Crime Reads » Essays

Don't Go Into the Basement! (Let's Be Honest, We're Going Into the Basement)

Don't Go Into the Basement! (Let's Be Honest, We're Going Into the Basement)

What writing horror (and hearing noises in the night) taught me about the impulse to explore—even in the face of danger.

By Darcy Coates | February 27, 2020

Black Power, Blaxploitation, & The Sounds of the Seventies

Black Power, Blaxploitation, & The Sounds of the Seventies

How Isaac Hayes' soundtrack to Shaft ushered in an era of iconic Blaxploitation cinema.

By Ashawnta Jackson | February 26, 2020

How to Turn A Man into a Legend

How to Turn A Man into a Legend

Why I chose to take real-life Arctic explorer Matthew Henson, drop him in the middle of the Harlem Renaissance, and have him solve a murder.

By Gary Phillips | February 25, 2020

The Femme Fatale: A Brief History of Beauty as a Surprisingly Effective Legal Defense

The Femme Fatale: A Brief History of Beauty as a Surprisingly Effective Legal Defense

History teaches us there are five rules to getting away with murder.

By Laura James | February 25, 2020

The New Vulnerability in the Mystery Genre

The New Vulnerability in the Mystery Genre

The use—and misuse—of mental health disorders in crime fiction.

By Peter Swanson | February 25, 2020

People v. Gillette: How an Obscure Execution in the Finger Lakes Inspired Generations of Storytellers

People v. Gillette: How an Obscure Execution in the Finger Lakes Inspired Generations of Storytellers

The Long Cultural Afterlife of a Horrifying Crime

By S.L. McInnis | February 24, 2020

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Bullying Has Always Been Bad. Social Media Makes It Worse.

By Yrsa Sigurdardottir | February 24, 2020

The Life and Work of C.W. Grafton: Crime Novelist, Lawyer, and Father to a Mystery Icon

By L. Wayne Hicks | February 21, 2020

The Punk Rock Private Eye and the End of an Era in Downtown New York

By David Masciotra | February 21, 2020

The Girl in the Mansion: <br>How Gothic Romances Became Domestic Noirs

The Girl in the Mansion:
How Gothic Romances Became Domestic Noirs

Domestic suspense is the modern incarnation of the mid-century Gothic romance.

By Silvia Moreno-Garcia | February 20, 2020

Money Ain’t a Thang: 'Paid in Full' and the Culture That Rose out of New York's Crack Era

Money Ain’t a Thang: 'Paid in Full' and the Culture That Rose out of New York's Crack Era

In the 1980s, the city was ravaged by a new drug. But a new culture, born of the same streets, was on the rise, too.

By Michael Gonzales | February 20, 2020

On Cults, and the <br>Weight of Family

On Cults, and the
Weight of Family

Leaving a cult is hard. It's even harder when the cult is your family.

By Nile Cappello | February 19, 2020

Love and Loss in the Time of Swamp Monsters

Love and Loss in the Time of Swamp Monsters

On Romance, Graphic Novels, and Environmental Activism in Swamp Thing

By Andy Davidson | February 18, 2020

Why Are We Still So Fascinated by Diana Mitford?

Why Are We Still So Fascinated by Diana Mitford?

On our cultural obsession with Diana Mitford, the English aristocrat who went from well-dressed socialite to loathsome fascist.

By Jessica Fellowes | February 17, 2020

Cold Cases of History: The Murder of Juan Borgia

Cold Cases of History: The Murder of Juan Borgia

500 years ago, a scion of the infamous Borgias was murdered. Plenty had reason to murder him, but the exact culprit has never been discovered.

By Alyssa Palombo | February 13, 2020

How Charles Dickens Presaged the Rise of True Crime Podcasts

How Charles Dickens Presaged the Rise of True Crime Podcasts

Barnaby Rudge was a new kind of 'crime' story, with an unresolved murder tale which unfolded orally and serially. Today's podcasters are chasing the same magic.

By Susan Cook | February 13, 2020

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