Category Archives: Mysteries & Thrillers

“Mysteries wrap things up too much,” a character states to Nick Hoffman, the professor turned detective in “Tropic of Murder,” the sixth novel in the series by Lev Raphael. Hoffman would have found that ironic, since the loose ends of … Continue reading →

Jonathan Franzen would spit on this novella. It was written on a computer, probably with Internet access, and published on the Kindle. According to the Oprah-approved author, that means it’s not literature and not meant to last. He’s right. “McGrave” … Continue reading →

So I’m writing a story about Sherlock Holmes and the wife brings home from the library “A Study in Sherlock,” and I’m looking forward to reading it. Apart from the writing bit, I’ve loved the stories since I was given … Continue reading →

Give Jonathan Maberry credit: In a thriller world where you can’t think too big, he comes up with the biggest conspiracies, the evilest villains and the hardest, pulse-pounding action readers who think they’ve seen it all. In “The King of … Continue reading →

Several years ago, The New York Times recruited several novelists to write a story to serialize in the newspaper’s Sunday magazine. As I recall, these were popular authors with several best-sellers to their credit. They wrote their stories, the Times … Continue reading →

St. Martin’s Press publishes mysteries like Harliquin produces romances. Upwards of 300 a year are produced in all varieties of genres, each one briefly given its moment on the bookstore shelf before being replaced by the next batch. With this … Continue reading →

It’s an odd feeling to open a book and read that you’ve drowned in a swimming pool. There’s been a long tradition of writers naming their characters after people they know. Sometimes, the results are benign. Patrick O’Brian named one … Continue reading →

I’m worried about Natalie. Maybe the job of taking care of Monk, the obsessive-compulsive detective, is getting to be too much for her. On call 24/7, wipes at the ready and always prepared to talk her boss down from the … Continue reading →

While I was rereading “Mr. Monk in Outer Space,” I was reviewing entries in Amazon’s novel contest, and I’m reminded once again how deceptively simple it is to tell a good story. The contest started with 5,000 entries and at … Continue reading →