Crafting a Whodunnit for Our Time: Guest post by Jonathan Santlofer

I grew up on Edgar Allan Poe, the Hardy Boys, Agatha Christie, Patricia Highsmith, and comic books. In between, I read a few adventure stories, The Three Musketeers, Robinson Crusoe (though it’s possible I read the latter in a Classic Comic version and only think I read the book). Reading was difficult for me, so I concentrated on what I considered my only gift: art. Though a poor student, I could draw anything, and that got me into art school where I learned I had slight dyslexia and after a year-long series of exercises, became a voracious reader making up for lost time.
 
When I started writing my first novel—after a successful career as a painter, sidetracked by a fire that destroyed 10 years of my artwork—I chose to write a semi-autobiographical novel (auto-fiction in today’s literary lingo). It was about a mid-career artist who had lost all his work and was professionally and emotionally adrift. Sound familiar?
 
At the time, I was living at the American Academy in Rome where I had a large airy studio with a spectacular view overlooking the eternal city. The only problem was I couldn’t paint; the fire and the loss had left me in doubt, questioning why I had become an artist in the first place. 
 
It was a difficult time, but Rome was glorious, the perfect city in which to be depressed. Every morning, after coffee and a cornetto (a sweet, crescent-shaped pastry that looks like a croissant only denser and sweeter and filled with crema or albicocca, apricot jam), I’d find a church and make exact replications of the interiors and the artwork, eventually filling several sketchbooks. (Little did I know I was in training to later become a legal art forger, but that’s another story). 
 
When I got home to NY and reread the 200 or so pages I had written, I couldn’t stand the main character, a 40-something artist, whiney and entitled. So, I killed him. Instant catharsis. That’s how I found what I wanted to write: a crime story. The book ended up being my first novel The Death Artist, about a serial killer loose in the New York art world. The New York Times Magazine did a feature on me (the well-known artist turned writer) and People Magazine chose my novel as their Page Turner of the Week, both of which helped make the book a success.
 
It followed with a contract to write two more books, but I never wrote a good old-fashioned whodunit until now, Ten Perfect Guests, my ninth book. I wanted to give readers a gift, an entertainment and escape from our troubled times, something fun, and more than a little sinister. But that’s half the fun, isn’t it? If you’re writing a book about a group of nasty characters lured to a deserted island for the memorial of a rich and famous artist with the promise of an inheritance (but only if they show up), you can be sure there will be in-fighting, backstabbing and nefarious goings on.
 
I wanted to take all the whodunit tropes, a large cast (but of fully developed) characters, an isolated locale (in this case a deserted island), and update the genre to the present day with angst and drama and lots of dark humor. I also added drawings, illustrations I made for the five parts of the story, all painted in gouache with the same frame, to give it the look of an illustrated manuscript.

 
I reread Christie’s And Then There Were None and Highsmith’s Ripley books, and caught a fortuitous production of Hamlet at BAM which had me rereading Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear (which I saw three times in different productions over the past few years), and the idea of Shakespearean tragedy and the five-act structure—from exposition and accelerating action to the climactic fall and catastrophic resolution—took root. The challenge was how to keep it all fast and fun, Shakespearean comedy as well as tragedy. I reminded myself that one of my all-time favorite movie directors and writers, Billy Wilder—The Apartment, Some Like It Hot, Double Indemnity, A Foreign Affair (his Nazi rom-com!), always said that the tougher the subject matter the more you’d better make them laugh, something I took to heart.
 
The book required more plotting than I usually do, though the characters often refused to stay in their lanes, the plot deepened, and the climactic confession, which I had imagined as a few pages, ended up closer to 30—I just couldn’t get the killer to stop talking, but I enjoyed recounting that story almost as much as the killer enjoyed telling it. (I know I am the one writing, but the characters always know what they want to say).
 
In the end, Ten Perfect Guests is as much an homage to classic whodunnits as it is a study in greed and how it corrupts, a social satire with plenty of bite and wit and hopefully people will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
 
 
Jonathan Santlofer

 

How 20 years of Southwest Backcountry Hiking Inspired a Mystery About a Grieving Archaeologist: Guest Post by Skye Griffith

My journey writing Bone Hash, developed from years of adventures on the Colorado Plateau. Ever since I visited Mesa Verde National Park, I’ve been captivated by the story of prehistoric Native Americans who once lived in this high desert landscape that covers some 130,000 square miles. It was once home to hundreds of villages populated by prehistoric Native Americans whom we now identify as Ancestral Puebloans. They lived in the area starting as far back as 30,000 years ago, according to recent archaeological discoveries, but some 900 years ago their villages were completely abandoned. It wasn’t until tree ring dating became popular that scientists knew why: A severe drought lasting as long as 50 years made the area uninhabitable. People were forced to leave their homes, and their villages were empty by 1300 CE. 

I found the unusual history of the area and its dramatic beauty fascinating to the point that my husband and I began hiking and camping in the Southwest on a regular basis. We visited national monuments like Canyon of the Ancients in southwestern Colorado and hiked primitive areas like Grand Gulch in Utah where it was possible to explore ruins of dwellings and granaries abandoned a thousand years ago. Often on our hikes we’d discover artifacts from long ago like pottery shards or an old, abandoned sandal, and we were aware of the importance of leaving such objects exactly where they were found. My experiences began to feel like the past was speaking to us, and along with the photos I took of the red rock vistas I began journaling about our adventures. Later I realized I wanted to write more about my high desert adventures—not just create records of our trips but imagine what life was like for the people who had lived in the area so long ago. Then a character named Aideen Connor introduced herself to me and became the protagonist in Bone Hash. I saw her as young and athletic, recently widowed, an archaeologist starting work in an isolated area hoping to find peace and heal her grief. 

