Essays, Reviews and Other Stuff
TRIBUTES
So Long, Jimbo: James Garner 1928-2014
by Kevin Burton Smith
Remembering Rockford: James Garner 1928-2014
A Tribute by Craig McDonald
Raymond Chandler Was An Asshole
by Stephen Blackmoore
Looking for Robert B. Parker: A Fond Farewell to the Man Who Saved P.I. Fiction
by Cameron Hughes
Dennis Lynds, 1924-2005
The Mystery Community Pays Their Respects…
An Officer’s Final Salute: R.I.P. Ed McBain
by Jim Doherty
Mickey Spillane: This Time It’s Personal
by Max Allan Collins
Arthur Lyons: Lyons Ends His Roar
by J. Kingston Pierce
Talkin’ ’bout Ernest Tidyman: Can You Dig it?
A Son Remembers
“In Love with Raymond Chandler”
by Margaret Atwood
SHAMUS SOAPBOX
Dan Fortune Has His Say
Michael Collins’ Outspoken Private Eye Speaks Out
INTERVIEWS
Forgotten Hammett: A Long-Lost Interview
Unearthed by Ben Solomon
Heavier Than Broken Hearts: The 2013 Raymond Chandler Interview
Conducted by Ben Solomon
The Shrink-Wrapped P.I. The Richard Helms Interview
Conducted by Jack Bludis
Burning Down the House: The John Lutz Interview
Conducted by Kevin Burton Smith
Hard-Boiled Poet: The Reed Farrel Coleman Interview
Conducted by Jack Bludis
Where’d He Go? The Rob Kantner Interview
Conducted by Kevin Burton Smith
You Can’t Keep a Good Gal Down
An Interview with Gloria Fickling, the Real Honey West
Conducted by Kevin Burton Smith
The Adventures of Harry Nile
Talkin’ with Jim French & Phil Harper
Conducted by Stewart Wright
ESSAYS
The Simple Art of Murder
Essay by Raymond Chandler
Across These Mean Wires:
A Twenty-Year Retrospective & A Long Overdue Thank-You Note
Essay by Victoria Esposito
Resurrecting Rafferty
My Father, a P.I., a Web Site and Me
Essay by Bill Duncan
Another One Rides the Bus
Thrilling Detective, Jackson Donne and Me
Essay by Dave White
“The Princess and the Pedlar”
Raymond Chandler and the Case of the Lost Libretto
Essay by Kim Cooper
The Lesbian Private Eye
Essay by Megan Casey
Timothy Webster: Pinkerton Detective and the Civil War Spy
Essay by Corey Recko
A Queer Eye for the New Eyes
Essay by Josh Lanyon
Drive-Bys: Private Eyes in Hip Hop
Essay by Ray Garraty
Sex… and Crime Fiction
Essay by Jill Edmonson
“What? You Want It to Be Realistic As Well?”
Essay by Joe Stein
The New Black Mask
A Review and Tribute by Mark Coggins
From Spenser to Yeats:
Feminism’s Version of the Hard-boiled Sleuth
is on the Wagon and Rides a Harley
Essay by Jill Edmonson
Urich for Hire: The Private Eye Shows of Robert Urich
Essay by Kevin Burton Smith
Down These Mean Streets a Gay Man Must Also Go
Essay by Drewey Wayne Gunn
A Man Must Do What He Must: Hammett’s Pragmatism
Essay by Josef Hoffmann
P.G. Wodehouse: P.I. Writer
By Rudyard Kennedy
On the Trail of Drexel Drake’s Falcon: An On-Going Investigation
By Frank Derato
Mickey Spillane: This Time It’s Personal
By Max Allan Collins
Hard, Tough and More Than a Little Nasty: Martin Brett’s Mike Garfin Novels
An Overview by Kevin Burton Smith
Watching the Detective: The Maltese Falcon‘s Cynical Influence on a Young Reader
Essay by Peter Spiegelman
The New Pulp! A Tribute To Blue Murder
Essay by Kevin Burton Smith
Why I Love Crime Fiction
Essay by Leonard Chang
Welcome to L.A.
Opening Remarks by Robert Crais
Memories of Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine
Reminisces by Richard A. Moore
Nero Wolfe: A Social Commentary on the US
Essay by Marcia Kiser
Spenser and Hawk:
A Study of Good and Evil in the Fiction of Robert B. Parker
Essay by Gerald So
Down Those Mean Skies
The Case of the Private Detective in Science Fiction, Fantasy and Related Genres
Essay by Kevin Burton Smith
The Mitch Tobin Series
Overview by Bryan Schingle
The Donald Strachey Series by Richard Stevenson
Overview by Sam Phillips
REVIEWS: BOOKS
“The Wanted” by Robert Crais
Review by Ron DeSourdis
“The Detective & the Chinese High-Fin” by Michael Craven
and “What You Break” by Reed Farrel Coleman.
