Crime Reads » Essays

Chris Kraus on How Crime Writing Can Be an Entry To a Shattered Community

Chris Kraus on How Crime Writing Can Be an Entry To a Shattered Community

The Author of “The Four Spent the Day Together” on Researching the Nagamo Trail Murder

By Chris Kraus | October 16, 2025

Why Romance and Horror Make a Happily Ever After

Why Romance and Horror Make a Happily Ever After

"Horror raises the stakes while romance deepens the meaning"

By Trilina Pucci | October 15, 2025

Hannah Beer On The Costs and Consequences of Celebrity Culture

Hannah Beer On The Costs and Consequences of Celebrity Culture

"[O]nce you have everything, what—or who—are you willing to sacrifice to maintain it?"

By Hannah Beer | October 14, 2025

What Fictional Violence Teaches Us About the Real Thing (and Vice Versa)

What Fictional Violence Teaches Us About the Real Thing (and Vice Versa)

After experiencing a brutal attack by a complete stranger, Jennifer Fawcett had to rethink everything she knew about writing violence

By Jennifer Fawcett | October 9, 2025

Daniel H. Wilson On The Colonialist Fallacies Undergirding Our Failed Search for Alien Life

Daniel H. Wilson On The Colonialist Fallacies Undergirding Our Failed Search for Alien Life

"[S]ustainability and locality are the hallmarks of intelligence. So why are we looking for worlds on fire?"

By Daniel H. Wilson | October 8, 2025

The Enduring Appeal of a Shipwreck Mystery

The Enduring Appeal of a Shipwreck Mystery

Anbara Salam on the HMS Terror, arctic voyages, and writing a novel about exploring the depths

By Anbara Salam | October 8, 2025

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Some Musings on Arthur Conan Doyle's Interest in Spiritualism

By Kiri Callaghan | October 8, 2025

How My Childhood Demonic
Doll Turned Me Into a
Lifelong Horror Fan

By Laura Venita Green | October 7, 2025

Bad Boys with Bikes:
A Brief Appreciation of Queer Biking Culture

By Lev AC Rosen | October 7, 2025

<em>In Cold Blood</em>, The Gay Panic Defense, and the Murder of John Walter Mooney

In Cold Blood, The Gay Panic Defense, and the Murder of John Walter Mooney

60 years after the publication of Capote's masterpiece, one detail evokes the history of homophobic crimes and shameful excuses, then and now

By Carsten Andresen | October 3, 2025

Nice Guys with Lethal Weapons: The Influential Style of Shane Black, Our Last Noir Director

Nice Guys with Lethal Weapons: The Influential Style of Shane Black, Our Last Noir Director

Nick Kolakowski on the Settings, Shane-Black-isms, and Signature Leitmotifs of a Long Cinematic Career

By Nick Kolakowski | October 1, 2025

Let's Do the Crime Warp: Keith Roysdon Makes The Case for Keeping Settings Vintage in Contemporary Productions

Let's Do the Crime Warp: Keith Roysdon Makes The Case for Keeping Settings Vintage in Contemporary Productions

"[C]rime stories produced in contemporary times but set in the past are just as enticing and have the additional benefit of hindsight."

By Keith Roysdon | October 1, 2025

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Considers the Strange Perambulations of Writing Inspiration

Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Considers the Strange Perambulations of Writing Inspiration

On approaching the truth obliquely and paying attention to resonance across experiences

By Barbara DeMarco-Barrett | September 26, 2025

The Forgotten History<br> of the Fascist Plot <br>Against Hollywood

The Forgotten History
of the Fascist Plot
Against Hollywood

Paul Levine dives deep on the unlikely pairing that helped keep Hitler's sympathizers from taking over the film biz

By Paul Levine | September 26, 2025

From the Studio Set to the Written Page

From the Studio Set to the Written Page

Exploring the parallels between fiction writing and television production

By Joan O'Leary | September 25, 2025

Layering on the Mystery

Layering on the Mystery

Maps, cast lists, epigraphs, and recipes keep us entertained from the first word to the last

By Leslie Budewitz | September 25, 2025

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