Bone Hash introduces Aideen when she arrives at her remote Arizona dig. Shortly afterward her team uncovers a “bone hash,” human bones showing evidence of prehistoric cannibalism. Then a brutal murder shocks the residents of the nearby Hopi Reservation. Unsettling connections begin to emerge between her dig and the crime. Trust from the local community fractures, threats escalate, and Aideen’s world begins to unravel. Every clue leads her closer to danger and the secrets buried at her dig. Secrets that could cost her more than her career—they could cost her life. 

***

Skye Griffith’s debut novel, Bone Hash, is the Women Writing the West 2026 WILLA Literary Award Winner in Mystery/Thriller and Best Mystery of 2026 winner as awarded by Colorado Authors League. Skye has hiked windswept canyons in the American Southwest, visited dozens of archaeological sites in New Mexico, Utah, Colorado and Arizona and attended Native American dances and celebrations that gave her a deep respect for these First Americans and their ancient cultures. Previously Skye designed and produced over 10,000 special events, including Denver’s first world championship, the Stanley Cup Celebration, plus concerts and performances in venues of all sizes. Her articles have appeared in the National Endowment for the Arts newsletter, International Events Magazine, and other industry publications.  www.skyegriffith.com

MANAGING MULTIPLE WRITING PROJECTS WITHOUT GOING BANANAS: Guest Post by Linda S. Gunther

Working on a few writing projects simultaneously has become second nature to me. When it comes to juggling projects, I love it. I seek it out. I crave it. 

What I have to be careful of is not to take on too many projects at one time. The good news for me is that I’m also a finisher. I don’t tend to start projects and leave them dangling. I seek completion and to productize results. I also edit like mad but after maybe a dozen rounds of serious editing for each chapter, I’ll call it a day, hire a reasonably priced professional proofreader at least before I make the very final edits. For short stories, I rely on myself for editing and get feedback on my work from a weekly writers’ critique group and from a small group of trusted beta readers.

Should a writer focus on one project at a time or have 2-3 of them simultaneously in process?

The answer depends on personal style, how the individual writer prefers to work. The advantage of having at least a couple of projects going at a given time is that when you’re working on a big project (like a full-length novel or memoir), you can take a break, divert your attention and craft a short story (maybe in a completely different genre) or even write a poem or a personal essay. This foray into another arena may serve to stimulate your creativity and imagination on the bigger project. It does exactly that for me.

Putting energy into the second, smaller project frees my mind, and refreshes my writing. And often, the secondary project turns out to be a well-received high-quality product. When I get back to my bigger project (the novel or memoir) I’m more inventive and considerably more focused than when I left it.

Some authors work on multiple full -blown novels at one time.  Danielle Steel sometimes had five books in progress at once. There are many other well-known authors doing the same. Kristin Harmel definitely cranks out a myriad of amazing novels each year. That would likely be overload for me because having to track so many complex plots and characters in my head at a given time may not produce my best work. Perhaps I’m under-rating myself here. In reality, I have written close to 60 short stories in the past 18 months while writing my memoir and also do a weekly blog for developing writers. So, I definitely mix it up! It’s fun and feels like my personal playground. 

Along my writer’s journey, I’ve collected some tips for managing simultaneous writing projects:

• Manage your time and define (before the day starts) WHAT you are going to work on that day (which may include a combination of writing and marketing/social media or submitting to lit journals)
• Be careful not to spread your creative juices too thin. If you’re writing a chapter in your novel for two hours, then maybe edit one of your short stories for the next hour and post on social media for another thirty minutes.
• Avoid falling into the danger zone where you’re not finishing any of your projects. If you have too many open, whittle down the number of separate writing ventures. (I hear a lot of this happening from other writing colleagues.)
• Pay attention to the ‘bleeding’ of characters. For example, having one character in one genre be too similar in traits and characteristics to another character in a different genre you’re working in at the same time. Keep your characters as unique as possible.
• Take a break from one writing project and outline another. That way you don’t lose a brainstormed idea or concept. Instead, you capture it. And you can go back to that outline tomorrow and shape a first draft of the first chapter or write out the whole short story.

An over-riding perk to having multiple projects going at the same time is that you will undoubtedly build your writing portfolio. Because I have ventured outside my comfort zone, I now have a diverse published body of work.

Of course, there are days when I work on only one project. I give it my undivided focus often because I am at a critical stage in the work.

Many authors also have day jobs and/or young children who depend on them so they must do conscious planning and management of their available time to write. I am a Human Resources consultant and teach classes on the subject so I am balancing those work tasks with my writing.

Most important, I need to take care of myself. There’s more to my life than writing stories but I know that writing makes me happy and feeds the creative soul inside me.

***

Linda S. Gunther is the author of six suspense novels: Ten Steps from the Hotel Inglaterra, Endangered Witness, Lost in the Wake, Finding Sandy Stonemeyer, Dream Beach, and Death is a Great Disguiser. Her memoir, A Bronx Girl was released in 2024. Many of her short stories and essays have appeared in a variety of literary journals across the globe. www.lindasgunther.com

The Mysterious Pull of Mystery Novels: Guest Post by Carol Snow

I’ve always loved mysteries. As a child, I plowed through worn library copies of The Bobbsey Twins and Nancy Drew, pages soft from being turned so many times, checkout cards going back decades. Even at the age of ten, I was disappointed by the obvious lack of chemistry between titian-haired Nancy and her roadster-driving, quasi-boyfriend Ned, but the reliable formula kept me coming back for more. What happened? Whoddunit? What clues did I miss?

