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Recent Posts
Tag Archives: suspense
“Roads and Wilderness: Two Novels by James M. Cain” (by Zoë Z. Dean)
Zoë Z. Dean (a pseudonym for Kentucky writer Lauren James) debuted in EQMM’s Department of First Stories in November 2014 with the story “Getaway Girl”—for which she has just won the Mystery Writers of America’s Robert L. Fish Memorial Award … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Characters, Fiction, Genre, Guest, Noir
Tagged analysis, cain, crime, double indemnity, literature, noir, postman, reader, suspense, writer
9 Comments
A FEW REFLECTIONS ABOUT SUSPENSE
A few days ago I received an e-mail from one of EQMM’s Passport to Crime translators, Josh Pachter. It contained a detailed synopsis of a story he proposed translating for us, but in the few lines of the e-mail preceding … Continue reading
“Translating is Gezellig” by Josh Pachter
The last time Josh Pachter posted on this site he talked about his lifelong love affair with EQMM. This time he provides a fascinating look at the process of literary translation. He is himself a writer of fiction, with some … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Editing, Fiction, Guest, International, Magazine, Passport, Publishing, Translation
Tagged crime, dutch, fiction, mystery, suspense, translation, translator
4 Comments
“Today’s Literary Mystery—It’s Not What Your Granny Used to Read” (by Scott Loring Sanders)
Scott Loring Sanders teaches creative writing at Virginia Tech. He’s also a novelist and an award-winning short-story writer. His topic for this post—pigeonholing by publishers and booksellers—is something he knows about from personal experience. His first novel, The Hanging Woods, … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Business, Fiction, Genre, Guest, Publishing, Writers
Tagged crime, fiction, genre, literary, literary mystery, marketing, mystery, publishing, subgenre, suspense
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WRAPPING IT UP
This week I’d like to expand on a post I made on November 8, 2010, on EQMM’s Web-site forum, concerning confession scenes. They’re a staple of our genre, so much so that I suspect most writers of crime fiction have … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Characters, Editing, Fiction, History, Writers
Tagged advice, characters, editing, fiction, mystery, suspense, thriller, writers, writing, writing_technique
6 Comments
“Writing to the Edge” (by Sandi Ault)
Adventure is a mystery-crossover category that we haven’t discussed much yet on this blog, but we’re correcting that today. Sandi Ault’s series of novels featuring Jamaica Wild, a Bureau of Land Management agent, are chock full of adventure, as EQMM … Continue reading
Posted in Adventure, Characters, Fiction, Genre, Guest, Setting, Writers
Tagged adventure, animals, characters, inspiration, landscapes, novel, research, setting, shortstory, suspense, technique, wild, wildlife
21 Comments
“On Location in Paradise” (by Hayford Peirce)
EQMM’s August issue, which mails to print subscribers a few weeks from now, contains a story set in French Polynesia—often said to be the most beautiful region in the world. Entitled “The Lethal Leeteg,” the story forms part of a … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Fiction, Guest, Historicals, History, Police Procedurals, Setting, Writers
Tagged elleryqueen, eqmm, exotic, fiction, hardboiled, short story, suspense, tahiti, technique, thriller
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“Engaging an Audience: Components of the Thriller Writer’s Art” (by Mike Cooper)
Joining us this week is Mike Cooper, one of our 2012 Barry Award nominees, for the short story “Whiz Bang” (EQMM Sept/Oct 2011). That stellar story is a locked-room mystery, but its author is better known as a thriller writer. Mike Cooper … Continue reading
Posted in Characters, Fiction, Guest, Thrillers
Tagged adventure, captaion_underpants, mike cooper, publishing, suspense, thrillers, writing, writing_technique
1 Comment
“Edgar, Agatha, Hammett, Glauser—and Me” (by Mary Tannert)
Translators are the unsung heroes of the literary world. What they do requires not just knowledge of the language to be translated from but a writerly feel for the language they are translating to. Mary Tannert fits that bill. A … Continue reading
Posted in Editing, Fiction, Guest, Translation
Tagged criminale, elleryqueen, elleryqueenmm, eqmm, exotic, foreign language, glauser, history, literature, mystery, publishing, suspense, translation, translators, writers
1 Comment
“The Magical Mystery Bookstore” (by Jenny Milchman)
Jenny Milchman is a new writer, and yet she has already influenced not only the mystery field but the wider bookselling world. Her first paid professional publication, the short story “The Closet,” will appear in EQMM’s November issue (on sale … Continue reading
Posted in Bookshops, Fiction, Guest
Tagged book shop, books, booksellers, bookshop, bookstore, bring your child to a bookstore, childrens books, elleryqueenmm, eqmm, literature, nancydrew, suspense, youngadult
2 Comments