Crime Reads » Chris McGinley

Rick Childers on Writing Rural Noir With a Sense of Love

Rick Childers on Writing Rural Noir With a Sense of Love

A conversation about getting to the truth of life in Appalachia.

By Chris McGinley | January 23, 2025

Chris Offutt on Nature, Appalachia, and the

Chris Offutt on Nature, Appalachia, and the "Code of the Hills"

"In the hills, nature is a constant force—beautiful and relentless. At times brutal. The sounds of bird and wind in the leaves is a constant backdrop to the life I experienced as a child and as an adult."

By Chris McGinley | July 9, 2024

The Queen of Grit Lit has a New Novel

The Queen of Grit Lit has a New Novel

Bonnie Jo Campbell talks with Chris McGinley about her brutal and beautiful new novel, "The Waters"

By Chris McGinley | December 21, 2023

Crime and Redemption in the Films of the Dardenne Brothers

Crime and Redemption in the Films of the Dardenne Brothers

The Belgian filmmakers have been exploring the quieter, more human moments of crime stories since the very beginning.

By Chris McGinley | February 3, 2022

How <em>The French Connection</em> Reinvented (and Exploded) the Police Procedural

How The French Connection Reinvented (and Exploded) the Police Procedural

William Friedkin's 1971 masterpiece is all about the chase. That's what distinguishes it from everything that came before and after.

By Chris McGinley | September 2, 2021

Zoë Lund and the Dialectical Method of <em>Bad Lieutenant</em>

Zoë Lund and the Dialectical Method of Bad Lieutenant

Lund's legacy as a writer is overshadowed by the heroin, her looks, and her collaborators. But a closer study of her writing methods reveals genius at work.

By Chris McGinley | February 4, 2021

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Books of the Week

Virginia Kellogg: The Forgotten Screenwriter Behind A String of Classic Noirs

By Chris McGinley | June 19, 2020

America’s First Crime Novel Was Rural Noir—We Should Still Be Reading It

By Chris McGinley | March 12, 2020

The Strange Rural Noir of Wilma Dykeman’s The Tall Woman

By Chris McGinley | January 29, 2020