From Carolyn Keene, I learned cool new words like titian and roadster (neither of which I’ve ever managed to employ in my everyday existence, sadly). From my mother, a voracious reader with a knack for recommending books, I learned phrases that would stay with me much longer. Heroine. Red herring. Plot twist.

I moved on from Carolyn Keene: to Mary Stewart, Susan Isaacs, Robert Ludlum, John Grisham, and so many more. When I finally started writing my own novels, over twenty years ago, it was only natural that many of my plots featured mysterious elements, typically within a broader romantic comedy framework. But as the years passed, I found myself increasingly drawn to reading psychological thrillers -- dark, twisted tales told by such masters as Kate Atkinson, Dennis Lehane, Gillian Flynn, and Denise Mina. The more I wrote (and read), the more I wanted to craft a true suspense novel, something rife with clues and red herrings, unreliable narrators and – of course – a shocking plot twist.

The Girl on the Beach, my new novel of psychological suspense, tells the story of a wealthy and glamorous couple, Graham and Sonia Starr. Graham and Sonia have everything: exciting careers, a precocious four-year-old daughter named Roxie, a pair of luxurious houses on the Santa Barbara coast, and an army of paid help to manage everything. But on a perfect August afternoon, Graham and Sonia’s lives fall apart when little Roxie, last seen running towards the Pacific Ocean, is declared dead. Months later, their former babysitter, mired in grief and hoping to make sense of the tragedy, returns to the Starrs’ beach house where she lived and worked the previous summer. Her first night back, she sees a child who bears a striking resemblance to her one-time charge. With neither the police nor the parents taking her claim seriously, the young woman sets out to uncover the truth.

What draws us to mysteries, anyway? Surely it would be more relaxing to know all the answers, to look away from heartache and anxiety and fear. Don’t we have enough of that in our lives already? Maybe that’s the point. Maybe we are drawn to stories of suspense precisely because the world is so unpredictable. The distance inherent in following a story, as opposed to living it, affords a sense of safety. Sure, things might seem hopeless in any given narrative, but keep pushing forward, and everything will make sense.  

As a writer, crafting ever more elaborate plots has been exciting, daunting, and remarkably satisfying. I get to determine the answers first and figure out the questions (and distractions) later, as I write my way to the big reveal.

Humans are wired to look for patterns and seek meaning, but life can be confounding. Thank goodness we have books to help us make sense of it all.

***

Carol Snow is the author of ten novels, including her latest psychological thriller, The Girl on the Beach. Known for her sharp insight into human behavior, she has been recognized by Booklist as “an author to watch.” With a background in psychology from Brown University and an MA in teaching English from Boston College, Carol brings a deep understanding of emotions and language to her work.
 
Carol's website: https://www.carolsnow.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carol_snow
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/270463.Carol_Snow

My First Thirty Books: Guest Post by Cathy Ace

With the recent publication of my 30^th novel, The Corpse with the Steely Gaze, I’ve been thinking about the significance of that number. Do you remember your 30^th birthday? (Or what do you hope it might look like if you haven’t reached it yet?) I hope it was/will be a good day for you. They say that your 30^th birthday represents a significant milestone: the beginning of your mature years, when you begin to glimpse the fruits of your labours, but still have the chance to build the life you really want to live. I hope the same can be said for one’s 30^th novel.
 
My 30^th birthday? I dined at a restaurant in London called La Brasserie. It’s gone now, but I managed to give it a decent mention in The Corpse with the Granite Heart, when I sent my protagonist, Cait Morgan, there with her husband, Bud Anderson, and allowed them to enjoy a wonderful meal. And that’s just one example of how my own real life has found its way into my works of fiction, albeit in an altered version.
 
And that’s one of the things that’s really caused me to pause as I reflect on the thirty spines on my bookshelf: how much of me do they contain? How much of my life story will be passed along, without readers even knowing it? And the answer is...a surprising amount. Do I regret pouring my soul onto the page in my work? Not really, though I have been somewhat selective in terms of what I’ve left out, and of the people to whom I have “gifted” certain experiences, or emotions. If anyone knows me – the entire me – they’ll see a great deal of my life story playing out across the thousands of pages and millions of words. However, I hope that readers are, instead, able to relate to characters who are weak, but can be strong; who have flaws, but also the courage to stand up for their convictions; who grapple with moments of great turmoil, but manage to find a resolution within themselves. 
 
The other thing I’ve been reflecting on is the nature of the hundreds of people I’ve now created who are real to me, and I hope they are to my readers, too. Some have appeared in just one book, others have recurring roles, and many have stuck around for more than a dozen titles. Given that I write murder mysteries I’ve had to create many of them in such a way that they appear to contain within themselves, somehow, the potential to be a killer, which has had me reaching into my training as a psychologist every single writing day, to make sure I’m creating a person on the page who could exist in real life, and become a potential suspect. And do you know what they all have in common? Nothing. 
 
Agatha Christie got one of her characters to note the fact that all murderers have friends, family, or acquaintances, all of whom might never be able to believe that the person they knew had done such a thing (I’m paraphrasing wildly here). That’s something that echoes for me as I create those who might have dunnit as well as those who did: they are all “normal” people. But at least one of them did something so abnormal that a life that was once being lived has now been ended in an unnatural way, so I build the personalities of the characters I create to allow the genesis of that terrible deed to be “understandable”. Do I always want my readers to feel sympathy for the killer? No. But I want them to at least be able to empathize with them...to be satisfied they understand why what happened, happened. Of course, I temper that with the fact that almost all of the people I create who “might have dunnit”, didn’t – which just goes to prove that taking a life is not the solution to a problem that most would, or should, choose, which I believe is a critical point to make within my work. 
 
