Craft. Crime. Comedy.

The Sleuthsayers collective includes a bevvy of acclaimed crime fiction writers. They blog daily on short fiction, writing tips, movie recommendations, and fascinating turns in history.  Somehow, they let me join. Sometimes I go behind my stories, and other times it’s further afield into craft, analysis, or plain old silliness.

2024

Dec.

There Is a Santa Claus, and He Pays His Damn Taxes

Nov.

It Was Random Joe, On Your Porch, With His Teeth

Oct.

A Monster Hunt (Okay, a Monster Cereal Hunt)

Sep.

But Dad, It’s Smokey

Aug.

A Title So Good I Couldn’t Use It

Jul.

How to Nashville

Jun.

A Golden Age of the Guest Star?

May

Revisiting The Mysterious Affair at Styles

Apr.

Adventures in Spelling

Mar.

What the Hell, Let’s Make Wine (Murder, Neat)

Feb.

Fun Crime Comedies I’d (Almost) Forgotten About

Jan.

A Near-Luddite Tries Bing AI

2023 AND PRIOR

Dec. ’23

Character Tests and Conference Rooms 

Nov. ’23

Don’t Get All Twisted

Oct. ’23

On Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

Sep. ’23

Good For the Soul (RIP to a Storyteller)

Aug. ’23

Holy Turnstiles! When Batman Went to Shea

Jul. ’23

Weapons and What Comes Around

Jun. ’23

Train Travel and Travails: Rail Travel Misadventures

May ’23

Mother’s Day and Why I Crack Foxy

Apr. ’23

What Is Up With That, Anyway?

Mar. ’23

25 Years Later: Decoding The Big Lebowski

Feb. ’23

I Am Digging Poker Face

Jan. ’23

Consider The Rabbit (on New Year’s Resolutions)

Dec. ’22

One-fers and Zero-fers and Damned Statistics

Nov. ’22

I Confess: The New Fletch Is a Big Improvement

Oct. ’22

Haunted Hearts: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

Sep. ’22

Cool Writing Sites and Why I Won’t Use Them

Aug. ’22

There Will Be Math (A Few Story Statistics)

Jul. ’22

The Big Mo

Jun. ’22

Don’t Pluck a Star From the Sky

May ’22

Your Word of the Day Is Panglossian

Apr. ’22

Splat (Or, How They Do It in Buñol)

Mar. ’22

Perfect Spy ‘o the Time: The Macbeth  Mystery

Feb. ’22

What a Decade of Writing Stories Does to You

Jan. ’22

First Up: On Opening Paragraphs

Dec. ’21

Shelf Inspirations

Nov. ’21

The Writer As Necromancer

Oct. ’21

So Good She’s Scary: The Haunting of Hill House

Sep. ’21

9/11, Twenty Years Later

Aug. ’21

I’ve Watched The Long Goodbye 3 Times Now

Jul. ’21

Have a Neat Summer

Jun. ’21

Walk It Off

May ’21

Devil at the Crossroads Has Got on Wet Socks

Apr. ’21

Nashville and The 19th Amendment

Mar. ’21

Don’t Make Me Turn This Car Around

Feb. ’21

How It’s Done These Days

Jan. ’21

Nashville Strong

Dec. ’20

Inspiration Isn’t Everywhere

Nov. ’20

It’s Not Funny to Them

Oct. ’20

Kyle in Payables Has Been Binge-Watching, and Now You Need to Care About Zettabytes

Looking for my occasional blogs on this site? Those be here.

A list of blogs and presentations for all other folks be here.