News & Events
Mystery Scene • February 2012
Mystery Scene has just reprinted an older essay I did on Agatha Christie’s famed detective Hercule Poirot; the original appeared in the online journal MysteryNet.com, but I’m glad to see it get new life and a fresh audience here—and such a beautiful layout with great archival photos! (Just hoping that the essay still holds up and that I didn’t make any mistakes when I wrote it way back when!)
Washington Post • February 2012
Elizabeth Hand’s Available Dark, a follow-up to her acclaimed novel Generation Loss, takes could’ve-been-somebody photographer Cass Neary from New York City to Finland and Iceland—and takes readers into some awfully grim existential places in the process. Read my review in the Washington Post here.
American Association of University Women • February 2012
The McLean, Virginia branch of the American Association of University Women asked me to join them on Saturday, February 11, for a chat on mysteries and thrillers, book reviewing, and specifically Laura Lippman’s I'd Know You Anywhere. Thanks to D.A. Spruzen (Dorothy Hassan) for the invitation and to the entire group for such a warm welcome and interesting conversation.
North Carolina Literary Review • February 2012
The North Carolina Literary Review has just published its first online issue, supplementing the journal’s annual print edition, which is published each fall. I'm pleased to have a review of John Hart's recent novel, Iron House, in the new mid-Winter publication. Check out the issue’s contents here, and click through to the electronic document from that page.
Washington Post • January 2012
I'll admit that I had high hopes for Dead Low Tide, Bret Lott's new “literary thriller” (as it's being heavily marketed)—especially given the Charleston, SC setting—but the book ultimately failed to succeed on either the “literary” or the “thriller” side of that phrase. Check out my full review here.
Barrelhouse • January 2012
The D.C.-based literary journal Barrelhouse has just published its special “Crime Issue,” including my story “Blue Plate Special” and a story by my wife, Tara Laskowski, too; hers, “The Etiquette of Homicide,” actually appears online in an annotated version as well. A special section on Small Town Noir includes several fine writers: Stewart O’Nan, Randall Brown, Stephen Graham Jones, Brian Evenson, and others. Check out the complete issue description and links here.
Virginia Commission for the Arts • November 2011
Though I fell just shy of the top honors, I was pleased to be included as a finalist for the Virginia Commission for the Arts’ 2011-2012 Artists’ Fellowships. Four of the state’s fiction writers earned $5000 fellowships in support of their writing: Samar Fitzgerald, Kelly Kerney, Marie Potoczny, and Steve Watkins. Four additional writers (out of the 81 total applicants) were named as finalists: Lenore Hart, Kristen Paige Madonia Gordon, Irene Ziegler, and yours truly. I'm honored to have made it as far as I did! See the full press release (pdf) here.
Washington Post • November 2011
Michael Connelly’s new Harry Bosch novel, The Drop, takes the book's title in several directions: a drop of blood that heats up the investigation into a cold case, a high-dive suicide that might instead have been a homicide in disguise, and then Harry's own contemplations about the end of his Deferred Retirement Option Plan. The plot is fast and furious, but one odd storytelling lapse kept this one from being good to the last... well, you know. Check out my review here.
Plots With Guns • October 2011
The Fall 2011 issue of Plots With Guns includes my story “Locked Out” amongst an impressive roster of stories by writers including Patti Abbott, Matthew C. Funk, Stephen Graham Jones, and Charles Dodd White, among others. The story itself was inspired by something that my wife and I happened across at an all-day country music concert a couple of years back—a troubling encounter still.
Northern Virginia Writers Club • October 2011
The Northern Virginia Chapter of the Virginia Writers Club invited me to speak about book reviewing at its Saturday, October 29 meeting — a great conversation with a terrific bunch of writers (and thanks to all of them for coming out on a very blustery day!).
Needle: A Magazine of Noir • October 2011
“The White Rose of Memphis”—a dark little story that emerged from a much-too-vivid nightmare —appears in the Fall 2011 issue of Needle: A Magazine of Noir alongside some very fine writers, including Ray Banks, Keith Rawson, and Holly West, plus a newly discovered story by the late, great Gil Brewer.
