students and credit recovery students (don’t ask!) and producing two musicals and one play a year and acting as department co-chair for the Visual and Performing Arts . . . well, there doesn’t seem to be much time for Golden Age anything! … Continue reading IT DON’T MEAN A THING IF YOU SLAY WITH NO SWING: Finding Murderous Inspiration from the Great American Songbook
Author: Brad
ACDC, PART EIGHT: Waving Through the (Judas) Window
For those mystery fans who may be in the dark about the title of this post, it’s a reference to Dear Evan Hansen, the award-winning musical about a lonely boy on the spectrum who one day decides to have a drink with his prospective father-in-law over a game of bows-and-arrows behind the locked door of … Continue reading ACDC, PART EIGHT: Waving Through the (Judas) Window
THUNDERHEAD, or How YA Dystopian Fiction Helped Me Escape the GADoldrums
With Thunderhead, the second novel in his Arc of a Scythe trilogy, author Neal Shusterman continues to put a damper on the notion of immortality. C’mon, people! Did you think that if we ended war and want (and government – we don’t need that anymore!) and came up with the technology to install microscopic nanites into … Continue reading THUNDERHEAD, or How YA Dystopian Fiction Helped Me Escape the GADoldrums
THE MEN WHO TOOK A BREAK FROM EXPLAINING MIRACLES (The Second Conversation)
On the last day of June this year, I had the great good fortune to spend hours and hours in the company of two learned friends talking about Agatha Christie. If you turned into last week's episode of The Men Who Explained Miracles, JJ and Dan's blog about impossible crimes, JJ and I discussed the impossible … Continue reading THE MEN WHO TOOK A BREAK FROM EXPLAINING MIRACLES (The Second Conversation)
THE MAN WHO MET THE MEN WHO EXPLAINED MIRACLES: Part I
You all know I went to London and met a lot of people and saw a lot of presentations and had a lot of fun and bought two books that sort of stank . . . a lot. But the absolute highpoint of my trip was a Monday night at the end of June, in … Continue reading THE MAN WHO MET THE MEN WHO EXPLAINED MIRACLES: Part I
TAKE THE Q. PATRICK CHALLENGE: The Cases of Lieutenant Timothy Trant
Sometimes our good fortune is a result of mere proximity. I discovered Carr sitting on the bookstore shelves to the left of Christie, and I found Patrick Quentin to the right of Queen. Regarding the latter: at the time, all that was available were the first six Peter Duluth mysteries, published with these nifty Avon covers … Continue reading TAKE THE Q. PATRICK CHALLENGE: The Cases of Lieutenant Timothy Trant
ACDC, PART SEVEN: Smashing the Teacups
After a lifetime of denial, I finally gave Carter Dickson a try a little over two and a half years ago. My experience was so pleasant that I picked up another right away. I based my choice on the fact that a trusted friend was posting a spoiler-filled piece on this one, and I wanted … Continue reading ACDC, PART SEVEN: Smashing the Teacups
THE TROUBLE WITH GRIBBLES
“Seconds ticked by, and Slade’s glance did not leave the door. He was not thinking of the young man before him; he knew he would not tell the truth. He was wondering whether his hare-brained scheme – as it now seemed – would work, whether he would hoist the murderer with his own petard, and … Continue reading THE TROUBLE WITH GRIBBLES
THE MORLAND CONUNDRUM
A question for my fellow bloggers: do you ever start writing a book review before you finish the book? Maybe you write the introduction, giving background on the author or the history of the novel in question. Maybe you’re halfway through reading, and you’re getting a really good - or bad – feeling about how the … Continue reading THE MORLAND CONUNDRUM
KEEPING UP WITH POPULAR CULTURE
It is July 12, and my summer vacation is flying by. As I gear up for one more month of joy, freedom, relaxation, I have been reading up a storm, something that is hard to do when I’m teaching and directing. But just in case you’re imagining me to be a one-note fella, I wanted … Continue reading KEEPING UP WITH POPULAR CULTURE