A Two-Fisted Double Review by Ron DeSourdis
“The Crossing” by Michael Connelly
Review by Ron DeSourdis
“The Hollow Girl” by Reed Farrel Coleman
Review by Ron DeSourdis
Death is Not the End: “The Black-Eyed Blonde” by Benjamin Black
Review by Kevin Burton Smith
“Beat L.A” by Gary Phillips and Tony Chavira
Review by Lily Gardner
“Right As Rain” by George Pelecanos
Review by Lily Gardner
“The Woman Who Married a Bear” by John Straley
Review by Lily Gardner
“Smoker” by Greg Rucka
Review by Lily Gardner
“Death on the Cheap” by Arthur Lyons
Review by Kevin Burton Smith
A Pynchon Private Eye Novel: “Inherent Vice”
Review by Scott Adlerberg
“Men of the Mean Streets” edited by Greg Herren & J.M. Redmann
Review by Josh Lanyon
“No Chance in Hell” by Nick Quarry
Review by August West
“Claire Dewitt and the City of the Dead” by Sara Gran
Review by D.L. Browne
“No Chance in Hell” by Nick Quarry
Review by August West
“So Dark for April” by John Evans
Review by August West
“The Convertible Hearse” by Bill Gault
Review by August West
“Songs of Innocence” by Richard Aleas
Review by Seth Harwood
“Pulp” by Charles Bukowski
Review by Christopher Friesen
“The Gates of Eden“ by Ethan Coen
Review by Christopher Friesen
“Black Alley“ by Mickey Spillane
Review by Christopher Friesen
“A Drink Before the War” by Dennis Lehane
Review by Christopher Friesen
“Cold Fire Calm Rage” by Joe Stein
Review by Kieran Carey
“Tonight I Said Goodbye” by Michael Koryta
Review by James R. Winter
“No Time To Mourn” by Tim Wohlforth
Review by Dale Stoyer
“Eve Missing” by Ralph Pezzullo
Review by Dale Stoyer
“The Narrows” by Michael Connelly
Review by Ron DeSourdis
“Blood is the Sky” by Steve Hamilton
Review by James R. Winter
“Lost Light” by Michael Connelly
Review by David White
“Hardbroiled,” edited by Michael Bracken
Review by James R. Winter
“The Last Place” by Laura Lippman
Review by James R. Winter
“The Adventures of Cardigan” by Frederick Nebel
Review by Mario Taboada
“In His Shadow” by Dave Zeltserman
Review by Mario Taboada
There’s Something About Willetta…
“Detecting Men” and “Detecting Women 2” by Willetta Heising
Review by Rick Robinson
REVIEWS: FILMS
THOSE ’70s SHOWS
The Decade the Private Eye Film Came of Age
Introduction
By Kevin Burton Smith
“I Was Filled With a Sense of Loss and Longing”
Chinatown Remembered
By Fred Zackel
“Looking for the Connections”
Reconsidering Robert Altman’s The Long Goodbye
By Thomas Pluck
“It’s Not Supposed to Matter”
The Conversation Remembered
By Ben Solomon
“With Autumn Closing In”
Night Moves Remembered
By Daniel Moses Luft
A Conversation About the Conversation
An Introduction to the 1974 Classic
By Sam Wiebe
Night Moves: An Introduction
By Sam Wiebe
OTHER FILMS
The Long Red Harvest
The Hammett Classic Comes to the Big Screen
By Kevin Burton Smith
Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle
Review by D.L. Browne
Kiss Me Deadly
Review by Bryan Schingle
REVIEWS: TELEVISION
HBO’s Perry Mason: It’s the Stubble, Stupid!
By Kevin Burton smith
Now I Know Why They Called It “Spenser Confidential”
(They Didn’t Want the Word to Get Out)
By Kevin Burton Smith
It Wasn’t Easy: Mike Hammer Comes to Television
By Kevin Burton Smith
Coming Soon (maybe) To a Screen Near You
Pilots 2005-2006
Report by Chris Gumprich
GRAPHIC NOVELS & COMICS
The Language of Angeltown
A review by Robert Lee
MUSIC REVIEWS
Drive-Bys: Private Eyes in Hip Hop
Essay by Ray Garraty
Crime Fiction… With Guitars!
Steve Wynn’s Riding Shotgun
Review by Kevin Burton Smith
THE WRITING LIFE
Props & Peeves!
Private Eye Stories from A Real-Life P.I.
An essay by Colleen Collins
So, This Author Walks into a Bar…
Musings on Self-Promotion by Steven Gomez
TRUE CRIME
Props & Peeves!
Private Eye Stories from A Real-Life P.I.
An essay by Colleen Collins
TALES FROM THE LOCK-UP
Never Happen
A Cop’s Eye View from Charles Shafer
Tag Man
A Cop’s Eye View from Charles Shafer
OUR 20th ANNIVERSARY
A Long Time Running: Twenty Years and Counting…
True Confessions by Kevin Burton Smith
Across These Mean Wires
A Twenty-Year Retrospective & a Long Overdue Thank-You Note
Essay by Victoria Esposito
Resurrecting Rafferty: It’s a Family Affair
Essay by Bill Duncan
Another One Rides the Bus: Thrilling Detective, Jackson Donne and Me
Essay by Dave White
THE THRILLING DETECTIVE ZOOMS
And Other Video Appearances
INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING?
We’re always on the hunt for reviews, interviews, essays, thought-pieces and the like that don’t quite fit into the rest of our site.
We’re looking for:
- thoughtful, incisive reviews by people who have actually read the books
- provocative and intelligent thoughts on the P.I. genre
- revealing interviews with writers and other important figures in the genre
- background info on crime and punishment that our readers will enjoy
- lots of hard-hitting stuff I haven’t even thought of yet.
Still not certain what we’re looking for? Then check out:
What we’re NOT looking for:
- namby-pamby ass-kissing reviews by people who’ve read only the blurbs
- poorly-thought-out arguments on why something “sucks”
- incoherent ramblings by pseudo-writers who think being offensive is a sign of intelligence
- true crime stories
Of course, anything that does find its way into this area will still be linked from here to eternity, at least all over this site. I believe it has something to do with the “interconnectedness of all things,” as sometime-P.I. guy Douglas Adams once put it.
As usual, we can’t pay you anything for your contributions, but we will give you a pat on the back and add you to our staff page. That alone will surely draw the attention of handsome and attractive strangers wherever you go, who will hopefully ply you with free drinks and other cool stuff.
Hey… it could happen!
