No, I’m afraid this is not a piece of meta-fiction. This is a problem, a burning question from one fan to many others. See, I don’t see why all our posts have to be reviews. I got into this racket to initiate conversation with others, and there is this question that has been burning a … Continue reading ELLERY QUEEN AND THE BRIDAL DISASTER
Ellery Queen
THE SQUARE PEG/ROUND HOLE CONUNDRUM, or Putting Poirot in His Place
The other day, my buddy Kate at Cross Examining Crime tried to get my goat! This is rich, coming from the woman who raises goats herself! But Kate is also a writer, writers get metaphorical, and knowing what a champion of Agatha Christie I am, Kate saw fit to warn me that not all folks … Continue reading THE SQUARE PEG/ROUND HOLE CONUNDRUM, or Putting Poirot in His Place
THE IRONIC FRAGILITY OF THE JAW-DROPPER ENDING
They are the solutions that you can’t forget, no matter how much you try. You desperately want to re-read and experience that delicious jolt you got the first time, but you can’t. There’s something so original or special or boundary-breaking about these books that often they end up at the top of many “best of” … Continue reading THE IRONIC FRAGILITY OF THE JAW-DROPPER ENDING
“THESE PRECIOUS ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD DID NOT LET ME DOWN . . . “
Author and blogger Margot Kinberg, who comes up with something thought-provoking every . . . single . . . day . . . recently offered up a tantalizing article about illusion. Her focus was on characters in mysteries whose lives, built to varying degrees around an illusory view of the world around them, form the … Continue reading “THESE PRECIOUS ILLUSIONS IN MY HEAD DID NOT LET ME DOWN . . . “
THE TRAGEDY OF Zzzzzzzzzz
One could write an amusing post about authorial pseudonyms and the reasons for them. How many writers donned a literary disguise out of a sense of shame that they were dabbling in an “inferior” genre? Surely a poet of great stature in the United Kingdom like Cecil Day-Lewis could not write thrillers under his own … Continue reading THE TRAGEDY OF Zzzzzzzzzz
SCRATCHING A NICHE: On Whodunits and Hitchcockian Hooey
Considering Sunday is a day of rest, this lazy cuss managed to get a lot done! I had a nice walk along the shore under a bright Indian Summer sky. I replaced all my decrepit plastic storage containers with spiffy new Pyrex bowls. I met the new lady Doctor. I like her, but her debut … Continue reading SCRATCHING A NICHE: On Whodunits and Hitchcockian Hooey
INSIDER, OUTSIDER, ALL AROUND THE TOWN: A Return to Wrightsville
I admire my fellow bloggers who are able to read and post reviews for one, two, even three books a week (how do you do it, PD and Kate?!?) I’m too slow a reader to get that job done. I’ll also admit that reviewing books, most of which others have been far more insightful about, … Continue reading INSIDER, OUTSIDER, ALL AROUND THE TOWN: A Return to Wrightsville
“HOT TOWN, SUMMER IN THE CITY . . .”: Ellery Queen’s Cat of Many Tails
As I write this, it’s the beginning of my second week of summer vacation. For laymen, (read: non-educators) it’s the gravy in the crazy tureen of my professional life. Residing as I do in the middle of Silicon Valley, it’s not unusual when I meet a person and they ask me what I do for … Continue reading “HOT TOWN, SUMMER IN THE CITY . . .”: Ellery Queen’s Cat of Many Tails
I SECOND THAT EMOTION: Mysteries That Make You Feel
Dale Carnegie said: “When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion.” Try applying this truism to the classic mystery, and you can perhaps see why some people turn away from the tendency of these stories to shortchange the emotional aspects of murder, while others are … Continue reading I SECOND THAT EMOTION: Mysteries That Make You Feel
ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES OF THE AIRWAVES
There are many ways to get your GAD on! Sure, the purest the literary route, whereby you assemble your own TBR pile (that’s “To Be Read” for those of you who . . . well, I have no idea why anyone who doesn’t have a TBR pile would come visit me!) and whittle it down … Continue reading ARMCHAIR DETECTIVES OF THE AIRWAVES
Ah Sweet Mystery! 