crime

PRIMED IS OUT TODAY! Gary Lawlor broke the day his sons were murdered in a car bomb meant for him. He failed to find the killer, and drank himself into a hole of self-recrimination and shame. [...]

I love research. Most writers do. We love finding out how our characters can do stuff that we don’t know how to do, like throw pots, or field-dress deer, or cut throats without getting any [...]

…for a while there, at least. From the Wall Street Journal (paywall): Mick Herron was dumped by his publisher. Then he became the world’s best spy novelist—slowly. I have been a fan [...]

So many amazing nuggets for creatives in Episode 99 of the Scriptnotes podcast, in which Craig Mazin and John August have a conversation with screenwriter-turned-psychotherapist and best-selling [...]

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 [...]

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, [...]

“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 [...]

One of the most absorbing parts of writing historical fiction is the deep dive you make into the small stuff. What did people eat? What kinds of houses did they live in? What did they wear? The [...]

I’m writing historical novels, so I use old maps a lot in my research. Over the last few years, more and more map owners have put their maps on the web, so it’s become increasingly [...]

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen, the official hardback cover of The Devil’s Half Mile. It arrived the mail the other day – or at last a half dozen covers arrived, in a long flat [...]