Crime-writing

It's never been more important to start your crime novel with high-stakes. Doesn't matter if it's life-or-death type peril, or if someone's marriage is about to go down the toilet. Maybe he's hanging from his fingernails from a cliff. Maybe she just arrived home from meeting up with her boyfriend, and hubby's sitting there in the dark kitchen waiting for her, his eyes full of dreadful knowing.  Read more

On October 4, 2022, legendary author Peter Robinson, creator of the long-running Inspector Banks series, passed away after a brief illness. Beginning with Gallows View in 1987, Robinson delivered a novel in the series, or short story collection, almost every year until his death. He also managed to find the time to write three stand-alones.  Read more

Rhys Bowen is the author of the long-running Molly Murphy series, set in turn-of-the-century New York City, as well as stand-alones and another historical series. Rhys was kind enough to answer a few questions over email about historical fiction, crafting memorable heroines, and her latest Molly Murphy story, All That Is Hidden.

Serial killing - both fictional and IRL - has long been the realm of men. Netflix has shown us the public hunger for these stories, from their movies about Ted Bundy and Jeffrey Dahmer, to documentaries like Making a Murderer.

In a sense, every detective novel is about the inside of someone's head. What immediately captures the reader at the beginning of a Sherlock Holmes story is the tick-tock of Holmes mind: what brilliance will he conjure next, what detail will he pull out of an ordinary scene, who is this guy?