MARSHAL LAW: THE DELUXE EDITION Pat Mills, Kevin O’Neill 2013 DC Comics They say I don’t pray for my enemy I do. I pray they go to Hell I remember reading the original Marshal Law comics back in the late 80’s. The punk scene and strange party all the time attitude of the decade was waning and here was a comic that seemed to reflect that, and dealt with it with over the top violence and black humor and parody. I’m a fan of super hero comics and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I do also admit that there are an awful lot of comics that have been written over the years that are just goofy and ripe for parody. Marshal Law came along at just the...

This past Saturday Frank Wheeler and I spent the late morning and afternoon hitting some used bookstores in Milwaukee. The places to hit have changed from when I first started spending my time out hunting for cool books though there are still plenty of places to go. We started heading south and so our first stop was an old favorite in a new location. Downtown Books was moved out of their wonderful location downtown so a hotel could be put up. They have a smaller location around the corner to the west. They also opened a new location near the old Allan Bradley building, just to the north and east at 1134 S. 1st St. in Walker’s Point. ...

The Manuel Ramos Interview By Steven Torres This interview is in the latest issue of Crimespree (51) which is in the mail as this is typed. Manuel Ramos is an Edgar Award nominated author of novels and short stories mostly centered in the Denver area. If you haven’t read his books, you have missed out on great stories and some of the smoothest writing in the mystery field. Try Mooney’s Road to Hell if you want a taste of his noir mastery. Try Brown-on-Brown for some of the Luis Montez series. If you want the latest noir masterpiece, look at Desperado. Or, of course, you can find his short story in this issue. Steven Torres: I loved the Luis...

Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, is pleased to announce the Anthony Award Nominees for 2013. The winners will be chosen by the full time members of the 44th Bouchercon September 19-22, in Albany, New York. BEST NOVEL Dare Me – Megan Abbott [Reagan Arthur] The Trinity Game – Sean Chercover [Thomas & Mercer] Gone Girl – Gillian Flynn [Crown] The Beautiful Mystery – Louise Penny [Minotaur] The Other Woman – Hank Phillippi Ryan [Forge] BEST FIRST NOVEL Don’t Ever Get Old – Daniel Friedman [Thomas Dunne] The Professionals – Owen Laukkanen [Putnam] The Expats – Chris Pavone...

Sometimes late at night while working on the magazine I wonder if we might not be crazy continuing with the magazine. Are people reading? are we reaching folks with what we do? And then we get an email or letter like this one and I remember exactly why we do it. “I wanted you and your wife to know how much I value Crimespree. Odd, maybe, since I am a moderately cozy writer and, for the most part, a cozy reader, and Crimespree probably isn’t thought of as a magazine appealing to those sitting in the cozy corner of crime writing. Why, then, am I a loyal and happy subscriber? Largely because of the family feeling I get as I enjoy...

Recently I went on a bit of a kick watching westerns, in particular movies with Wyatt Earp. There are a lot but I limited mine to a total of six movies. In no particular order; Wyatt Earp (1994), Tombstone (1993), Hour Of The Gun (1967), Gunfight at OK Corral (1957), Sunset (1988) and Purgatory (1999). Purgatory was actually a movie without Earp, but Doc Holliday is in it, so you know, close enough.   The thing with these movies, even after watching all of them, it’s hard to tell what really happened at the Ok Corral. There are similar nits in some of the movies which leads me to believe that certain events actually happened, but being...

A wonderful local Milwaukee bookstore Boswell books has a monthly book club meeting for fans of mystery and crime fiction. We love the store and if you are so inclined drop in, check out the store and join the discussion! It’s also a great place to go to see authors! Boswell Book Company is located : 2559 N. Downer Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53211 June 24 – Still Midnight by Denise Mina July 22 – Betrayal of Trust by Susan Hill Aug 26 – 1222 by Anne Holt All meetings are here at the store, 4th Monday of the month, at 7 p.m. May is an exception. Since our regular time falls on Memorial Day, we are reading The Yard and...

Our adventure to C2E2 has now become an annual event for us. This is the second year we drove down to Chicago with Dan and Kate and have been the recipients of lovely hospitality by our friends Tasha and Andrew. They let us take over their living room with our luggage and comics for the weekend. This year also involved a terrific homemade dinner and a Lego birthday cake for Ruth. Kate and Dan headed over to C2E2 Friday afternoon and caught the Kill Shakespeare panel and then did an interview with the creators (Coming soon to this very site). Ruth hung out with Tasha while your narrator hit the downtown Lego store with Andrew and Xander....

Five Reasons I Can’t Wait to Hit the Archaia Booth at C2E2 By Bryan VanMeter 5. THEY ARE SOME OF THE COOLEST PEOPLE YOU WILL MEET. No, seriously, they are. They are all fan boys and girls at heart and love to discuss their stuff with you fan to fan, even if they’re the ones who wrote it. They are proud of their work and they should be. 4. MEL CAYLO SMILES WHEN YOU BRING HIM GOODIES. Does any more need to be said? Just bring the man some goodies 3. AMAZING NEW BOOKS. I cannot wait to get my hands on the latest and greatest that Archaia has to offer. With such wide ranging subjects as a burned out private detective (Mr. Murder is Dead),...

THE GOOD COP Brad Parks 2013 Minotaur Books Carter Ross returns in his fourth foray into investigative journalism in Parks’ latest novel. Ross is handed a story about a local officer who apparently kills himself in the precinct. After an interview with the man’s wife and former partner, Carter has too many questions to simply accept the conclusion of suicide. After all, why would a man with a new child, a job he loved, and a wife he was devoted to suddenly decide to throw it all away? Why would a man who was ten years sober be found with a bottle of bourbon on him? Why would the police be so anxious to simply sweep this under the nearest...