NON-FICTION

Articles and Essays

• Full Stream Ahead/Down By the Old Swill Stream
  Mystery Scene; to come
  Movies and TV sans frontieres
  
  
• The 2014 Mystery Scene Gift Guide
  Holiday 2014, Mystery Scene #137
  Don't play the holiday sap..
  
  Veronica Mars
  Spring 2014, Mystery Scene #134
  In the wake of the Kickstarter-funded feature film. I cover all things Veronica. But please don't ask me to wear a Team Logan T-shirt.
  
  
• The 2013 Mystery Scene Gift Guide
  Holiday 2013, Mystery Scene #132
  The Holidays are, of course, murder. Give accordingly.
  
  
• Triple Threat: Exciting New Voices in the Private Eye Novel
  Fall 2013, Mystery Scene #131
  Thoft, Gran and Brackmann -- these hard-boiled sisters are doin' it for themsleves.
  
  
• The 2012 Mystery Scene Gift Guide
  Holiday 2012, Mystery Scene #127
  This ran in the print edition, of course, but it was also parcelled out online as Unique Gifts, Picks for TV Lovers and Six Gifts for Giving.
  
  
• Mystery Action Figures We'd Like to See
  Fall 2012, Mystery Scene #126
  "We"? I indulge MY inner child...
  
  
• Back to Beer: Ace Atkins Does Spenser Proud
  Summer 2012, Mystery Scene #125
  Cranky critic admits he was wrong!
  
  
• Authors Say the Darnedest Things
  Summer 2012, Reflections in a Private Eye
  Pithy quotes from Chandler, John D. MacDonald and others.
  
  
• Dave Robicheaux: A Character Sketch
  January 3, 2012, Muholland Books
  My take on James Lee Burke's classic almost-eye.
  
  
• Secret Agent Santa: The 2011 Mystery Scene Gift Guide
  Holiday 2011, Mystery Scene #122
  
  
• The Whole Gorey Story
  October 27, 2011, mysteryscenemag.com
  A Hallowe'en mini-gift guide, co-written with Mystery Scene staff.
  
  
• Joe Gores: 1931-2011
  Spring 2011, Mystery Scene #119
  Tribute to one of the P.I. genre's greats.
  
  
• Robert Crais: The Dudes Abide
  Winter 2011, Mystery Scene #118
  An overview of the SoCal World that Crais has created... Welcome to ElvisLand.
  
  
• The 2010 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2010, Mystery Scene #117
  Annual collection of solutions for the mystery lovers on your shopping list.
  
  
• The Best Damn Private Eye on Television
  December 2010, The American Culture
  In defense of Kalinda Sharma, of CBS' The Good Wife.
  
  
• Murder on the Menu
  Fall 2010, Mystery Scene #116
  Crime-themed cookbooks. | Read it.
  
  
• Michael Koryta: Take Me to the River
  Summer 2010, Mystery Scene #115
  There's something in the water, and Michael takes us there...
  
  
• The 2009 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2009, Mystery Scene #112
  Annual collection of solutions for the mystery lovers on your shopping list.
  
  
• The Eyes of the World
  Fall 2009, Mystery Scene #111
  Private eyes go global.
  
  
• Girls Just Wanna Have Guns
  Summer 2009, Mystery Scene #110
  

  Meet five terrific ítecs from mystery fictionís second wave of feminism...
  
  

• Death was Not Her Job
  Winter 2009, Mystery Scene #108
  A look at writer Linda L. Richards and her Kitty Langborn/DexTheroux detective series.
  
  
• The 2008 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2008, Mystery Scene #107
  Solutions for the mystery lovers on your shopping list.
  
  
• "Music, Murder and Mayhem"
  Summer 2008, Mystery Scene #105
  The world's bloodiest playlist...
  
  "Elliot Ness"
  Holiday 2007, Mystery Scene #102
  
  
• Tales of Power (Senor)
  May 2008, The Thrilling Detective Blog
  My quickie look at the Gary Phillips-edited Politics Noir is a natural follow-up to my "Who Would Marlowe Vote For?" column in the Spring 2008 issue of Mystery Scene.
  
  
• "It's a Shame About Ray"
  February 2008, The Rap Sheet
  A "rugged love tap" (Gary Phillips' words) regarding Judith Freeman's Raymond Chandler bio, The Long Embrace, with which I definitely had problems.
  
  
• The 2007 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2007, Mystery Scene #102
  Writing books! Agatha Christie pins! Big Lebowski action figures! Share this loot with your favorite felons.
  