What will happen in all the books I have yet to write? I have no idea. I don’t even know how many more there will be. I admit that I’ve always been a storyteller, long before my first mystery was published, so I dare say the desire to tell tales that, hopefully, engage won’t leave me any time soon, though the discipline it takes to actually get those 80,000 to 100,000 words in the right order to do just that becomes more of a challenge with each book. 
 
So this is my “Thank You” to all those who’ve chosen to read some, or even all, of my “first thirty books”: I hope you were entertained and satisfied by them, were engaged by the people and places I created within them, and – even if you weren’t aware of it at the time – I really hope you had fun meeting a little bit of me along the way.

***

 
Author of the traditional Cait Morgan Mysteries, and the cosy WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries set in Wales, Cathy Ace was born and raised in Wales, and migrated to Canada. She's a past Chair of Crime Writers of Canada, and is a Bony Blithe, IPPY, IBA and Editor’s Choice CrimeFictionLover Award winner.
 
Cathy Ace website: http://www.cathyace.com/
Cathy Ace Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/cathyace.bsky.social
Cathy Ace FB: https://www.facebook.com/Cathy-Ace-Author-318388861616661
Cathy Ace Twitter: https://twitter.com/AceCathy
Cathy Ace Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cathyace1/
 

My Writing Life (such as it is): Guest Post by Naomi Rand

Why do I write? Because I can't not. Simply put, that's it. I get up every day, put on a pot of espresso, (which, currently features three scoops of Haagen Daz ice cream, a habit that I began during the pandemic, and I haven't seen any reason to break). Then, I go to my writing area, which used to be your standard desk, then became a standing one, and is currently, a bed. Not the one I sleep in, the other one, (insomnia rules). I make myself comfortable, and prop up my laptop on my lap, and I sit there, hoping for inspiration, but while I do I write seventeen versions of the same sentence. Eventually, something kicks in, and then the next few pages of my new mystery take shape.

Hours pass. That's the best part. Hours where I'm not me, worrying about whatever I'm worrying about at the moment. Though, crucially, if I'm eating at home, it's important to break after an hour or so, and check in with my better half, who's the cook, so we can discuss the most crucial decision of the day. What's for dinner. Once that's settled, it's back to work. 

After that, it's back to my current quandary, what happens next, and what do these people say to each other that will be maybe witty, or pithy, or at least entertaining and move the plot forward. The mystery I'm writing currently is about a mother and daughter who've kept secrets from each other. Then, all hell breaks loose on the film set where the daughter's working, and they need to team up. What happens next? That's the quandary. 

I wish I outlined. I've tried and failed. Instead, I exercise. First, I take a walk, (currently in Greenwood Cemetery, which is the location I'm using for my new mystery, and blocks from my house). It's got great birding, and insane looking mausoleums, and Boss Tweed and Basquiat's graves. It's very quiet, lots of dead people, but very few living ones. So, my whirring mind eventually comes up with the germs of the next idea. Then, I jot it down, and head to the pool where I swim a mile and hammer out the details.

After which, there's a drink, and dinner.

Then, it's time to watch something, (Riot Women was a favorite recently, so now I'm exploring everything Sally Wainwright's written), and then, I read whatever it is I'm currently reading. I just finished Whistler, Ann Padgett's latest, (highly recommended), and am now reading Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke for my book group. Then, to sleep. And being a woman of a certain age, I'm up again at three, to worry some more, but eventually I get back to sleep, and wake at six or so, and then, there's coffee to look forward to, which is, in my humble opinion, the ambrosia of the gods.

It's a life, folks. And it's what makes me happy. Or, at least, keeps me sane.

We all write about ourselves in one way or another, so everything I write has me in it. My current mystery, out now, Goodbye to Me, is no exception. It takes place in 1968 in a gritty, very different New York City. The main character, Freddie, who works as a bike messenger, comes home to find her foster mother, dying, and a strange man, dead in their apartment. She needs to stay one step ahead of her pursuers and solve the mystery of why her foster mother was targeted. She and her best friend/crush, Celia, race through the city I grew up in. They go from the old Times Square, where I skipped school, to haunt the arcades, to the boat basin which used to have actual houseboats that people lived on, bobbing in the, then toxic Hudson, the Museum of Modern Art where my best friend and I would go, religiously to see whatever movie was screening that Saturday, to Bloomingdales where I spotted Faye Dunaway getting into a cab, looking so beautiful it took your breath away.

Writing is life.

And, in my case, life is writing.

***

Naomi Rand is the author of the Emma Price mysteries, The One That Got Away, Stealing For A Living, and It’s Raining Men (Harper Collins) and the novel, Surviving Amelia (Bink Books). Her forthcoming novel Goodbye to Me will be published in June by Bink Books. She has stories in three great collections, Brutal and Strange: Stories Inspired by the Songs of Elvis Costello (Down and Out Press), Crime Plus Music (Three Rooms Press) and Hard Boiled Brooklyn (Bleak House Books). Her fiction and literary criticism have appeared in numerous publications including The Flexible Persona, Other Voices, Melus, Cutbank, The Florida Review, The Spirit That Moves Us Press, Invisible City, and The North Dakota Quarterly. Her personal essays have appeared in The Huffington Post and Ravishly, and she's written a book review column, numerous articles for national publications and, once, long ago, a pregnancy guide. Now she lives in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn with her husband, David. When she's not writing, swimming, or walking, she's planning her next great meal. www.naomirand.com

Writing Beyond The Fields You Know: Guest Post by Christopher Huang

Letterbox. Gosh-darn, bloomin’ letterboxes. 

