by Helen Currie Foster On April 2 I drove with my writing compadre D.L.S. Evatt (aka Dixie) to Houston to sign books at Murder by the...

by Helen Currie Foster Driving into New Mexico with my husband (favorite long-time travel companion) I peer anxiously out the car...

by Helen Currie Foster Okay—Mom Genes is such a great title, it couldn’t not be used. But Abigail Tucker’s new book of that title doesn’t...

by Helen Currie Foster We read to learn, we read to be entertained. We begged at age three, “Tell me a story.” The stories began, “Once...

by Helen Currie Foster In the back of the closet I recently unearthed my mother’s old Caswell Massey “Gardenia” bubble bath. The...

Try to imagine a mystery without its setting. What? You’re having trouble? Open a mystery and be denied the setting. What? You’re getting...

Mystery readers are tetchy. We want an interesting plot with a fair shot at noting each clue—but don’t want to guess whodunnit too soon....

I know, you’re asking yourself what barbecue has to do with mystery writing, my other beloved topic. Barbecuing, like writing (see K.P....

Why, exactly, do we take such interest in what our favorite detectives eat or what a character like Aunt Agatha grabs for first at...

Lately I’ve been thinking about remarkable people who never got to see the significance of their work, regardless of its brilliance....

By Helen Currie Foster So, did you dress up for Halloween? Did you buy a mask in New Orleans, or Venice, perhaps one with feathers? What...

by Helen Currie Foster “Tell me a story,” begs the child. “Tell me a story about before you met me,” the lover entreats the loved one....

by Helen Currie Foster John li Carre, by Krimidoedel, CC BY 3.0, via Wikipedia Okay, you already know I’m hooked on le Carré. Never did I...

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

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...

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

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 Helen Currie Foster In her 2001 collection Rereadings, Anne Fadiman challenged writers to revisit books they read before they were...

Helen Currie Foster Posted by Helen Currie Foster —from news, winter, deadlines, calamities. Two books did the trick for me this...