Treasures are a day early because we do “What Are You Reading?” on Thursdays. There’s a ton of November book releases, so I need to jump right in. I hope there’s a book or t…

The story collection, The Twelve Loves of Christmas, is called “An Advent Romance Collection”. From what I’ve read, the actual book has twelve sealed stories so the reader can ope…

Peter Robert Corris (1942-2018) was an Australian academic, historian, journalist, and novelist. He received a Ph.D. in history from the Australian National University and then became a lecturer, l…

Reviewed by Jeanne I love seeing the places where writers lived and worked, so I’ve seen many of these types of books and enjoyed them a...

Dorothy Cameron Disney was an American journalist, writer and columnist whose column, "Can This Marriage Be Saved," ran for three decades i...

I don’t know how I missed the eleventh Sherlock Holmes Bookshop Mystery by Vicki Delany. But, darn her anyways. She killed off my favorite suspect in The Devil in the Details. I should have k…

Often when writing, aspiring and novice authors concern themselves more with the structure of the story than the way it is told. Craftsmanship, however, is just as important as structure. Here are …

About Shortmystery, genre insight from every perspective: reading, writing, revising, submitting, editing, publishing, and publicity.

This October there are more than eight dozen calls for submissions. All of these are paying markets, and none charge submission fees. As alw...

I have to suspend disbelief to read a mystery series set in Santaland where an innkeeper from Oregon is married to Santa Claus and lives in Castle Kringle with the Claus family. I am such a sucker …

This October there are more than four dozen free writing contests for short fiction, novels, poetry, CNF, nonfiction, and plays. Prizes rang...

Reviewed by Jeanne   In recently post-World War II England, the Cloade family has lived in relative comfort, helped along financially by...

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One of the things I often hear from writers whose inboxes are crammed with incredibly personalized marketing or book club or editor impersonation emails–you know, the ones that make it seem the sender...

I’m a big fan of hardboiled detective Jack Shepard in Cleo Coyle’s Haunted Bookshop Detective series.It’s been a few years since I read the second last book, The Ghost Goes to the…

This October there are more than four dozen writing conferences and workshops. Some conferences and workshops will be held online, but most ...

This week’s forgotten book is essential for anyone who has ever read one of the Hardy Boys books by Franklin W. Dixon. My thanks to David C. Tucker, for drawing my attention to it. I found it a mes…

Nick Guthrie muses on the differences between writing short crime fiction and crime novels, and tells us why he’s so drawn to short-format fiction. He also discusses how and why his native co…

Have you had a good week? I think fall is finally here. It felt cold yesterday, but it might just be the dampness. A little chilly for me. I haven’t turned on the heat, but I did turn on my f…

Back in 2020, I posted the first "Locked and Loaded" blog-post reviewing five, or six, randomly picked, usually uncollected short stories of...

I went to the Canal Winchester Branch of the Columbus Public Library System on Saturday for the book tasting. One of the women expressed the feelings for most of us when she said it’s one of …

Critiquing some of the most interesting recent crime, mystery, and thriller releases. Click on the individual covers to read more. ...

I don’t read just spicy romances. RaeAnne Thayne’s contemporary romance is a sweet one, with a strong cast of interesting characters. The Rainy Day Bookshop features four people who hav…

Happy Fall Equinox! I love Autumn with its infinite variety of apples.   Here's a great way to make the most of the apple harvest. This ...

Mark C. McGarrity (July 22, 1943-July 4, 2002) was a newspaper features writer and columnist, writing about nature and outdoor recreation for the Newark Star-Ledger. Under the name Bartholomew Gill…