Home Articles posted by J. Kingston Pierce
J. Kingston Pierce
J. Kingston Pierce is a longtime Seattle journalist, whose addiction to crime, mystery, and thriller fiction is clearly beyond curing. In addition to editing The Rap Sheet (http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/), a blog focused on crime fiction, he writes the book design-oriented blog Killer Covers (http://killercoversoftheweek.blogspot.com/) and is a columnist for Down & Out: The Magazine.
Rediscovering a Vanished Species: Half-Hour TV Mysteries
Thirty-minute crime dramas were once a pop culture phenomenon. All but a few have been forgotten. This is their story.
Seven Colorful Cover Themes from Crime Fiction’s Past
It was a different time. A time of long legs, falling bodies, disembodied heads, and butterfly chairs.
Remembering Harry O, The Seventies' Second Best, Mostly Forgotten Private Eye Series
'The Rockford Files' may have outshone the darker noir of 'Harry O', but David Janssen's gumshoe series had lofty ambitions, too.
The Case of Perry Mason’s Courtroom Cousin
In 1936, Erle Stanley Gardner was thinking of killing off his most famous character. Instead, he created a new kind of lawyer.
The Lost Art of the "Cast of Characters" Lists That Opened Midcentury Mystery Novels
Wordplay, witty insults, and the occasionally lurid remark rounded out a popular feature of paperback crime novels.
The Unconventional Private Eyes of Stanley Ellin
A master of the short story, Ellin's detective novels are now mostly forgotten. They shouldn't be.
The Agatha Christie Centennial: 100 Years of The Mysterious Affair at Styles
Christie's debut novel was famously rejected by a host of publishers. Many, many editions later, it's an iconic mystery.
How America Once Fell in Love with Mystery “Wheels”
In the 1960s, TV executives came up with a novel way of delivering Americans their mysteries—the "wheel"
Seattle: Primed and Ready for Crime Fiction Fame
Exploring the city's history and character, through crime novels
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