Crime Reads » Essays

How Subplots and Plot Filaments Lend Texture and Depth to Any Novel

How Subplots and Plot Filaments Lend Texture and Depth to Any Novel

And they’re the key to continuity in a mystery series.

By Michael Craft | September 20, 2023

Murder Ballads, the Original True Crime

Murder Ballads, the Original True Crime

On the long tradition of folk music about crimes, used to help communities process trauma and memorialize victims.

By Janet Beard | September 19, 2023

Port-au-Prince: Crime Fiction as a Window into a Nation’s Soul

Port-au-Prince: Crime Fiction as a Window into a Nation’s Soul

Crime and the City visits the Haitian capital.

By Paul French | September 18, 2023

When Characters Fake Their Own Deaths

When Characters Fake Their Own Deaths

Exploring pseudocide in fiction and film.

By Manning Wolfe | September 18, 2023

Native American Literature: Tribes and Tribulations

Native American Literature: Tribes and Tribulations

"As a part Eastern Band Cherokee writer, it can be a tightrope dance deciding what to present to the outside world."

By Deborah J. Ledford | September 18, 2023

Jason Voorhees: Neurodivergent Icon?

Jason Voorhees: Neurodivergent Icon?

On finding empowerment and autistic representation in an unlikely source: Friday the 13th's iconic slasher

By Mark Wheaton | September 15, 2023

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

The Freudian Gothic Fiction of Ira Levin

By James Reich | September 15, 2023

Dorothy B. Hughes, In a Lonely Place, and the Birth of the Modern Serial Killer Novel

By Laura Picklesimer | September 15, 2023

‘A Face in the Crowd’ Forecast Our Future – If We’d Only Been Paying Attention

By Keith Roysdon | September 15, 2023

The Dark Humor of Millennial Crime Capers

The Dark Humor of Millennial Crime Capers

30-somethings can laugh in the face of anything—including death.

By Alice Bell | September 14, 2023

When is a Character’s Dishonesty Justified?

When is a Character’s Dishonesty Justified?

"[W]hen is it ethical...for characters to do a great right, by doing a little wrong?"

By R. J. Jacobs | September 14, 2023

Writing a Domestic Survival Thriller

Writing a Domestic Survival Thriller

On Marrying Life-or-Death Stakes with the Trials of Suburbia

By Lee Kelly | September 13, 2023

When True Crime Meets Police Brutality

When True Crime Meets Police Brutality

True-crime accounts of someone killed by police shouldn’t be any different from other murder investigations, but they are.

By Justine Barron | September 12, 2023

Celebrating the Iconic Suspense of Lois Duncan

Celebrating the Iconic Suspense of Lois Duncan

Lois Duncan’s horror and suspense books for young adults served as roadmaps to growing up, surviving trauma, and becoming our true selves.

By Luisa Colon | September 12, 2023

Some Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Royal House of Windsor

Some Conspiracy Theories Surrounding the Royal House of Windsor

The scandals of the British royal family have made for excellent fodder for crime fiction.

By Christine Wells | September 12, 2023

The Girl and the Faun: Eden Phillpotts, His Crime Fiction and His Strange Relationship with His Daughter Adelaide

The Girl and the Faun: Eden Phillpotts, His Crime Fiction and His Strange Relationship with His Daughter Adelaide

The prolific and long-lived Phillpotts was Agatha Christie's neighbor and early reader. He was also a monster.

By Curtis Evans | September 11, 2023

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