A Blog for Readers and Writers of Mystery, Crime, and Suspense Fiction
This past week saw a Russian hacking group hack into Colonial Pipeline, a company that provides gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to a large portion of the Eastern Seaboard. The hacking group, Darkside, reassured the world this was not political in nature, but done purely for monetary gain. The fact that they generally target English-speaking countries either supports this (English-speaking countries are generally richer than Slavic-speaking ones), or, you know, not.
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Miss Demeanor’s Question of the Week: Why Do We Love Books? Keenan: I love books because they transport me from[…]
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With a manuscript due at the end of the month, I need a laugh. And no one makes me laugh like the Scottish cartoonist Tom Gauld.
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If every version of a book was offered on the same shelf, which would you choose?
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I planned to write a blog post about truth being sometimes stranger than fiction and true crime podcasts and real-life stories that inspired crime novels. (I was yesterday years old when I learned that actress Gene Tierney’s tragedy inspired Agatha Christie’s The Mirror Cracked from Side to Side.) I would have had the post up around lunchtime for you to enjoy with your midday meal. Then I stepped outside…
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I love Mother’s Day, but I also love the day after Mother’s Day. I feel like it’s a moment of Zen after a very intense build-up. I think the Monday after Mother’s Day should be National Take-a-Break Day.
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The other day I was scrolling through Facebook and I came across a photo of the cover of Mia Manasala’s new book, Arsenic and Adobo. I was intrigued immediately. The bright colors pulled me in. So did the dog. It just had the vibe of a book I would enjoy reading. I’ve certainly read books with unappealing covers (probably), but I do find that if I like a cover, I’ll often like a book. So I asked my fellow Miss Demeanors how that felt on the subject.
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It’s Cinco de Mayo, Mexican Independence Day. When I was living in California, that meant Corona beer and chile rellenos.[…]
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Today is officially National Star Wars Day, so let’s talk about science fiction. Star Wars itself has always seemed to me an odd mix of historical fiction and science fiction (after all, it did happen a long time ago), and therefore not as prescient as, say, Star Trek, which predicted–so far–smart phones, Alexa, and 3D printers, virtual reality, bluetooth, tablets, video chats, and whatever those things are the TSA uses to scan us at airports.
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Finished your latest thrill and need another? I have three books of mystery and suspense to get you through the week.
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