Articles
Travels In No-Man’s-Land
Travels In No-Man’s-Land A year ago, in January, while taking a break from writing my new novel, The Carrion Birds, I stood on a dune in White Sands National Monument and watched a couple fighter planes […]
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Jodi Arias and the Dilemma of Beautiful Killers
Jodi Arias and the Dilemma of Beautiful Killers One of the more interesting visuals in any criminal trial is how the defendant presents himself. As a prosecutor, I saw countless defense makeovers: brutish thugs who […]
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The Writer, the Burglar, and the Detective
The Writer, the Burglar, and the Detective In the first decade of the twentieth century, the French writer Maurice Leblanc published The Blonde Lady, a mystery novel that featured his popular gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin. In […]
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Witches, Burning, Butties, and Beer
Witches, Burning, Butties, and Beer Normally, I have no idea where that first elusive spark for a novel comes from. Sometimes a scene just pops into my head, sometimes it’s a title, but for Close To […]
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On meeting the creator of The Exorcist
On meeting the creator of The Exorcist Years ago when I was squeaking through high school, I went with friends to see the movie the whole world was talking about: The Exorcist. As a former altar […]
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Catchin’ A Firefly In A Mason Jar
Catchin’ A Firefly In A Mason Jar My brother and I did everything we could to keep our grandmother from laughing on Thursdays. At least in the wintertime.That was no easy task given there was […]
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The Path to Montparnasse
The Path to Montparnasse The inspiration for Murder Below Montparnasse came from several story-nuggets that fell my way, plus some digging on my part. Montparnasse, the epicenter of the 1910s late Belle Époque cultural scene, was the […]
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Film Review: Doors Open
Film Review: Doors Open Adapted from Ian Rankin’s 2008 stand-alone novel of the same name, this made-for-television movie remains faithful to the original darkly humorous caper. The title relates to a day-long festival in which […]
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Notes from Abroad by Peter James
Notes from Abroad by Peter James This has been somewhat of a week of contrasts.I delivered the manuscript for my ninth Roy Grace novel, Dead Man’s Time, to my UK and US publishers—only a little […]
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May the Earth Not Receive Him
May the Earth Not Receive Him One of the beauties of writing my kind of mysteries is that not all that happens between the book covers need be explained. I’m drawn to the paranormal, and […]