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

Nov.

Keepin’ It Real — Or Not

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

Dec.

Character Tests and Conference Rooms 

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Nov.

Don’t Get All Twisted

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Oct.

On Scooby Doo, Where Are You?

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Sep.

Good For the Soul (RIP to a Storyteller)

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Aug.

Holy Turnstiles! When Batman Went to Shea

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Jul.

Weapons and What Comes Around

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Jun.

Train Travel and Travails: Rail Travel Misadventures

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May

Mother’s Day and Why I Crack Foxy

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Apr.

What Is Up With That, Anyway?

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Mar.

25 Years Later: Decoding The Big Lebowski

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Feb.

I Am Digging Poker Face

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Jan.

Consider The Rabbit (on New Year’s Resolutions)

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2022 AND PRIOR

Dec. ’22

One-fers and Zero-fers and Damned Statistics

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Nov. ’22

I Confess: The New Fletch Is a Big Improvement

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Oct. ’22

Haunted Hearts: We Have Always Lived in the Castle

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Sep. ’22

Cool Writing Sites and Why I Won’t Use Them

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Aug. ’22

There Will Be Math (A Few Story Statistics)

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Jul. ’22

The Big Mo

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Jun. ’22

Don’t Pluck a Star From the Sky

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May ’22

Your Word of the Day Is Panglossian

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Apr. ’22

Splat (Or, How They Do It in Buñol)

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Mar. ’22

Perfect Spy ‘o the Time: The Macbeth  Mystery

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Feb. ’22

What a Decade of Writing Stories Does to You

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Jan. ’22

First Up: On Opening Paragraphs

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Dec. ’21

Shelf Inspirations

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Nov. ’21

The Writer As Necromancer

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Oct. ’21

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

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Sep. ’21

9/11, Twenty Years Later

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Aug. ’21

I’ve Watched The Long Goodbye 3 Times Now

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Jul. ’21

Have a Neat Summer

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Jun. ’21

Walk It Off

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May ’21

Devil at the Crossroads Has Got on Wet Socks

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Apr. ’21

How It Happened in Nashville: The 19th Amendment

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Mar. ’21

Don’t Make Me Turn This Car Around

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Feb. ’21

How It’s Done These Days

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Jan. ’21

Nashville Strong

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Dec. ’20

Inspiration Isn’t Everywhere

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Nov. ’20

It’s Not Funny to Them

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Oct. ’20

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

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

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