It’s a bit too late to change this, I’m afraid, but apparently I have allowed a little hint that I am not, in fact, a native of 1920s England to creep into my latest book, A Pretender’s Murder. An advanced reader review has pointed out that the correct British term for the slots in doors that postmen drop your letters through is “letterbox,” not “mail slot” as I’d written. These mail slots or letterboxes aren’t really a thing anywhere I’ve been in North America, so I thought that any English-language word for them would be the British one. Now I must assume then that there exists some Anglophile corner of the US or Canada that has these things … or do North Americans simply insist on having their own words for things they do not have? 

Such are the pitfalls of not writing in your own world. Not that I’m going to let that stop me. I’ve already corrected the one instance of “mail slot” in my next book and I’m immersing myself right back into this period I’ve never lived in and this place I only ever visit. 

I’m hardly alone here. H.R.F. Keating was an Englishman who set eight or nine novels in India before actually setting foot in India; and then, only because Air India took note of his novels and extended an invitation to fly him to Bombay. But if Keating’s books are loved, it is because of the care he took in portraying the setting and the compassion he had for voices not his own. He did the best he could with the resources available to him at the time, and succeeded. So I, with the internet at my fingertips and centuries of British literature for reference, have no excuse. If you’re writing in a culture outside your own, you had better be the best reflection of that culture as you can possibly be. 

Remember, when Ronald Knox wrote that “no Chinaman must figure in the story,” it was meant as a shot against lazy stereotyping and the exoticism of the “other”, far too common in the “yellow peril” thrillers of his time. We do not want Chinamen, no: we want Chinese people. As such, you get a pass if you write your “Chinamen” — shorthand here for any characters of a different race or culture from you — as human beings. And you want that pass. It represents the difference between cultural appropriation (bad!) and cultural exchange (good!). Keating got that pass, and I think the key there is equal parts curiosity and humility. You learn and you keep learning. You remember that you are a student with limited knowledge, not an all-knowing professor. You accept the invitation to visit Bombay, and you care when someone points out that you’ve gone and called your letterboxes by the wrong term. 

Also, you amplify the voices of those who know through lived experience rather than through mere scholarship. Though that’s probably not much of an issue when, in your case, the “voice of lived experience” is Agatha Christie. 

But now you must be wondering, why do this at all? The writing gurus all say to “write what you know.” And even if you do manage to win the Chinaman pass, the risk of losing it again never really goes away. Is that really what you want? 

Well, see, there’s actually a peculiar advantage to writing outside of your place and time. To explain, let me begin by saying that I lived the first twenty years of my life in Singapore, and the last thirty in Canada. You’d think I’d therefore be more comfortable writing about Singapore in the 1980s or about Canada in the present day. But what if I were to make the same “letterbox” mistake writing about either of these settings? A mistake about 1920s England can be dismissed as a minor research failure. One must study so many things about foreign settings that one or two errors are bound to slip through. But a mistake about 1980s Singapore as one who claims to have lived the entire decade there? Fraud! Pretender! 

No, no. It’s much easier to write about a place where, for the most part, I know what it is that I don’t know. It’s easier to be humble and curious about a thing when one is not automatically expected to have known it all through lived experience. Familiarity, as they say, breeds contempt, and the absolute last thing you want as a writer is anything approaching contempt for your setting. I have to admire, therefore, the writers who find magic and mystery in their present-day surroundings, but I was built for complacency and require a little added distance to spark fascination. 

Besides, it has happened once before, and I’m sure it can happen again: somewhere around my eighth or ninth book, perhaps British Airways will take note and extend an invitation to fly me to London, free of charge. I will keep a watchful eye on my (ahem!) letterbox. 

***

Christopher Huang was born and raised in Singapore, and now lives in Canada with a terminal case of Anglophilia and a degree in architecture that seems to translate more into fictional worldbuilding than into real-world buildings. He is the author of mysteries set in 1920s England: A Gentleman's Murder and its sequel, A Pretender's Murder, featuring the Anglo-Chinese amateur sleuth Eric Peterkin; as well as the stand-alone mystery Unnatural Ends.

Cartoon of the Day: How to be a Professional Writer

 

Cartoon of the Day: Writing

Cartoon of the Day: Writer's Life

 

Getting Serious about Writing a Series: Guest Post by donalee Moulton

I have a new book out—and with the publication of Melt, I officially have something else. My first series: the Lotus Detective Agency. Melt is the second book to feature Charlene, Lexie, and Woo Woo, three women who meet in a yoga studio and go on to discover they have a penchant for more than downward dogs.
 
When I wrote Bind, the first book that brought these women together, I knew it would be a series. I do not know why I knew that, but it was a feeling I didn’t question. That feeling also shaped how the first book unfolded, knowing a second would soon be in the works. I could give some things away; I couldn’t give everything away. What happened in the first book had to be the reality on which the second book would be founded.
 
While each book must stand on its own, they are indelibly interconnected. The women grow as detectives. They refine their skills, and their collaboration. Their friendship also deepens. There’s also a romance that blossoms in the pages of Bind and is more firmly rooted in Melt. There is also a dog whom I’ve become quite fond of.
 
I realized that the style and tone of the first book, my voice, must also be the same in book two. Readers expect consistency, within reason. What resonated with them in the first book should be found in the second, third and subsequent books. Personalities do not abruptly change unless this is part of the plot and clearly spelled out. Lighthearted stories do not suddenly become dark without buildup and explanation. 
 
That said, sequels cannot be mere reproductions of the original. There must be growth, there must be new challenges, there must be hiccups, stumbles, and imperfections that will further be explored in future books.
 
