Crime Reads » Essays

The Moral Morass of the Slasher: Revisiting The Strangely Slapstick Horror of <em>Freddy's Dead</em>

The Moral Morass of the Slasher: Revisiting The Strangely Slapstick Horror of Freddy's Dead

If horror exists to reinforce the status quo, then how did we end up rooting for Freddy?

By Paul Michael Anderson | October 9, 2020

Chandler and the Fox: The Mid-Century Correspondence Between Raymond Chandler and James M. Fox

Chandler and the Fox: The Mid-Century Correspondence Between Raymond Chandler and James M. Fox

Chandler's letters to a younger crime writer offer a revealing—and often ugly—glimpse into his later years.

By Curtis Evans | October 8, 2020

The Strange Poetry of a Notorious Gangster's Last Words

The Strange Poetry of a Notorious Gangster's Last Words

In 1935, Dutch Schultz was shot in a Newark steakhouse. His deathbed monologue would inspire an unusual literary legacy.

By Michael Cannell | October 8, 2020

Memories of an Accidental Mystery Writer

Memories of an Accidental Mystery Writer

When Sherry Thomas added a little murder to her historical romances, she struck genre-mixing gold.

By Sherry Thomas | October 8, 2020

The Strange History of Mickey Spillane and New Zealand's

The Strange History of Mickey Spillane and New Zealand's "Jukebox Killer"

In 1950s New Zealand, public fear over American pulp novels reached its unlikely peak, with one boy stabbed and another hanged for it.

By Andrew Nette | October 7, 2020

Thoroughly Modern Hauntings: How Ghost Stories Keep Finding New Ways to Scare Us

Thoroughly Modern Hauntings: How Ghost Stories Keep Finding New Ways to Scare Us

From The Ring to The Host, modern technology has only made horror stories scarier.

By Frazer Lee | October 7, 2020

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Meet Catherine Louisa Pirkis, creator of the 19th century's most progressive lady detective character

By Olivia Rutigliano | October 6, 2020

Why I'm Proud to Have My Books Called "Crime Fiction"

By Bryn Greenwood | October 6, 2020

Adventures in Shark Cage Diving

By Sara E. Johnson | October 6, 2020

Walking the Hybrid Tightrope with Romantic Suspense

Walking the Hybrid Tightrope with Romantic Suspense

How do authors pull off the tricky balance of action and amore?

By Irene Hannon | October 5, 2020

Houdini, Escapist Fiction and The Role of Art

Houdini, Escapist Fiction and The Role of Art

Why do some draw a line between literary art and escapist fiction?

By Lonnie Busch | October 5, 2020

The Strange Life and Mysterious Disappearance of a Very American Painting

The Strange Life and Mysterious Disappearance of a Very American Painting

Craig Johnson on Custer, and the painting that ornamented barroom walls across America, then vanished.

By Craig Johnson | October 2, 2020

On Drawing Inspiration From a Rich History of Ruins

On Drawing Inspiration From a Rich History of Ruins

Britons have long had a fascination with ruins. For Anna Lee Huber they're the start of mystery novels.

By Anna Lee Huber | October 2, 2020

Mystery Writer Jacques Futrelle Died Onboard the Titanic, but His Greatest Detective Creation Lives On

Mystery Writer Jacques Futrelle Died Onboard the Titanic, but His Greatest Detective Creation Lives On

Meet Professor Augustus S.F.X. Van Dusen,
Ph. D., LL. D., F. R. S., M. D., M.D.S.

By Olivia Rutigliano | October 1, 2020

On the Rearranged Sherlockian World of <em>Enola Holmes</em>

On the Rearranged Sherlockian World of Enola Holmes

What the new Netflix film accomplishes in stressing diversity and political equality, it also flubs in erasing the real people who fought for these things.

By Olivia Rutigliano | September 30, 2020

The Evolution of Jack Reacher

The Evolution of Jack Reacher

Lee Child's biographer on the creation of an iconic figure, from the first draft to the published novel.

By Heather Martin | September 29, 2020

« First ‹ Previous 149 150 151 152153154 155 156 157 Next ›Last »

Page 153 of 211