Author: Croak and Dagger
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Books Make Great Gifts
by J. L. Greger Now for a really big mystery – what will you buy as gifts for relatives and friends this year? There are so many holidays – Valentine’s Day, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, graduations, birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, family reunions… You don’t want to give candy to overweight (perhaps diabetic) relatives and friends.…
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Everything Old Is New Again
by Linda Triegel Once upon a time, not that long ago, all books were printed on paper. Then came the Internet, quickly followed by “e-books”, or books not printed at all but readable electronically. At first, these were not considered “real” books, the presumption being that if an author could not sell her novel to…
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Love is All You Need
Croak & Dagger member Linda Triegel has a short story in e-anthology Love is All You Need available now on Amazon, scheduled to be published in book form August 4th. Linda’s story “Working It Out” is one of ten short romance stories that won top honors in the 2014 Sophie King Prize Contest sponsored by Corazon Books/Wyndham Media…
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Grande Dames and Great Detectives
by Linda Triegel Most writers grow fond of the characters they create, but there must be a special relationship between writers and series characters that, with skill on the writer’s part and staying power on the character’s, appear to change and mature through the life of the series. Between female mystery writers and their detectives,…
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Author Interview: Patricia Smith Wood
As a child Pat entertained herself and others making up stories and putting on plays. Law enforcement is in her DNA: her father served as a police officer and completed a distinguished career with the FBI. She became an FBI employee herself for a brief period. She graduated from the FBI Citizens’ Academy in 2009.…
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The Writers Block: Figures of Speech
A column on craft by Linda Triegel Figures of speech, or figurative language, are the sound effects added to writing to make it richer and more colorful. The most common figures of speech are: SIMILE A comparison of two different things, introduced by like (“My luve’s like a red, red rose”) or as (“Her dress…
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Mothers of Sisters: Josephine Tey
by Linda Triegel Elizabeth MacKintosh, who wrote mystery novels under the name Josephine Tey, was an intensely private person. Little is known of her life, but her fans are more than satisfied with reading her eight classic short mysteries over and over. What is known is that she was born in 1896 in Inverness, Scotland and…
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What Are Women in Science Like?
by J.L. Greger Scientists are required to submit a full disclosure of their biases when they submit a manuscript for review. Their disclosures are brief because editors charge researchers (or at least the agencies supporting the research) page charges. Here’s mine: My novel Coming Flu (published in July 2012 by Oak Tree Press) is a…
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Author Interview: Elizabeth Galligan
Author, poet and educator, Albuquerque resident Elizabeth Ann Galligan, Ph.D., holds degrees in anthropology, Latin American Studies, and Curriculum and Instruction in Multicultural Teacher Education. As illustrated in her debut novel, Secrets of the Plumed Saint: A Tale of Intrigue from Northern New Mexico, she is intimately familiar with the multicultural heritage of the Southwest and…
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Author Interview: Robert Kresge
Robert Kresge writes the Warbonnet historical mystery series set in 1870s Wyoming: Murder for Greenhorns, Painted Women, Death’s Icy Hand. Rob has also written a Civil War spy novel based on real events, and modern-day short stories for a mystery magazine and anthologies. Rob retired from the CIA in 2002, after working on Southeast Asia,…