Library of Virginia, Richmond • October 2011
The Library of Virginia hosts "Whodunit? A Day of Mystery Madness for Mystery Fans" on Thursday, October 13, as part of the 2011 Virginia Literary Festival, and I'll be moderating the panel "What Comes First: Plot or Character?" with fellow authors Donna Andrews, Mollie Bryan, Meredith Cole, Ellen Crosby, and Alan Orloff. Other participants throughout the day span a who's who of Virginia crime writers, including G.M. Malliet, Katherine Neville, Brad Parks, Sandy Parshall, Andy Straka, and Steve Weddle, among others.
Mystery Scene • October 2011
The Fall 2011 Mystery Scene includes “This Woman's War,” my interview with North Carolina-based mystery writer Sarah R. Shaber, talking about Louise's War, the first book in a new series set in Washington, DC in the midst of World War II. (Readers of my blog got an advance glimpse at the interview back in August.) The issue also includes features on Val McDermid, James Sallis, and the new Spider-Man.
Bouchercon, St. Louis • September 2011
For this year's Bouchercon, Kate Stine and Brian Skupin of Mystery Scene magazine invited me to participate in a panel discussion with fellow critics and contributors to the magazine, including Oline Cogdill, Bill Crider, and Dick Lochte. Our chat — titled "Anything for a Friend" — takes place on Friday, September 16, at 2:30 p.m. in one of the meeting rooms at the Renaissance St. Louis Grand. An additional appearance: I'll be accepting one of the 2011 Derringer Awards on Thursday, September 15, at 4 p.m. as part of the panel "Murder by S.O.P."!
Washington Post • September 2011
Former MI6 agent Matthew Dunn's debut spy thriller, Spycatcher, gets off to a rough start both in its style (clumsy dialogue, laden with exposition) and its substance (some cartoonish strokes about main character Will Cochrane). But the balance of the novel is notably stronger, and Dunn promises better things to come as the series continues. Read my full review here.
PANK • September 2011
Thanks to guest editor Brad Green and editor Roxane Gay for featuring my story "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" in PANK's Crime Issue, alongside some really fine writers, including Chris Offutt, Kyle Minor, Anthony Neil Smith, Keith Rawson, Aaron Morales, Frank Bill, and Eric Shonkwiler. Needless to say, however, don't try this recipe at home.
Last Rites Reading Series, Baltimore • August 2011
Nik Korpon, who runs the Last Rites Reading Series in Baltimore, has asked both Tara Laskowski and me to participate in the series' August reading. We'll be appearing at the Baltimore Hostel, 17 West Mulberry Street, Baltimore on Sunday, August 28, at 7 p.m. — and I'll likely preview my story, "The White Rose of Memphis," forthcoming in Needle: A Magazine of Noir.
North Carolina Literary Review • July 2011
In the new issue of NCLR, I interview Michael Malone, surveying his long and highly acclaimed career, from his debut novel, Painting the Roses Red, through his latest book, The Four Corners of the Sky — and with a nice discussion of my favorites among his books: the Justin Savile/Cuddy Mangum trilogy, including Uncivil Seasons, Time's Witness, and First Lady. Check out the issue's full contents here.
Mysterical-E • July 2011
"Hard-boiled Sweetheart," a very short story that began as an excercise in writing sonnets, has been published in the Summer 2011 issue of the online mystery magazine Mystical-E. It's a fun pub with a fine reputation, and I'm pleased to have this little piece make its debut here. (And if you're able to decipher where the line breaks once were, you might see an additional bit of wordplay at work.)
AARP The Magazine • June 2011
The Devil's Light is the second of Richard North Patterson's novels I've reviewed in recent years, but this one has an added timeliness — or untimeliness, as the case may be. The book follows an al Qaeda plot to detonate a nuclear weapon on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. But barely more than 24 hours before the book's official release date, real-life Navy SEALs took out one of the story's looming characters. Oops! Read my review here.
inSinC Quarterly • June 2011
In her article "Reviewers Unleashed," Molly Weston interviewed several mystery reviewers about their work, including Oline Cogdill, Hallie Ephron, Jen Forbus, Sarah Weinman and yours truly. A distinguished group, certainly, and I learned a lot myself from the differing perspectives. The article, part of Sisters in Crime's June newsletter, can be found here (but note that this is a members-only link).
Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine • May 2011
My story "A Drowning at Snow's Cut" — inspired by a boat trip that my dad and I took a couple of years back — appears in the May 2011 issue of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Very fortunately, our own trip featured none of the father-son conflicts found in the story... and no corpse.
Washington Post • May 2011
South Korean novelist Kyung-sook Shin‘s Please Look After Mom — her first novel to be published in English — has already become an international bestseller, but I'll admit to finding myself underwhelmed by the book, which struck me as maudlin, repetitive, and overlong (even as it still managed to tug at the heartstrings a little). Read my full review here.
Cheryl's Gone • May 2011
Cheryl's Gone, a long-running reading and performance series in Washington, DC, has invited me to read from my short fiction on Thursday evening, May 12; the program also features poets Lauren Bender and Jennifer DePalma and music from the folk duo LunaSol. The event begins at 8 p.m. at Big Bear Cafe, 1st & R Street NW, Washington, DC.
Mystery Scene • May 2011
The Spring 2011 issue of Mystery Scene features my essay on novelist Louis Bayard: partly a review of his new book The School of Night, partly a survey of earlier novels including The Pale Blue Eye and The Black Tower, and partly an interview with the author himself — who's every bit as entertaining and enlightening as his books.
Mystery Megapack • May 2011
"Murder on the Orient Express," a short story that originally appeared in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine in December 1995, has been recently republished in The Mystery Megapack: 25 Modern and Classic Mystery Stories, an ebook anthology from Wildside Press. I'm in good company for sure, alongside classic tales by G.K. Chesterton, Anna Katherine Green, and Sax Rohmer, and contemporary stories by Barb Goffman, Toni L.P. Kelner, Marcia Talley, Elaine Viets and many others.
Malice Domestic • April–May 2011
I'll be attending my first Malice Domestic convention April 29-May 1 — an annual event in the DC area focussed on the traditional mystery; this year's headliner is Sue Grafton, accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award. I'll be moderating the panel "Keeping It Real: When Real People Become Fictional Characters" on Sunday morning, May 1, featuring authors Casey Daniels, J.J. Murphy, Daniel Stashower, and Nancy Means Wright.
storySouth Notable Stories List • April 2011
My story "Mrs. Marple and the Hit-and-Run," originally published in Prick of the Spindle in June 2010, has been named a Notable Story of 2010 as part of storySouth's Million Writers Award. The next round of the judging continues through May 20, when the year's top ten stories will be named. Check out the full list of semi-finalists here!
Derringer Award • March 2011
My story "Rearview Mirror" — originally published in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's March/April 2010 issue — has just won the 2011 Derringer Award for Best Novelette, presented by the Short Mystery Fiction Society. The story was in fine company, alongside works by Doug Allyn, Richard Helms, Chris Muessig, and Stephen Ross — humbling just to be ranked alongside those names.
Chesapeake Crimes • March 2011
I'm thrilled that my story "When Duty Calls" has been selected for inclusion in the anthology Chesapeake Crimes: This Job Is Murder, to be published in early 2012 through a partnership between the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime and Wildside Press — and I'm in great company with the other contributors! Thanks to coordinating editors Donna Andrews, Barb Goffman and Marcia Talley and to the editorial committee: Ellen Crosby, Sandra Parshall and Daniel Stashower.
The Writer's Center • March 2011
The Writer's Center has asked me to begin hosting its new podcast interview series, which debuted in February. I make my own debut as a host by interviewing award-winning mystery writer Kelli Stanley, author of the Roman Noir series — including Nox Dormienda and The Curse-Maker — and of City of Dragons, the first in a new series set in 1940s' San Francisco and a recent nominee for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Check out the interview here.
Mystery Scene • March 2011
In "Deadline! Journalists in Crime Films" — the second of a two-part series (see "The Write Stuff" in Mystery Scene's Fall 2010 issue) — I survey movies including His Girl Friday (1940), All The President's Men (1976) and Zodiac (2007), with a glance ahead at the U.S. adaptation of Stieg Larsson's Girl with a Dragon Tattoo.
AARP The Magazine • March 2011
Twice in his debut novel, P.G. Sturges makes direct reference to his acclaimed father, Hollywood director and screenwriter Preston Sturges, and as I point out in my review of Shortcut Man, the plot is an entrancing mix of film noir and dark screwball comedy. But whatever his filmmaking forebears, the younger Sturges surely comes into his own with this brisk and occasionally brilliant first novel.
