If you want to be a successful author today, you had better be ready to devote some time to self-promotion. This may be especially true for self-published and mid-tier writers, but everyone who wants to be read needs to get on the publicity circuit. Publishers have reduced the effort they will expend to promote books, … Continue reading SINCEREST FORM OF FLATTERY: Ellery Queen’s There Was an Old Woman
Author: Brad
APOLOGIA: In Which One Modern Mystery Causes Me to Reflect on Too Many Issues for One Post . . . and Asks You to Come Along for the Ride!
A few months ago, I told you I would never buy a Louise Penny mystery again, for a host of reasons you can feel free to check out here. But Penny is fun to listen to in the car, so last week I went to the library and checked out Glass Houses, the thirteenth in … Continue reading APOLOGIA: In Which One Modern Mystery Causes Me to Reflect on Too Many Issues for One Post . . . and Asks You to Come Along for the Ride!
THE EVIDENCE OF THE TATTERED PAPERBACK: Fifty Years of MotOE and Me
Two hundred posts are something to celebrate. It’s time to talk about the book that changed my life. The fact that Agatha Christie is my favorite author has as much to do with her place in my own history as her position as one of the greatest mystery writers of all time. She did not … Continue reading THE EVIDENCE OF THE TATTERED PAPERBACK: Fifty Years of MotOE and Me
BRING IT ON, CHINA: Death in the House of Rain
One of the surer signs that GAD crime fiction is coming back in a big way is the rising availability of detective novels from other lands. And I couldn’t be happier about it! From the British Library’s recent collection Foreign Bodies to the explosion of Scandanavian crime fiction (some of it legit!), we’re starting to … Continue reading BRING IT ON, CHINA: Death in the House of Rain
OF SLEUTHING AND SNOBBERY: The Return of Roger Scarlett
“It’s time I got to work. I have an idea I’d like to gumshoe a bit around the room in which Sutton departed this life. We may not find footprints in the snow, but there are always the forgotten calling card and the initialed handkerchief to be hoped for. Secondly, I have a growing curiosity … Continue reading OF SLEUTHING AND SNOBBERY: The Return of Roger Scarlett
A CANADIAN, AN ENGLISHMAN, AND AN AMERICAN WALK INTO A BAR . . .
I’ve spoken before about how much I love the sense of community within this GAD blogosphere! We all work with due deliberation on our posts because a. we’ve got something to say, and b. we want to hear what others think about what we think! (Did you get that?) Recently, my pals JJ and Noah … Continue reading A CANADIAN, AN ENGLISHMAN, AND AN AMERICAN WALK INTO A BAR . . .
YOUR FAVORITE WHODUNIT FILM: A Teacher’s Plea for Assistance!
People of the blogosphere, I need your help. For the latter third of each fall semester, I discuss film genres with my “Cinema and Society” class. Their final project is to create a 5 – 10 minute film in which they choose a fairy tale and give it the genre treatment. Some great examples from … Continue reading YOUR FAVORITE WHODUNIT FILM: A Teacher’s Plea for Assistance!
(MIS)DIRECTED BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
I want to apologize for having been scant in my posting recently. When you’re a high school drama teacher, things get pretty intense around showtime, and the title I selected for our fall musical, Disaster, was so chock full of special effects that putting it together took more of my energy than I thought it … Continue reading (MIS)DIRECTED BY AGATHA CHRISTIE
POINT ME IN THE RIGHT MISDIRECTION (Part Two: The Magician and the Empress)
You’re looking up at the slide and thinking: Wow! Brad’s top two mystery authors are . . . Franklin W. Dixon and Carolyn Keene! (Whom I think are the same person . . . or syndicate . . . or something.) Did you ever imagine a blogger would finally give these authors their due? Actually, … Continue reading POINT ME IN THE RIGHT MISDIRECTION (Part Two: The Magician and the Empress)
THE SEVEN BLUNDERS OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF CRIME
I want to make it clear right from the start. I have nothing against ambition. They called the Wright Brothers foolhardy for imagining they could fly. Yet this real-life Daedalus and Icarus gave vent to their ambition, and because of them I can now relax in my cramped seat on Jet Blue, hoping against hope … Continue reading THE SEVEN BLUNDERS OF THE SEVEN WONDERS OF CRIME
