165 Fall Cover, Camilla LäckbergHello Everyone!

Well, the new normal has set in by now. For us, that means editors, writers, and designers spread all over the country, all working from home. So far, so good. We hope you all are equally as content and enjoying some good reading time.

Camilla Läckberg always wanted to be a crime writer. “I have always been a morbid person,” the bestselling Swedish writer says. “Other girls would read about horses; I was reading about serial killers. I have always had a big fascination with everything dark. I always leaned toward crime fiction.” One year, her family enrolled her in a creative writing course—and the rest is Scandi-Noir history. Follow Läckberg’s conversation with Oline Cogdill in this issue.

Michael Mallory writes about the elegant pleasures of one of my favorite authors, Emma Lathen, and her banker sleuth John Putnam Thatcher in this issue.

You may have thought that scholars had exhausted the topic of Raymond Chandler and his work. But unless you’ve looked at The High Window from a numismatic standpoint you would be wrong. Larry Block takes that angle and runs with it in “Raymond Chandler and the Brasher Doubloon.”

John Valeri chats with author Jenny Milchman in this issue about the juxtaposition of progress and peril in her work. “In so many ways the battle lines and social chasms seem to be drawn around political party or ethnic identity or religious group,” says Milchman. “But I think they really come down to one factor: willingness to examine ourselves, our beliefs, and if necessary, change. Or not.”

In “6 New Writers to Watch,” Oline Cogdill surveys a new generation of crime, mystery, and suspense writers. There’s something for everyone in this talented group— and some great storytelling.

“In Aikido, self-defense is literally about going with the flow—getting out of the way while using the opponent’s force against him,” says the prolific Jon Land in John Valeri’s intriguing profile. Similarly, “authors who struggle are trying to do all the work themselves instead of getting out of the way and letting their characters do it for them,” adds Land.

It’s romance, bullets, and the open road in Pat Broeske’s “Love on the Run,” a discussion of films with criminal couples at their center. How many have you seen?

Hank Phillippi Ryan gathers fellow nominees and winners of the Mary Higgins Clark Award to talk about Clark and her legacy. In addition to Hank, Catriona McPherson, Carol Goodman, Hallie Ephron, S.J. Bolton, and Lori Rader-Day take part. Now that’s a conversation!

The unfortunate Julia Wallace was the victim of a horrific crime in 1931 and the media of the day went nuts over the baffling case. Also entranced were a slew of mystery writers. Tom Mead takes us through a shelf of books that owe their existence to the confounding case.

Also in this issue, we have interesting My Book essays contributed by Daniella Bernett and Dave Neale.

Enjoy—and stay safe!

Kate Stine
Editor-in-chief

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Peter Swanson on Reading for the Season
Wednesday, 15 September 2021

Naomi Hirahara’s powerful new book, Clark and Division, follows the Ito family in 1944.

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Naomi Hirahara on "Clark and Division"
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Jane Stanton Hitchcock on Giving Voice to Great Reads
Thursday, 18 October 2018

"For me, the books I read were the call—the call to adventure, to thinking, to acknowledging other points of view. But to complete the ritual, I needed to respond."

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on Reading: A Call and Response
Saturday, 16 June 2018

Cynthia RiggsI am surrounded by books. Every room, every space in my large, sprawling 1750s house is full of books...

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Cynthia Riggs on Living in a House of Books
Monday, 30 April 2018

Our history and experiences can define us, inspire our actions, and as writers impact our words and stories. Mine most definitely has: my father was a small-time gangster. Really.

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My Book: The Gangster’s Daughter
Thursday, 12 April 2018

"My ah-ha moment came when I read The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald.... That was it for me – I was off to the races."

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Jacqueline Winspear on The Great Gatsby
Sunday, 01 April 2018

Nietzsche once wrote, “There is always some madness in love. But there is also always some reason in madness.”

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My Book: Head Wounds
Thursday, 15 February 2018

"Mystery books were daring and exciting, firing up my imagination and making me yearn to become a girl detective or even a secret agent. They also empowered me to make up impromptu ghost stories around the campfire for my Girl Scout troop and sneak into the cemetery at night on a dare."

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Laura Childs on Growing Up Reading
Thursday, 27 July 2017

vietselaineCR CristianaPecheanuFire and Ashes, the latest Angela Richman Death Investigator mystery, is an exploration of a fatal fire. To research this novel, Viets delved into the devastating consequences of junk science and arson investigations.

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Fire and Ashes and Arson