In economics 101, you may have heard of things like “lipstick indicators” or “men’s underwear index” to predict recessions and expansions. These indexes are plentiful across industries, but my favo…

I think it’s safe to say a large swath of bibliophiles out there simply love reading about psychopaths. They love them when they serve as the core component of true crime, they love them in fiction…

I first heard about Walter F. White, the spy, when I was in elementary school. I grew up in a mixed and Black family, the lightest child in every bunch. Possibly the lightest child in history, I th…

Contrary to popular wisdom, it is not necessary to write what you know. A decidedly non-exhaustive list of exhibits: Tolstoy presumably did not know how to be a woman when he wrote Anna Karenina; T…

When a crime-fiction conference recently came to San Francisco, a friend of mine issued me a challenge: since Capri Sanzio, the protagonist of my current mystery series, is a true-crime walking tou…

5 new works of true crime history and reportage out this month, as selected by the CrimeReads editors. * Anand Giridharadas, Man in the Mirror: Hope, Struggle, and Belonging in an American City (Kn…

Anyway, I recently published a new anthology (here’s a link and all that, cause commerce or whatever: theodorevanalst.com) so I’ve been doing the interview and press thing lately. During one of tho…

If you’re anything like me, you’ve awaited the film or TV adaptation of your favorite thriller with a mix of excitement and trepidation—will they do it justice? What if they miscast it or mess with…

Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. * Sarah Langan, Trad Wife (Atria) “[A] slick, eerie horror outing…a memorable entry in the recent slew of h…

I don’t know about you, but I read to escape. To leave the mundane world behind. To dive into a setting completely different from my own. And to me, few things are more escapist than novels set wit…

It’s getting harder and harder to tell the bounds between gothic fiction, suspense, psychological thrillers, and horror; much of what makes a good thriller is a good twist, and for me, a twis…

A missing lens cap, a mistaken headline, and a Catholic church in southern Japan: these are the pieces of the puzzle that needed to come to together for me to write my novel Officer Shimada and the…

Why? Because art is expensive. Think about it, paintings and sculptures are unique objects made by one artist over a lifetime, limited in supply, ergo valuable. Example: Leonardo da Vinci made only…

A missing lens cap, a mistaken headline, and a Catholic church in southern Japan: these are the pieces of the puzzle that needed to come to together for me to write my novel Officer Shimada and the…

After decades of watching and reading thrillers, you would think that most people would be well versed in the ins and outs of getting away with murder. Yet, time and time again, we see an alibi car…

Cozy mystery amateur sleuths always seem to stumble into solving murders with surprising results. Their day jobs may seem like ordinary professions on the surface, but once a mysterious death occur…

Incorporating real-world political or social issues into a commercial novel has always been tricky, if not questionable. Is it necessary for the story, or the character? Will a clearly defined posi…

Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. Rupert Holmes, Where the Truth Lies (Avid Reader Press/Simon & Schuster) “Holmes, who has won honors galore for his…

Once upon a time, there was a story that twisted the fabric of its origins, becoming more horrific, more deadly, taking tropes and beats from classic fairytales and turning them into something new.…

There have always been Australian crime novels set in remote areas, but a distinctive cluster of them has appeared in recent years, prompting reviewers to use the phrase, “outback noir.&#8221…

Chronovisor, Kevin Walker and Jack Auen’s debut feature, is an immersive, intellectual mystery in the style of Jorge Luis Borges and Umberto Eco. Taking place mostly in libraries and showcasing the…

Here are 78+ new and upcoming novels to fill out the rest of this long, long year. You’ll see quite a bit of horror in here, as Halloween season now seems to start in mid-July (summerween, an…

When I first thought about writing a PI novel, I read and heard lots of advice about how to make your character good at what they do. Fellow authors talked about the research they had done to learn…

When I first thought about writing a PI novel, I read and heard lots of advice about how to make your character good at what they do. Fellow authors talked about the research they had done to learn…

