Tag Archives: mysteries

Snuggle Up

Posted on May 16, 2022 by midiguru

It has happened before. After finishing a large writing project (that is, a novel), I flounder around for a while trying to organize a new one, get terribly confused about the welter of material I’ve generated, and give up writing … Continue reading →

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The Moonstone & Sixpence

Posted on December 29, 2021 by midiguru

I don’t remember when I acquired my paperback copy of Wilkie Collins’s The Moonstone. Internal evidence (the copyright notice on the reprint) suggests it was probably in the mid-1980s. If I read it at the time, I have only the … Continue reading →

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Many Mysteries

Posted on November 30, 2021 by midiguru

The mystery genre is hugely popular. Just about any type of story you’d enjoy, you can find on the mystery shelves. The trick is finding something that fits your tastes. There are sub-genres: cozies, thrillers, historical, police procedural, and so … Continue reading →

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…and the beat goes on…

Posted on October 1, 2020 by midiguru

This week I’m shopping not one but two mystery novels to agents, meanwhile wondering what I want to write next. One of the two is a realistic historical mystery; the other is a crossover YA/fantasy/mystery set in another world, so … Continue reading →

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Crusty

Posted on August 20, 2015 by midiguru

I love reading mysteries. Lately I’ve been on an Agatha Christie jag — bought many of the titles that were not already in my collection. Her approach to plot is somewhat formulaic, though there are often surprising twists. (That’s part … Continue reading →

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The Delicate Aura of Mayhem

Posted on October 31, 2010 by midiguru

P. D. James is depressing. She’s a fine writer; this is not a criticism of her talent or technique. At least, not directly. It’s the materials she chooses for her stories that cast long, gloomy shadows. Right now I’m reading … Continue reading →

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Reading: Strangers

Posted on September 14, 2009 by midiguru

Stayed up ’til 2 in the morning finishing J. D. Robb’s Strangers in Death, so I may as well admit it was a good story. The plot is borrowed from an old Hitchcock movie, but Robb (Nora Roberts in real … Continue reading →

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The Middle 8

Posted on September 13, 2009 by midiguru

In jazz parlance, the middle 8 is the B section in a 32-bar AABA song form. In the middle 8, the chord progression turns a corner and the song moves off into a different space. I’ve been working on a … Continue reading →

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Reading: The Thin Man

Posted on August 18, 2009 by midiguru

Having absorbed a few recently published mystery novels, I thought it would be fun and possibly instructive to compare and contrast them with one of the old masters. So I pulled out my copy of Dashiel Hammett’s The Thin Man. … Continue reading →

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Reading: Oh, Faye

Posted on August 17, 2009 by midiguru

Elmore Leonard has said that when writing his novels, he tries not to write the parts that people skip. Yesterday the mystery novel at the top of my stack was Faye Kellerman’s The Burnt House. I found myself skipping large … Continue reading →

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