Sometimes I read too many Golden Age mystery novels and start writing them myself. And whoops, I did it again! In Scotland. Setting: Hamish MacHaggis’s estate in Glencambell, in the Highlands. Occasion: a house party. Guests are Lord and Lady Scrymshawe, a...
When people ask about my “writing process,” I long to give them the kind of answers I've heard from other writers. Things like, “I rise before dawn, eat a slice of whole-wheat bread with organic fig jam, and write for two hours. Then I take up my duties as a state...
If people are ever jailed because of their search-engine inquiries, mystery writers are in trouble.
The last time I read a lot of 1930s Golden Age English mysteries, I ended up writing one in my sleep. I'm awake now, so there’s no excuse for this one. Still, let’s press on. Our story begins outside a village church, after Sunday service, as Hector Spector (the...
I’ve been reading so many 1930s "Golden Age" English mysteries, I think I could write one in my sleep. In fact -- [rummages through scraps of paper on night-stand] -- I have written one in my sleep! Let's see if it's any good. Chapter 1: Toast on the Terrace Victim:...
Let's find out if you qualify. Imagine you’re walking by a lake on a gorgeous summer morning, breathing in the mingled scents of lake water and fragrant fir trees, and then you come upon a canoe pulled up at a dock, and you think, “That canoe could have a body in it...