The Simple Art of Murder
Raymond Chandler’s 1944 essay in The Atlantic Magazine, The Simple Art of Murder, is a great touchstone for anyone writing genre fiction. Chandler was incredibly influential. He was one of [...]
Catullus 16. Translated by Google
I will follow you and visit you,Lascivious Aurelius and wanton dancer Furius, who, from my verses, thought me to be soft-spoken, a little modest.For the pious poet himself ought to be chaste; [...]
Keep Going
Writing’s so easy, right? There’s a quote by Hemingway: There’s nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. And who wants to go through the pain and [...]
A Map of early 19th Century New York
Jeremiah Meehan wrote to me from New York to say how much he enjoyed reading The Devil’s Half Mile whilst tracking the progress of Justy, Kerry, Lars et al on the map inside the cover of [...]
The Prospect of Whitby and the Hanging Judge
Yes, that is a noose, and that is the River Thames. And yes, the gallows’ crossbeam is indeed aimed at the financial centre, Canary Wharf. The gallows is part of the Prospect of Whitby, one [...]
How New York Marshals were made
At a quarter to ten on the morning of May 19, 1811, bells began to sound throughout the neighbourhood of New York around Chatham Street and the City Hall. It being a Sunday, not many people paid [...]
The murders that made the NYPD
When the Revolutionary War ended in 1783 and the King’s soldiers departed for England, the King’s laws went with them. Good riddance, most people said. British rule had been oppressive, [...]
Hudson’s Kill goes on the road
The team at Forge Books have kindly set me up with a modest book tour here in the US after Hudson’s Kill drops on September 17. Here’s the itinerary so far: Saturday 21 September LONG [...]
America’s First Murderer
“As far as I can tell, the first murder in New England was committed in 1630 with a gun.” Thomas McDade, The Annals of Murder. John Billington was probably not the first man to commit [...]
