There’s only one person I’ve ever imagined killing. I’d lay awake fantasizing about stalking his jogging route, hiding in a dark alley in my beat-up Chevy Vega, then running him over. Of course, I wasn’t ever seriously considering murder, even if he’d made my life...
The first two are wall maps I use far more often than I ever expected. My husband made the yellow shelves beneath the world map for me for our first Christmas when we were dating. The third one is my (always) messy desk, decorated with awards and with lovely handmade...
The longlist for the McIlvanney Prize for the best Scottish Crime Novel of 2016 has been announced. Even Dogs in the Wild, by Ian Rankin (Orion) Open Wounds, by Douglas Skelton (Luath) The Damage Done, by James Oswald (Michael Joseph) The Special Dead, by Lin Anderson...
SCREAM (film) — Hilariously, this was my first date. It didn’t go well, because the guy in question thought I needed hand-holding, when I was in fact enthralled with and delighted by Kevin Williamson’s post-postmodern take on how horror had nothing new left to say,...
"Today I dropped another shipment of books off at our local shelter. As I wrestled the first box out of the car, a woman trotted over. ‘Are you donating books?’ she asked. ‘Yup.’ ‘Do you mind if I grab one before you bring them in? They get snatched up pretty quick.’...
Sometimes the old tune, “Far Away Places with Strange Sounding Names,” plays in my mind when searching for my story’s setting. The South of France brings to mind fragrant sea breezes, delicious food, and forbidden romance. The writer Somerset Maugham said of...
