fiction1
The Case for ‘The New Adventures of Ellery Queen’

One of the greats of the mystery genre, too little appreciated these days, is Ellery ...

books
Cultural Tide Beginning to Turn? ‘Golden Age’ Mystery Outselling Contemporary Bestsellers

In a year of unsettling cultural stories—from the Ray Rice domestic abuse video to Rob...

mysteries
Murder Yesterday and Today: The Stakes Were Higher Then

While reading a mystery novel from the "golden age" of detection, the 1920s to the early '...

mysteries
The Amazing Badness of ‘Scorpion’

The new CBS-TV crime-drama series Scorpion is a clear attempt to refresh the cop show g...

books
Interview with (Fictional) Bestselling Mystery Writer Richard Castle

The ABC-TV series Castle (Mondays at 10 p.m. Eastern) features as co-protagonist a bestse...

mysteries
ABC’s ‘How to Get Away with Murder’ Gets Away with Contemporary Cliches

In choosing programming, ABC-TV tends toward what its managers must think of as a rather ...

fiction1
‘Monogram Murders’ Exemplifies Problems with Contemporary Crime Fiction

My web friend Enrique F. Bird is a longtime aficionado of mystery and detective fiction an...

mysteries
‘Mysteries of Laura’ Botches a Perfectly Good Formula

NBC is trying a fresh approach to drama in the new series The Mysteries of Laura (Wedne...

literature-2
Melville Davisson Post’s Mysteries: Relief for Those Weary of Excessive Darkness

Many readers find modern genre fiction to be excessively "dark" and depressive, and for go...

books
Pirog’s Thomas Prescott Novels: Good, and Getting Better

Nick Pirog’s Thomas Prescott novels are worth reading just to watch a writer learning hi...

mysteries
‘Ritual’ Mystery Novel Ruined by Cliches, Politics, Spiritualist Advocacy

I really like the reviewing work of Steve Steinbock in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine....

mysteries
Dark, Gritty ‘Mirror Image’ Offers Psychological Mystery-Suspense

Dennis Palumbo’s novel Mirror Image is the first in a series of books about Dr. Daniel...

mysteries
The Daft and the Furious: BBC Resumes Father Brown Abuse

In September of last year, I absolutely lost it. If you’re a regular reader of this site...

mysteries
Weak Resolution Mars ‘Rizzoli and Isles’ Episode

Yesterday, you may recall, I pointed out two TNT crime dramas with overt political message...

mysteries
TNT Crime Dramas Push Political Points

I have long argued that contemporary U.S. entertainment offers a much greater variety of i...

books
The Detective Story as Soulcraft—Stuart M. Kaminsky’s Final Lew Fonesca Novels

In March of 2009, mystery author Stuart M. Kaminsky moved with his wife from his Saraso...

books
Denial Is an Effective Mystery by a Thorough Professional

Stuart M. Kaminsky, who passed away last October, was a consistently prolific and gifted...

mysteries
Praise for John Dickson Carr

The talented contemporary British writer Christopher Fowler pens an appreciation for impos...

movies
Debate: New ‘Sherlock Holmes’

The new film Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie, has done very well indeed at the U....

movies
Are Films Inherently Stupid? Or Just Filmmakers?

   The shortcomings and travails of cinematic mystery fiction could suggest...

mysteries
Ed Hoch, RIP

One of the very best mystery writers of our time is gone.Ed Hoch, author of nearly a thous...

books
The Dead Sleep Lightly—Review

My fellow Golden Age of Detective Mysteries afficionado Mike Tooney has written an excelle...

manners-and-morals
Was Ellery Another Kind of Queen?

Short answer: no.A comment placed on my Tony Dungy item, below, suggests a worthy item for...

mysteries
Banacek on DVD

Your voice has been heard! A couple of months ago we asked your support in getting the gre...

genres
A Month of Mysteries

Turner Classic Movies is featuring mystery films this month, on Tuesday and Wednesday nigh...

mysteries
Lord Darcy Online

I have some good news for you regarding Randall Garrett's Lord Darcy mysteries, which I hi...