Crime Reads » Essays

Impossible Murders In Crime Fiction

Impossible Murders In Crime Fiction

Or, how to use locked-room mysteries and other devilish puzzles to take your novel to a new level.

By A. G. Riddle | September 7, 2022

War Movies: An Essential Primer

War Movies: An Essential Primer

These films prove that every good war movie is an anti-war movie.

By James R. Benn | September 6, 2022

Why Are Stories of Captivity and Abduction So Extraordinarily Terrifying?

Why Are Stories of Captivity and Abduction So Extraordinarily Terrifying?

A private home can be a castle. It can also be a prison.

By Meg Elison | September 6, 2022

Tommy Udo: In Praise of Film Noir’s Greatest Homme Fatal

Tommy Udo: In Praise of Film Noir’s Greatest Homme Fatal

75 years later, that iconic, sadistic laugh is still reverberating through the culture.

By Zach Vasquez | September 2, 2022

Five Steps to Writing a Crime Novel Inspired by Your Family (Without Making Everyone Hate You)

Five Steps to Writing a Crime Novel Inspired by Your Family (Without Making Everyone Hate You)

You're going to want to get really riled up. Then, prepare to sustain that fire for several months, to years.

By Cody Luke Davis | September 2, 2022

Why Do Vacation Spots Make Perfect Crime Settings?

Why Do Vacation Spots Make Perfect Crime Settings?

"The juxtaposition of beauty and the expectation of happiness, with the reality of the local police blotter, can be jarring."

By Luanne Rice | September 1, 2022

Best Reviewed
Books of the Week

Martin Edwards on the Russian Cult Classic Crime Novel Count Azar

By Martin Edwards | September 1, 2022

The Psychology of Fandom

By Jennifer Lynn Barnes | September 1, 2022

What Dystopias Reveal About Us

By C. J. Carey | August 31, 2022

Don’t Turn My Book into a TV Series

Don’t Turn My Book into a TV Series

Jason Mosberg on Hollywood's IP craze and the dream of an original idea (and an original script).

By Jason Mosberg | August 30, 2022

Six Things I’ve Learned About Writing In My Sixties

Six Things I’ve Learned About Writing In My Sixties

"I’m old enough to know that writing is a privilege."

By Rosalind Stopps | August 30, 2022

Man or Beast? Apex Predators in Tales of Crime

Man or Beast? Apex Predators in Tales of Crime

We fear these creatures in fiction. But in the real world, humans pose the biggest threat of all.

By Jon Kaledin | August 29, 2022

Relating to Diverse Characters: The Common Denominator

Relating to Diverse Characters: The Common Denominator

Unless you're reading an autobiographical novel, you won't find a character exactly like you. But as humans, there are shared experiences that unite us.

By V. M. Burns | August 29, 2022

The Gospel According to Flannery O’Connor, Harry Crews, Toni Morrison and Donald Ray Pollock

The Gospel According to Flannery O’Connor, Harry Crews, Toni Morrison and Donald Ray Pollock

These authors "each extend Poe’s Gothic sensibility to show us the frailty of our superficial, quotidian existence."

By Jonathan Woods | August 29, 2022

Mark Pryor On Writing a Novel Set During WWII-Era France To Honor His Family History

Mark Pryor On Writing a Novel Set During WWII-Era France To Honor His Family History

"[T]he First and Second World Wars remain alive, not just in our imaginations but before our very eyes."

By Mark Pryor | August 26, 2022

The Gothic Horror of a Post-Roe America

The Gothic Horror of a Post-Roe America

Or, We're All Still Locked Away in Edward Rochester’s Attic...

By Gwendolyn Kiste | August 25, 2022

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