Logic must also prevail. My three women are not in law enforcement and have no background in crime solving. As I result, I didn’t feel they could realistically help to solve a murder in book one, or book two. Their credibility and expertise had to develop over several hundreds of pages. Now they’re ready. 
 
The real question is: Am I? I’ve discovered the joy of writing a series also comes with angst. I feel an obligation to get it “right” for readers who have embraced Bind and Melt. I also feel an obligation to Charlene, Lexie, and Woo Woo.
 
And, of course, I’ll need another one-word title that reflects what goes on inside a yoga studio and what happens outside that studio when a crime has been committed. 
 
About Melt
 
At its heart, Melt is a puzzle. Luke Castle is arrested for transporting narcotics in the back of a food truck. He confesses. Everyone knows the teenager is not the mastermind behind the $6 million in cocaine nestled among 150 sacks of flour. The lead prosecutor, the defence attorney, and the reluctant detective first class hauled into the judge’s office all admit the kid is innocent. The problem is his professed guilt – a confession he refuses to recant. The legal eagles are at a loss. First question that must be answered: Why is Luke Castle lying?
 
At its heart, Melt is about friendship. Three women met at a yoga studio. They’re now part owners of that studio – after helping to catch a thief. Now, they’re asked to help figure out what is going on with Luke Castle, bringing new approaches and new ways of ingratiating themselves with the likely suspects: drug lord, drug lord’s sons, bitter daughter-in-law, rebellious younger brother. Lending a helping hand brings them together in unexpected and ultimately profound ways. We root just as much for these women as we do for the dealer (or dealers) to be unveiled. There is a cast of regulars, including the police detective and the yoga instructor. Each a three-dimensional, likeable, and flawed human being. (Madoff, a Westie, makes periodic appearances.)
 
At its heart, Melt is funny and fun to read. It’s like coming home to a steaming bowl of tomato soup on a cold winter day. Comfortable and delicious. Like a perfect downward dog.

***

 
donalee Moulton’s first mystery book Hung out to Die was published in 2023. A historical mystery, Conflagration!, was published and won the 2024 Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense (Historical Fiction). donalee has two books out in 2025, Bind and Melt, the first two books in the Lotus Detective Agency series.

 

A short story “Swan Song” was one of 21 selected for publication in Cold Canadian Crime. It was shortlisted for an Award of Excellence. donalee’s short story “Troubled Water” was shortlisted for a 2024 Derringer Award and a 2024 Award of Excellence from the Crime Writers of Canada.  
 
donalee is an award-winning freelance journalist. She has written articles for print and online publications across North America including The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, Lawyer’s Daily, National Post, and Canadian Business. 
 
As well, donalee is the author of The Thong Principle: Saying What You Mean and Meaning What You Say and co-authored the book, Celebrity Court Cases: Trials of the Rich and Famous.
 

My Not So Secret Love Affair: Guest Post by Jeffrey Siger

Thank you, Janet Rudolph, for inviting me to share with your Mystery Fanfare readers the essence of what’s driven me to set my fourteen-volume Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series amid the beauty, history, and wiles of Greece. 

It isn’t fame, it isn’t fortune. It is an irrepressible desire on my part to express through my novels why I, a non-Greek by birth, am so intensely drawn to share with the world the majesty of Greece as if it were my homeland, and the spirit of the Greek people as if they are my family.

Anyone who knows me understands that my heart and soul are Greek—even though my tongue can’t quite make the language transition…so much so that as I’ve often said, and many can attest, whenever I try to speak Greek, my friends rush into English to save their mother tongue. Thankfully, my inability to voice the words, has not held me back from chronicling the wonders and beauty of Greece and the ways and resilience of its people.

Without all I’ve learned from Greeks and fellow grecophiles I never would have discovered the true character of my protagonist, Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis, nor that of his vibrant supporting cast of good guys, bad guys, rich folk and poor, high society and not.

I owe sincere thanks to many for their candid contributions to the success of my series. They and their tales of customs, secrets, and intrigues inspired me in one way or another to reach this point in my career.

By now I think it’s obvious how much I appreciate the support Greeks have shown my novels, and the reciprocal obligation I feel to fairly present Greece and its resilient, creative, hardworking people to the world. Indeed, despite the many accolades my work has received, the greatest honor I ever received was when The New York Times Book Review selected me as Greece’s thriller-writer of record.

I say that because my overall goal as a writer has always been the same.  To explore issues confronting modern day Greece in a way that touches upon its ancient roots. And to do so honestly and with love for the land and its people.

The fourteen books I’ve written in my Kaldis series are not a record, but in retrospect they certainly validate the depth of desire that lingered within me for at least half a century. It was with me when as a child I found myself making up stories every night as I fell off to sleep.

And it was there with me in high school when as a freshman I thought I could make it as a writer … until I realized how unlikely I was to earn a living as a writer––leading me to become a lawyer.

That decision to practice law played a huge, unexpected role in my emergence as a creative writer. And by that I don’t mean that my many years as a lawyer taught me to be creative with the facts.  Rather, those years and experiences developed my style, my voice, taught me how to write clearly, concisely and convincingly – and to do so quickly.

The practice of law also taught me how to graciously accept and channel criticism, a vital skill for one to develop if as a writer you wish to survive critical analyses of your work by your editors, critics and reviewers.

Having said all that, I never imagined I’d find something that’s brought as much fun and joy to my life as does the time I spend with the Chief Inspector and his crew seeking to further entertain all the wonderful friends my wife Barbara and I have made through the writing life. 

