The Crime Lady: Books & Travels
Dear TCL Readers: This will be a short missive, as I’m on my way to Mexico for the San Miguel de Allende Writer’s Conference and Literary Festival. It’s my...
The Crime Lady: Beth, or Betty
Dear TCL Readers: Elizabeth Short (1924-1947) Somehow, this is my first newsletter of 2026. January was — well, I don’t have to tell you. We’re in the midst...
The Crime Lady: Watch Out, Buford
Pauline Pusser, murdered in 1967 Dear TCL Readers: The door on 2025 is about to close. It was a hard year for most everyone, and there were plenty of ups and...
The Crime Lady: Books I Loved in 2025
Dear TCL Readers: Over the weekend, my Best Mystery Novels of 2025 appeared in the Sunday edition of the New York Times Book Review. They are, in author...
The Crime Lady: A Whirlwind of a Book Tour
Dear TCL Readers: I am back home after a short book tour that took me from NYC to Portland, Oregon, to Washington, DC, and then to Cold Spring, NY. It was...
WITHOUT CONSENT Is Published Today!
New book 'Without Consent' tackles spousal rape legal history, is out now - catch me on tour!
The Crime Lady: Librarians, Nightmares, and Six Days To Go
One more week to publication day! Dear TCL Readers: This will be a short dispatch. Less than a week out from publication and things are shaping up very...
The Crime Lady: Two Weeks To Go
Dear TCL Readers: The road to publication is paved with the full gamut of emotions. Elation, exhilaration, existential dread, and everything in between — if...
The Crime Lady: A Change of Season, and WITHOUT CONSENT News
Dear TCL Readers: It’s September — barely. The combination of work, the High Holidays, family health issues, and the ever-downward slide into...
The Crime Lady: Some of What I've Been Reading Lately
It’s good to be home Dear TCL Readers: After a month away traveling and writing in Europe, I’m finally back home — but only to catch my breath, because this...
The Crime Lady: A Few Questions for Chuck Hogan
Dear TCL Readers: Chuck Hogan has been a mainstay of crime and thriller fiction for three decades, debuting with The Standoff (1995) and making a more...
The Crime Lady: Remembering Tom Lehrer
Dear TCL Readers: Tom Lehrer, 1959, cutting a cake in the shape of a severed hand Hello from the South of France, where I’ve been working on some new...
The Crime Lady: MURDERLAND and "The Bundy Problem"
Dear TCL Readers: Two newsletters this week! This one’s shorter, and for a special reason: I have a new review/essay up at The Atlantic on Caroline Fraser’s...
The Crime Lady: Odds and Ends
Dear TCL Readers: pre-order Without Consent at your favorite retailer Without Consent moves ever closer to publication — sure, it’s November 11, but time...
The Crime Lady: A Few Questions For C.M. Kushins
A Q&A with Elmore Leonard’s authorized biographer Cover for Cooler Than Cool by C.M. Kushins (William Morrow) Dear TCL Readers: There is so much to update...
The Crime Lady: A Few Questions for Kate Summerscale
Dear TCL Readers: Kate Summerscale is one of my true crime touchstones. She knows how to turn real-life historical mysteries into engaging narratives, and...
The Crime Lady: Latest Writings and Upcoming Events
Dear TCL Readers: I write you in the thick of work — the copyedit and the legal read for Without Consent landed simultaneously late last week, and...
The Crime Lady: Changing Guards
A Q&A with Jackie Sherbow, the newest editor-in-chief of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine 1000th issue of Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, which was Janet...
The Crime Lady: Remembering Ken Bruen
Ken Bruen with editor Selina Walker and actor David Soul, 2006 Dear TCL Readers: Ken Bruen died over the weekend, just seventy-four years old. There was no...
The Crime Lady: On Private Detectives, and More
Dear TCL Readers: A few months ago my editor at the Book Review, Tina Jordan, asked if I would contribute some additional recommendation lists for their...
