Crime Reads » Curtis Evans

Whitey Bulger and The Cozy Crime Writer

Whitey Bulger and The Cozy Crime Writer

On the surprising human ties that bound the Boston mobster to author Charlotte MacLeod.

By Curtis Evans | April 20, 2023

Ashes in the Aspic: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding’s Life and Short Crime Fiction

Ashes in the Aspic: Elisabeth Sanxay Holding’s Life and Short Crime Fiction

"Elisabeth Sanxay Holding [wrote] fiction which dared to divulge unsavory truths about her society..."

By Curtis Evans | March 16, 2023

“They just weren’t the kind of people for that”: The 1934 Smith Family Massacre in Demopolis, Alabama

“They just weren’t the kind of people for that”: The 1934 Smith Family Massacre in Demopolis, Alabama

On "an appalling family tragedy" that reappeared in a 1944 detective novel.

By Curtis Evans | February 3, 2023

The Literary Blood Feud between Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald

The Literary Blood Feud between Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald

Or, The Way Some Crime Writers Decry...

By Curtis Evans | October 7, 2022

Alice in Murderland: On Crime Writer Alice Campbell

Alice in Murderland: On Crime Writer Alice Campbell

Meet Alice Dorothy Ormond Campbell, mistress of the atmospheric mystery.

By Curtis Evans | September 28, 2022

The Creative Life and Death of Bruce Montgomery, aka Edmund Crispin

The Creative Life and Death of Bruce Montgomery, aka Edmund Crispin

Music composer by day, crime writer by night, bon vivant in his youth, and reclusive alcoholic in his twilight...

By Curtis Evans | August 12, 2022

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Milton Propper: Scion and Imitator of the Golden Age Mystery, Pioneer of the Procedural

By Curtis Evans | July 22, 2022

Death Goes Drag: How the Queer Experiences of Mystery Writers Rufus King and Clifford Orr Influenced Their Golden Age Detective Fiction

By Curtis Evans | June 23, 2022

The Charming Mid-Century Murder Mysteries and Rich Interior Life of Edith Howie

By Curtis Evans | April 21, 2022

The Life and Times of John Street, aka John Rhode, aka Vintage Mystery’s Master of Murder Means

The Life and Times of John Street, aka John Rhode, aka Vintage Mystery’s Master of Murder Means

Through decades and hundreds of novels, the man was never at a loss for a good plot.

By Curtis Evans | January 27, 2022

Do People Really Know What They Think They Know about Cornell Woolrich?

Do People Really Know What They Think They Know about Cornell Woolrich?

Biographies have characterized Cornell Woolrich as a self-hating gay man who mistreated women and was far too close to his mother. The truth is much more complicated.

By Curtis Evans | January 10, 2022

Making Good out of Murder: On Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning, Crime Reporters and Crime Writers

Making Good out of Murder: On Gwen Bristow and Bruce Manning, Crime Reporters and Crime Writers

In the 1930s, crime reporters and spouses Bristow and Manning turned their New Orleans crime beat into fertile fodder for fiction.

By Curtis Evans | November 18, 2021

The Detection Club and the Mid-Century Fight over “Fair Play” in Crime Fiction

The Detection Club and the Mid-Century Fight over “Fair Play” in Crime Fiction

While the club clung to pure detection as a prerequisite for admission, members' own tastes were far more divided.

By Curtis Evans | October 22, 2021

Florence Rush and the Providence White Slavers

Florence Rush and the Providence White Slavers

The profitable panic that inspired both journalists and crime writers to focus on the (extremely exaggerated) crisis of "white slavery"

By Curtis Evans | August 10, 2021

Whatever Happened to Elise De Viane? On The Mystery Woman in Dashiell Hammett’s 1931 Sexual Assault Case

Whatever Happened to Elise De Viane? On The Mystery Woman in Dashiell Hammett’s 1931 Sexual Assault Case

90 years later, few know the story of Hammett's friend-turned-victim, who won a substantial settlement against the author after a violent sexual assault.

By Curtis Evans | June 3, 2021

The Amazing Tale of Fergus Hume and William Freeman; or, the Critic’s Comeuppance

The Amazing Tale of Fergus Hume and William Freeman; or, the Critic’s Comeuppance

Critic William Freeman despised the mediocre mysteries of Fergus Hume. But was bad writing all there was to his enduring hatred?

By Curtis Evans | April 26, 2021

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