I’ve come to accept that whatever honors have come my way do so in large measure because of one person…my protagonist Andreas Kaldis.  He and I have been through fourteen adventures together, all the while battling with each other over who gets to write them. It’s Andreas who insists on writing about life on the edge of societal change, then drags me into exploring family dynamics, ancient practices, political intrigues, the military, Orthodoxy, refugees, corruption, wild nightlife, vendettas, the business of bomba, preservationists versus developers, the impact of Artificial Intelligence, and on and on. 

The one thing we agree upon is no matter what the story line, the setting for each novel is always presented in keeping with the series’ longstanding international reputation for sharing Greece’s breathtaking beauty and unique lifestyles with the reader. 

So, here I am, more than 20 years into my writing gig, celebrating the series that’s brought plaudits for my work from so many I deeply respect in the mystery writing world.  All of that truly has me feeling blessed that the dream of the young boy I once was to someday become a writer came true.

But where to now, one might ask. Allow me to assure you that this is not a retirement speech…though with the latest title being NOT DEAD YET, it’s understandable how one might get that impression.  

Not only am I working on Kaldis #15, but I have a new book in an entirely different series coming out on February 3, 2026 ––A Study in Secrets, the debut novel in my The Redacted Man series. Plus, the folks with an option on TV/film rights to my Kaldis series say they’re close to making it all come together.
And did I mention that my entire Kaldis backlist, fitted with brand new B-2 format covers has just been re-released by my publisher Severn House and is available here:  https://jeffreysiger.com/books/

In other words, I’m still happily strolling along the road that’s led me from the Pittsburgh of my roots to a Manhattan legal career, and onto an ever-evolving love affair with Greece. 

Yiasas, y’all.

––Jeff

***

Jeffrey Siger fled his position as a name partner in his own NYC law firm to write Greece-based mystery thrillers on Mykonos. The New York Times picked him as Greece’s thriller novelist of record, Reader’s Digest Select Editions described him as among its “new favorite authors,” and the Greek National Tourism Organization recently honored him as “one of our country’s shining ambassadors to the world.” He’s received Lefty and Barry “Best Novel” nominations for his fourteen-book Chief Inspector Andreas Kaldis series, been Chair of Bouchercon, and served as an adjunct college professor teaching mystery writing.  www.jeffreysiger.com
 
 

Cartoon of the Day: Writer

 

Cartoon of the Day: The Plot

Why Do We Love The Unreliable Narrator? Guest Post by J.T. Ellison, author of LAST SEEN

Stories have changed over the years. What we’re attracted to as readers fluctuates; trends come and go. Tropes become popular and fall away. Short novels give way to massive tomes, which in turn give way to short novels. What’s new is old, isn’t that the saying? 

When Gillian Flynn wrote Gone Girl, she ushered in the unreliable narrator again. I, for one, cheered. There is nothing I like more than a worthy unreliable narrator. They are the best kind of anti-hero.

What makes an unreliable narrator great is their own acknowledgment of their complicity. They are justified, they are innocent. Their crimes are done with both a humbled acknowledgement of illegality and a sense of entitlement. The message—you’d do the same way if given the choice—allows the character the ultimate justification of their actions. 

And they all have an inherent charm. The anti-hero charm is the spider to the fly. They attract their victims, luring them in, and then find ways to justify their actions in ways that we believe them. Worse, we want them to succeed. We marvel at the train wreck of their actions. We identify with their foibles.

Most modern unreliable narrators lie to the reader. If they are unlikable, we root against them. In my opinion, the most effective unreliable narrators are crafted with such delicacy that we can’t help but root for them. It’s a tricky line, as almost all are criminals. They are the antithesis of the Byronic hero—they are the heroes of their own story, narcissists in the truest sense, and committing evil, not good. But somehow, some way, we are on their side. They are saving their victims from a worse fate; their justification is megalomanic in its proportions. 

One example that always comes to mind is Humbert Humbert, in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. I recall reaching the end of that book and feeling utterly betrayed and shocked. To be honest, I think his self-loathing, combined with a sense of entitlement and savior complex, sparked my fascination with the psychological underpinnings of criminality. 
 
Another fabulous example is Tom Ripley, Patricia Highsmith’s brilliant con man. She treats him with such nuance that we can’t help but root for him, in all his psychopathic glory. We understand him, his desire to fit in, to have a better life, and though he’s nothing to be admired, somehow, he becomes the ultimate anti-hero. 

While we often root for the male anti-hero, female unreliable narrators are too often referred to as unlikable, which is a fascinating double standard. Women are expected to be nurturers; they are supposed to be soft and caring. When they are amoral and self-involved, committing crimes for their own reasons, it’s harder to connect with them. So when done well, when we do connect, they are utterly unforgettable.  

Amy Dunne, from Flynn’s Gone Girl, is a superb example of this. She openly admits to manipulating everyone around her—of doing everything to be seen as the “cool girl”—and embraces her sociopathy. Because of her honesty, her disdain for actual approval, we cheer for her as she enacts her revenge.

My own Catriona in Last Seen is a clever sociopath who is out for revenge but gets herself in way over her head. She is an antihero who finds the light at the end, who sacrifices her well-being to save others. She evolves in a way that many sociopaths cannot, committing crimes for the right reasons. She is justified. She faces off against a psychopathic oppressor and saves many in her efforts.

What makes these characters stay with us, decades later? Why do we, as readers, continue to be charmed by these admittedly horrible people? I think we’ve all been face to face with a narcissist, a sociopath, a psychopath—and recognize the close call. The real aren’t nearly as compelling as the fictional. Perhaps that’s the talent of the author, more than the characters themselves. To render evil into sublime is a true talent.
 
Who are your favorite unreliable narrators?