At five minutes past seven in the morning of Monday 21st August 1911, Vincenzo Peruggia, an Italian decorator, walked into the Louvre in Paris dressed in a white workman’s smock similar to the ones…

Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. Jonathan Santlofer, Ten Perfect Guests (Sourcebooks) “Smart and amazing. A hallmark of Santlofer’s writing …

Everyone in this book is hiding something. While J.T. Ellison speaks this truth in reference to her new standalone novel, You Know Why (Thomas & Mercer; August 25, 2026) specifically, it could …

Just when you thought thrillers and mysteries were the only place to find a body, along comes a small army of writers who love a good romance and a lot of laughter with their untimely deaths. Latel…

When I say “Monaco woman,” what image comes to mind? Perhaps it’s a model stretched out on the deck of a yacht, champagne (or green detox juice) in hand. Perhaps it’s a sung…

1984 “Aqui viene el Leon.”  Here comes the Lion.  The words seemed to hang over the tiny Miami storefront. Oscar, Pepe’s boss, spoke to them almost nonchalantly. Because, on any other day, this wou…

My mother started lying to me when I was about ten.  It all started at Thanksgiving. Mom would make two turkeys, because there were always a lot of family and friends. And in one turkey she’d put r…

I can’t tell you how many people have contacted me, in the past few days, asking if it’s true that, in the 1930s, there was a silent film about dogs solving a murder mystery. In this ag…

Last week, we lost the great Dolly Parton. It was a devastating loss. Not only was she the rare figure beloved by all of our divided nation (and beyond), but she was a progressive force promoting v…

The thread that wove me together was made of curiosity. As a child, my favorite game to play was asking “Why?” My brother would make a statement that required no further elaboration, bu…

What is a locked-room mystery? And is it different from a closed-circle mystery? I’ve heard people refer to my new book, The Getaway, as both, and this has had me scratching my head. I’ve always th…

Classic mysteries are popular for their predictable structure shepherded to a tidy conclusion by a sympathetic detective, and I am particularly fond of those set inside academia. The added layer of…

I thought I understood the Watergate scandal which brought down President Nixon in August of 1974. After all, as a ten-year-old boy the televised Senate hearings had played constantly as a daily dr…

The thread that wove me together was made of curiosity. As a child, my favorite game to play was asking “Why?” My brother would make a statement that required no further elaboration, bu…

While preparing for a recent appearance on a podcast episode about John Boorman’s 1967 film, Point Blank, I thought a lot about American noir cinema of the very late 1950s and the 1960s. I find it …

Ropes swung from the makeshift gallows, hastily erected in Bury St. Edmunds at Thingoe Hill, a popular spot for executions. One that would taste death once more that day on August 27, 1645, when ei…

Last week, we lost the great Dolly Parton. It was a devastating loss. Not only was she the rare figure beloved by all of our divided nation (and beyond), but she was a progressive force promoting v…

For some time now, my Instagram feed has been awash with the imagery of “dark academia”: oak paneled rooms and vaulted ceilings, the glow of solitary reading lamps, and row upon row of …

Novelists aren’t the only ones with strong opinions about what makes a good crime novel. Digital creator (and all-around crime fiction advocate) Abby Dunn (@crimebythebook) has been one of my favor…

I find myself drawn to stories that incorporate mystery through little understood places, wildernesses, or unmapped regions. Quite often, these realms host the supernatural, and, at the very least,…

Another week, another batch of books for your TBR pile. Happy reading, folks. Henry Wise, Promised Land (Atlantic Crime) “Few novels have reflected their setting as powerfully as this one, with its…

I love a short story! And as a new mom, short stories are kind of all I can read right now. I love Jonathan Ames, and I just moved through The Double Life Is Twice as Good. And now I’m ready …

There is something undoubtedly addictive in reading about a courageous lone character facing overwhelming odds, while surviving in utter isolation. History and mythology are brimming with such exam…

A few years ago, sharing the stage at a book festival with another crime writer, there was a question from the audience about what kind of research we did. My fellow author talked about getting a p…