During the last weekend of September, I attended the Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity (C3) conference in Hunt Valley, Maryland. The C3 is an annual book lovers’ event for fans and writers of horror, mystery, suspense, thriller, fantasy, and paranormal. Attendees were greeted with a tote bag of goodies, including a copy of Prose ‘n Cons magazine, a notepad and pen set, and […]
Greenwich, Conn., author Nina Mansfield shares an insider’s view of CrimeCONN 2015, the annual Connecticut Mystery Conference co-sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, New York Chapter.
C.J. Carpenter was born and grew up in Upstate New York. She worked in advertising and television production before she decided to embark on a writing career. About her first novel, Never Alone, Kirkus Reviews wrote: “A promising debut for fans of the procedural thriller. The complex heroine and startling denouement lift this one above the average and bode well for future installments.” Her second novel, Hidden Vices, was released in July.
On the blog, we have recently published reports on four bookstore interviews I conducted recently: Doylestown Bookshop, the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop, Moonstone Mystery Book Store, and Buffalo Street Books. This project began because Sisters in Crime asked Stefanie Pintoff and me to interview Otto Penzler and Ian Kern of Mysterious Bookshop about the state of the retail book business. SinC
All the lying and the hiding and the subtext of theater add up to the best elements of a good crime story. Many novelists, like David Mamet and Theresa Rebeck, have launched their novel-writing careers from a background in theater. Theater has taught them how to tell a story. Is it any surprise then that the most dramatic of novel
Meet Glenda Childs, owner of the Doylestown Bookshop. BACKGROUND: Doylestown Bookshop is a general bookstore that has been in business 18 years and has excellent community support. The customer base skews somewhat to women of all ages, and they have regular children’s programs. They have eight bookclubs. The store is 6,000 square feet, and it 75% books with 25% gift
Meet Debbie Beamer of the Mechanicsburg Mystery Bookshop. BACKGROUND: The store, established in 1990, sells only crime stories — mysteries, espionage, thrillers, and so on, both new and used, and related other items, such as gifts. They will also do special orders for any book. Their customer base is all ages, in a diverse community, but with the majority being
Nina Mansfield is a Greenwich, CT-based writer. Her YA mystery novel Swimming Alone was recently published by Fire & Ice. Her short fiction has appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine and Mysterical-E. Her plays have been produced throughout the United States and internationally, and are published by Smith and Kraus, One Act Play Depot, YouthPlays and Original Works Publishing.
Meet Marilyn Thiele of Moonstone Mystery Book Store. BACKGROUND: In 1999, Marilyn bought, and still owns, a used book business called Twice Told Tales. When the adjoining store closed, she took over the space and opened Moonstone, fulfilling a longtime dream of owning a mystery bookstore. The nearby presence of a Borders was a concern, but she took what she
Last week I provided some background to this project of learning more about the independent bookstores in our very diverse MWA-NY region. Here is the first of a series of interviews. Meet Asha Sanaker of Buffalo Street Books in Ithaca, New York. Ithaca is a small, lively town in the Finger Lakes region and is home to both Cornell University
