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As the Writer’s Almanac reminds us, today is the birthday of Dashiell Hammett. Even if you think you know his story, give it a read: In 1931, Hammett began a 30-year affair with a script girl who would eventually become a playwright: Lillian Hellman. Their relationship inspired the characters of Nick and Nora Charles, the [...]

Andrew Gross learned a lot about the writing craft by working with James Patterson, a process he has called “like a combination MFA and MBA rolled into one.” After coauthoring six books in seven years, he struck out on his own and has since made a name for himself with well-plotted, fast-moving thrillers such as Eyes Wide Open (which [...]

In case you’re just joining us, May is Mystery Month at Booklist and, all month long, we’ve featured wonderful reading recommendations from some of the best mystery, crime fiction, espionage, and thriller writers currently working. Today we hear from Karin Slaughter, a number-one international bestselling author who just the other day received a starred Booklist review [...]

Some fifty years and nearly twenty miles from the site of operation of the notorious Chicago gang the Almighty Black P Stone Nation, nearly sixty people gathered recently to discuss the book of same title that examines the rise and fall of that gang and its leader. The setting was the main library in Oak [...]

Fans of legal thrillers will need no introduction to John Lescroart. The creator of the characters Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky, and Wes Farrell has sold more than 8.5 million books in the past decade; those books have been translated into 16 languages in more than 75 countries. His most recent book, Damage (2011), delivers what his many [...]

We’ve described Tasha Alexander‘s protagonist, Lady Emily Ashton, as “an irresistible Victorian iconoclast”; from the series debut, And Only to Deceive (2005), to the most recent installment, Dangerous to Know (2010), our reviewers have consistently complimented Alexander’s engaging blend of mystery, romance, and humor. But what does Alexander read for fun—does she like to take a break from [...]

I’ve been a fan of Craig Johnson ever since I read the first Walt Longmire mystery, The Cold Dish (2005). I called it, “A thoughtful page-turner, wry and sober in good measure, that proves there’s more to Wyoming crime fiction than just C. J. Box.” (His next one, Hell Is Empty, comes out next month.) And [...]

In case you didn’t hear the news, Johnny Depp and his Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides director Rob Marshall are working on a movie based on Dashiell Hammett’s 1934 novel The Thin Man. You might be tempted to think there were a series of Thin Man novels. But it was a stand-alone (Hammett’s [...]

There are five contenders in the Fantasy novel category for the 2011 Locus Awards presented by the  Locus Science Fiction Foundation: Under Heaven, by Guy Gavriel Kay Kraken, by China Miéville Who Fears Death, by Nnedi Okorafor The Fuller Memorandum, by Charles Stross The Sorcerer’s House, by Gene Wolfe Winners in fifteen categories, including science [...]

Two days ago I wrote that Tana French was the only author on Likely Stories this month to bat 1.000 with Booklist starred reviews. But, just now, I looked up Olen Steinhauer‘s track record and realized that Ms. French is not alone. Of the six Steinhauers we’ve reviewed (I regret to say we missed one), six received stars. [...]