  
• "Delores Hitchens"
  "Alan Farley"
  A Hell of a Woman: An Anthology of Female Noir...Buy this book
  Edited by Megan Abbott
  Houston, TX: Busted Flush Press, 2007
  Appreciations of two of my favourite female writers from the pulp era, included in a collection of original stories featuring assorted dangerous dames, larcenous ladies and hard-boiled hussies.
  
  
• 100 Eyes of the Mystery Scene Era
  Summer 2007, Mystery Scene #100
  A foolhardy attempt to create a listing of 100 eyes created since 1985 (the year Mystery Scene first appeared) who mattered to me. It wasn't intended to be a dry, scholarly piece or in-dept literary evaluation, but simply a personal, off-the-cuff retrospective, intended to prompt discussion -- I think I succeeded.
  
  
• "Neo-nah"
  June 2007, The Rap Sheet
  A controversial little op-ed piece that generated a surprising amount of subsequent discussion, in which I lamented on the quality of what was being passed off as "noir fiction." Evidently I touched a nerve -- some people take their beloved scenes of mutilation and torture very seriously indeed.
  
  
• "Early Autumn" by Robert Parker
  May 2007, The Rap Sheet
  Part of The Rap Sheet ONE BOOK PROJECT
  When asked by editor Jeff Pierce "What one crime, mystery, or thriller novel do you think has been most unjustly overlooked, criminally forgotten, or underappreciated over the years?" I responded with this short piece.
  
  
• "Dennis Lynds: Shit, I'll Miss Him"
  A Chapbook in Appreciation of Dennis Lynds
  2007 Left Coast Crime Chapbook
  My tribute to Dennis, included in a chapbook (along with Thrilling Detective's bibliography of his work), distributed to those attending Left Coast Crime in Seattle, February 1-4, 2007.
  
  
• The 2006 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2006, Mystery Scene #97
  Mountie art! Wool rollers! Bracelets!
  
  
• The 2005 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2005, Mystery Scene #92
  
  
• The 2004 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide: Or the Fat Man Cometh
  Holiday 2004, Mystery Scene #87
  Print
  The all-singing, all-dancing list of shopping suggestions for the mystery fan on your list.
  
  
• Almost as Crooked: A Dozen Montreal Private Eyes
  Volume 19: No. 4, Winter 2003-2004, Mystery Readers Journal: Cool Canadian Crime Issue
  Print
  12 private dicks who walk the mean streets of ma ville.
  
  
• .The 2003 Mystery Scene Holiday Gift Guide
  Holiday 2003, Mystery Scene #82
  Print
  A list of gifts to share with folks from Nome to Katmandu.
  
  
• The Original Shadow Man: Allan Pinkerton
  September 2003, Reflections in a Private Eye
  Print
  Profile in Private Eye Writers of America Newsletter.
  
  
• Suddenly the Air Was Full of Music: The P.I. Mix Tape
  (Volume 19: No. 3, Fall 2003, Mystery Readers Journal: Music and Mysteries Issue)
  Print
  My favourite jazz, folk, blues and rock songs about private eyes. It's got a nice beat, and you can dance to it. This was a fun one to do..
  
  
• Raucous Laughter Is The Best Medicine:
  A Coupla Thousand Bloody Words on Private Eyes
  2002 Bloody Words Programme Book.
  
  
• Out of the Darkness
  February 2001, Crime Factory #1
  More musings on the black private eye in American detective fiction.
  
  
• On the Trail of the Old Dicks
  Fall 2000, Mystery Readers Journal
  Trenchcoat? Check. Fedora? Check. Gun? Check. Dentures?
  
  
• Beyond Shaft: Black Private Eyes in Fiction
  July 2000, January Magazine
  Feature article on Shaft, Toussaint Moore, Easy Rawlins and others.
  
  
• His Typewriter Spat Ka-Chow! Robert Leslie Bellem's Dan Turner
  January-February 2001, WordWrights
  Short bio and bibliography of Robert Leslie Bellem.
  Read it here
  
  
• The Ballad Of The Thrilling Detective
  Winter 2000, Over My Dead Body
  True confessions of a web monkey.
  
  
• Lesbloitation! Cover Girls
  August 1999, Details Magazine
  Print
  The Art of Lesbian Pulp Fiction...Exposed!
  
  
• It's Personal
  April 1999, January Magazine
  Part of January magazine's 50 Years with Lew Archer: An Anniversary Tribute to Ross Macdonald, covering, among other things, Macdonald's involvement with rocker Warren Zevon. My first piece for January, and amazingly, I'm still getting compliments for it.
  
  
• Down Those Mean Skies: The Case of the Private Detective in Science Fiction, Fantasy & Other Related Genres
  December 1990, WARP
  My very first appearance in print, done for The Official Newsletter of the Montreal Science Fiction & Fantasy Association. Thanks, Keith.