 ***

J.T. Ellison is the Nashville-based New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 30 psychological thrillers, and the Emmy® award-winning co-host of A Word on Words on Nashville PBS. She created the Taylor Jackson and Dr. Samantha Owens series, co-wrote the Brit in the FBI series with Catherine Coulter, and has penned multiple standalone hits like A Very Bad Thing, It’s One of Us, and Lie to Me. With millions of books sold across 30 countries, her work has earned the ITW Thriller Award, Indie Next picks, Amazon Editor’s Pick, Book of the Month, among other honors. Last Seen is her most recent thriller.
 
Follow her @thrillerchick and read about the process of writing Last Seen at The Creative Edge substack. (https://jtellison.substack.com)

Cartoon of the Day: Editor

 

Cartoon of the Day: Useful Phrases for the Murder Mystery Writer Abroad

Cartoon of the Day: The Story Coaster

From Grant Snider:

 

What’s Bred in the Bone: Guest Post by Michael Robotham

When people ask me why I write crime, I tell them that it’s in my blood.

Five generation ago, my forefather George Robotham, was transported from England to Tasmania for stealing a watch. He married a fellow convict, an Irishwoman, who had stolen a shawl – a harsh punishment for trying to stay warm.

My mother was horrified by these criminal links and refused to let anyone research our family tree in case her shame became public, but I was never worried about being a bad seed. Instead, have always leaned into it.

At eighteen, I became a cadet reporter on an afternoon newspaper in Sydney, a tabloid red-top that sold at every bus stop and train station to commuters on their way home from work. Sensation and titillation was the bread and butter of The Sydney Sun. There were page-three girls, newspaper bingo, horse racing guides, sport analysis and a daily diet of crime stories and celebrity gossip.
           

My very first front page read: CARAVAN KISS - BRIDE MURDER CHARGE and reported that a husband had punched his new bride of three weeks after seeing her kiss another man in a caravan. Forty-six years on and little has changed when it comes to men killing their partners. 

As a cadet reporter I had to work in the radio room, monitoring the police, fire and ambulance radios. I learned the call-signs and codes. I knew which police division operated in which areas, and when an officer was in trouble, or a prisoner had escaped, or a child was missing, or a suspect was being chased. 
I spent more than a year working the graveyard shift for The Sun. The Red-Light district became my regular haunt because it was the only place to get a coffee or something to eat at three in the morning. I befriended pimps, prostitutes, dealers, junkies, coppers, strippers, transvestites, tramps, and ‘colourful local identities’ – a euphemism for gangsters and nightclub owners.

Working in police rounds, my job was to report on crime. This meant befriending detectives, pathologists and paramedics, anyone who could tip me off about some new development in an ongoing investigation. I drank in the same pubs as the police. I bought them drinks. I attended barbecues. I was invited to weddings and attended christenings. 

Sometimes, I ‘looked the other way’ when I saw evidence of police corruption because I didn’t want to burn a long-time contact who would later give me a more important story. It was a case weighing up the public good, letting a small fish escape the net, in the hope of catching a bigger one.

Ultimately, I became an investigative journalist working for ten years in London for a national newspaper. This brought me in contact with criminals both big and small. I tracked down rogue solicitors, paedophile judges, and East End gangsters who had fled to the Costa del Sol in Spain, (otherwise known as the Costa del Crime).

Sometimes it was dangerous. I once investigated an Irish gambler in Dublin who was notorious private. Local racing journalists had told me to drop the story but I carried on for one more day, knocking on doors and asking questions. That night in Dublin, I was visited by three men wearing balaclavas who bounced me around my hotel room and drove me to airport.

I phoned my editor from the departure lounge and said, ‘This gambler launders money for the IRA.’
‘Give it twenty minutes and go back,’ he said. ‘They’ll have gone by then.’

I got on the flight. I might have been Australian and therefore ‘expendable’ but I wasn’t stupid.

On another investigation, I helped expose the UK’s booming telephone sex-line industry, where customers paid up to US$5 a minute to ‘talk dirty’ with no limits on age, time or the content discussed. Many of the sex-line operators had links with organised crime and the porn industry in Britain and abroad.

Our newspaper exposes so much pressure on the Government to regulate the industry, that the operators organised a crisis meeting at a hotel in Manchester. We gate-crashed the event, bursting through the doors, taking photographs and asking questions. The operators covered their faces and yelled threats and chased us out of the hotel. The revolving front door of that hotel is spinning today because I hit it with such speed.

The following day, we handed UK police photographic evidence that linked known crime figures to the sex-line services. Within weeks the laws had changed.

My latest novel, The White Crow, draws on experiences like this. It features a young, ambitious police officer, Philomena McCarthy, who has defied the odds to follow her dream, because she comes from a notorious family of East End gangsters.

It is a novel that has taken me back to my roots – to those days as a reporter and investigative journalist, when I befriended prostitutes, pimps, paramedics, police, and the colourful milieu of characters who inhabited the night. 

These were my people and I’m still telling their stories.

***

The White Crow by Michael Robotham will be published by Scribner on July 1, 2025. It's available for pre-order.

Michael Robotham is a former investigative journalist whose bestselling psychological thrillers have been translated into twenty-five languages. He has twice won a Ned Kelly Award for Australia’s best crime novel, for Lost in 2005 and Shatter in 2008. His recent novels include When She Was Good, winner of the UK’s Ian Fleming Steel Dagger Award for best thriller; The Secrets She Keeps; Good Girl, Bad Girl; When You Are Mine; Lying Beside You; Storm Child; and The White Crow. After living and writing all over the world, Robotham settled his family in Sydney, Australia.