ENTER TO WIN THE NEW MWA COOKBOOK
Enter our contest for a chance to win a copy of The MWA Cookbook. To enter, submit an imaginary recipe that your favorite sleuth or villain would cook up.
MYSTERIES AREN’T SUPPOSED TO BE FUNNY
As a writer of mysteries, I find myself, from time-to-time, challenged by readers to defend why I glorify crime. And when they realize that I write humorous mysteries, they are appalled that I make fun of murder. When my first book was published, even my mother announced, “Mysteries aren’t supposed to be funny.” One reader made it personal. Had your
Mug Shot: WENDY CORSI STAUB
New York Times bestseller Wendy Corsi Staub is the award-winning author of more than eighty books and a two-time Mary Higgins Clark Award finalist. The Good Sister, first in a trio of social networking suspense novels, was on Suspense Magazine’s Best of 2013 list and optioned for television, followed The Perfect Stranger and The Black Widow. Lily Dale, a new adult cozy mystery series, along with her next suspense trilogy, Mundy’s Landing, will launch in the fall of 2015. She lives in the New York City suburbs with her husband of 23 years and their two children.
DO YOU KNOW ABOUT THE MURDERS?
That night at dinner (it was four years ago, but I remember it is as if were yesterday) a beauty pageant queen, a truly delightful young woman, dressed in her sash and crown taught us how to fold our napkin to look like a turkey. It was a dark and stormy night (I’ve always wanted to write that, but it
MOTIVE IN WHODUNNITS: IS IT EVEN IMPORTANT ANY MORE?
To the contemporary police, the weapon used remains important (as a way to link the suspected killer to the crime) and the relevance of opportunity will never go away unless one day people are able to be in two places at the same time. But what’s the big deal about motive?
REVELS REDUX
After our Revels holiday party in December, we found ourselves with some extra holiday gift bags. These snazzy bags were stuffed with new crime fiction paperbacks, a hardcover or two, the latest issues of several crime magazines, and a lovely MWA-NY mug. President Emerita Patricia King came up with the excellent idea of sending these extra gift bags to members
THE DETECTIVE EYE AND THE CRIMINAL EYE
When you write a crime story, do you write it from the detective’s point of view or the criminal’s? It’s a question worth asking because, speaking broadly, most crime fiction tends to be told from one of these two perspectives. You get the bulk of the story from the police/detective/law enforcement side or from the transgressor’s side. There are myriad
PITCH YOUR BOOK — AT A DISCOUNT
New York Writers Workshop is generously offering MWA-NY members a 25% discount for its Spring 2015 Pitch Conference. Polish your pitches then present them to three different editors from major publishing houses. This three-day conference is an amazing opportunity to help you get your crime fiction writing out into the world. Editors provide feedback and may request proposals and manuscripts after the
RE-INVESTIGATING TRENT’S LAST CASE
This piece originally appeared in slightly different form on Criminal Element. Funny how age changes your view of a book. I’m thinking specifically of Trent’s Last Case, the famous detective novel published in 1913 by E.C. Bentley, and how my view of it has flipped between two readings 35 years apart. As a teenager, when I first read it, I
MUG SHOT: TIM HALL
Tim Hall is the author of the Bert Shambles Mysteries, a New Adult series featuring an economically disadvantaged young man solving crime in the Long Island suburbs. The first installment, Dead Stock, was recently published by Cozy Cat Press. The second book, Tie Died, is expected in 2015. He lives in New York City with his wife and son.