AARP The Magazine • January 2011
I was pleased to be asked to contribute a couple of suggestions to AARP’s end-of-year round-up of 2010 books. The theme is “Overlooked and Overlauded,” and I had two suggestions for the former of those adjectives (though one of the books, admittedly, got some pretty wide press, but still remains one of my favorite reads of last year). The list overall is great, with contributions from some fine critics, including Mark Athitakis, Bethanne Patrick and others. Check out the feature here.
SmokeLong Quarterly • December 2010
Because my tendency is to write long (stories ranging from 5,000-10,000 words), I was thrilled to complete a story in under 1,000 words — and even more thrilled to have it published in one of the finest online journals in the business. "Up, Up and Away" follows two imaginative young boys on a horrible flight of fancy. Read it here.
Washington Post • December 2010
Jeffery Deaver's new novel, Edge, also marks the potential start to a new series about the work of a shadowy Alexandria, VA-based organization offering "bodyguards of last resort." Relentlessly paced and featuring some sharp characterizations, this is a thriller that keeps you on the... well, see the book's title again. And check out the full review here.
Washington Post • November 2010
Dennis Lehane's new novel, Moonlight Mile, marks the first book in more than a decade in the author’s private eye series featuring Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, and serves as a sequel of sorts to Lehane’s Gone, Baby, Gone (perhaps the best-known book from the series, if only because of the great film adaptation by Ben Affleck). What’s it like going back to familiar territory after having broken new ground with books including Mystic River and The Given Day? Check out my review here.
Washington Post • October 2010
I've recently been working through John Shannon's Jack Liffey novels, one of the most ambitious and consistently surprising series in crime fiction today. While the latest book, On the Nickel, may not be the strongest of the bunch (check out Streets on Fire, The Dark Streets or Palos Verdes Blue instead, in my opinion), it's a provocative addition nonetheless. Read my full review here.
Best American Mystery Stories (short-list) • September 2010
“A Voice from the Past,” originally published in the August 2009 issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, made the “final fifty” round of the 2010 Best American Mystery Stories, edited by Lee Child (Mariner Books). The tale is listed among “Other Distinguished Mystery Stories of 2009.”
Mystery Scene • September 2010
In "The Write Stuff," the first of a two-part series, I take a look at crime films featuring novelists, playwrights and screenwriters as protagonists. Ewan McGregor's turn in the title role of The Ghost Writer is only the latest in a long tradition of movies looking at scribes who've landed in suspenseful situations — or who've created some tension of their own. (The second part will consider journalists specifically; stay tuned.)
Washington Post • September 2010
The post-9/11 world has provided unsettling material for William Gibson's most recent novels: Pattern Recognition, Spook Country, and now Zero History. I offer my take on that latest title here.
Dale Brown's Executive Intent jets off into a troubling future for global political relations, but ultimately proved too bumpy a ride for my tastes. Read my full review here.
North Carolina Literary Review • July 2010
My interview with North Carolina-based mystery novelist Wanda Canada, author of Island Murders and Cape Fear Murders, appears in the 2010 North Carolina Literary Review. This is also my first issue on the NCLR’s editorial board.
Prick of the Spindle • June 2010
A story that’s long been looking for a home has found one! Prick of the Spindle, a fine online literary journal, has published “Mrs. Marple and the Hit & Run,” a modular story (in Madison Smartt Bell’s terminology) about an aging woman struggling to make sense of the world around her and her place in it.
Washington Post • June 2010
Carolyn Parkhurst’s The Nobodies Album was really just a delight to read — infusing the literary mystery with a little metafictional playfulness. Check out my review here.
AARP The Magazine • April 2010
Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks, a study by John Curran, and Talking About Detective Fiction by P.D. James provide glimpses inside the minds of two of Britain’s leading ladies of mystery fiction, past and present. See my reviews here.
Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine • March/April 2010
“Rearview Mirror” is published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. The story was inspired by a trip that my wife, Tara Laskowski, and I took to New Mexico a few years ago (though our adventures, fortunately, were not nearly so tension-filled).
Washington Post • February 2010
Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York proves to be as thrilling as any CSI episode, but offers something even better: an education in how forensics really works. Read the full review here.
