Thrilling Detective Non-Fiction (Index)

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 & PROFILES

Leslie Peterson Sapp
I Paint What I Feel… and I Feel Noir
Profile by Kevin Burton Smith

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

You say it’s your birthday?
100 Years of the Hard-Boiled American Private Eye
Essay by Kevin Burton Smith

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

This is a Wild One:
“Solomon’s Vineyard” by Jonathan Latimer
Review by Sam Wiebe

“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

Magnum P.I. (v2.4)
Dr. Goldberg Delivers His Diagnosis, and It’s Murder
By Lee Goldberg

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!

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