by Renee Kimball Reading is like swimming.  Sometimes a novel is like a wading pool, low-level, light, humorous.  Then there are others...

By K.P. Gresham This week I lost a very good friend and an incredible mentor. Anna Castle wrote historical mysteries including two...

Whatever may be said about Through A Glass Darkly, it was and remains a hugely popular historical fiction novel.  I recently re-read...

“From the start . . . I felt that the best fiction was both propulsive and assaultive.  It gets in your face.  Sometimes it shouts in...

by K.P. Gresham I recently appeared on a “Writing Humor in Mysteries” panel at the Pflugerville, Texas, Library along with fellow authors...

by Renee Kimball Meredith Maran decided to write a book about writing to show her “gratitude to writers everywhere.”  To do that,...

* The first few years I studied Romeo and Juliet with my high school freshmen, when I was in my The way Juliet’s father tells her to...

Memoir – noun:  a narrative composed from personal experience  – Merriam Webster Dictionary. Every memoir reminds us of the faraway and...

By Helen Currie Foster Last week Big D hosted the Bouchercon book conference. Two sessions made me wonder why we’re drawn to particular...

No matter what they tell you, Texas isn’t all cowboys and cactus and bullets and brush. Texas Book Festival  opens on the grounds of the...

by Helen Currie Foster An author can get great mileage by giving the point of view to a Watson sort of character. The Watson can be...

by Helen Currie Foster Even just thinking of certain smells can yank me straight back to childhood. Oil paint­­s? Mama working on her...

[Notice: Typgress is not authorized to post content from this blog on its site.] When I began Elizabeth Buhmann’s BLUE LAKE, I was–I’m...

The master of suspense took a break from his usual mystery, crime, and thriller books to write Playing for Pizza; a football story...

by Helen Currie Foster Fred Vargas by Marcello Casal/ABr, licensed under CC BY-3.0 BR. Via Wikipedia Her sheer imagination, her complex...

By K.P. Gresham Sara Paretsky created quite a stir in the mystery writing community with her recent letter to the editor. (New York Times...

It happened again. An author killed off a character I love. I hate that. I hate the author. I continue to like the book, but the author I...

My heart speeds up on news that Donna Leon’s got a new police procedural, because I love her Guido Brunetti. Not in a romantic way, of...

by K.P. Gresham “After all, tomorrow is another day.” Recognize that book quote? They’re the five favorite words of Scarlet O’Hara in...

by M. K. Waller The other Ashby children—Simon’s sisters, nineteen-year-old Eleanor and nine-year-old twins Jane and Ruth—look forward to...