By S. J. Rozan The Mayors of New York - Writing Down the Boroughs I love New York. This won't come as a surprise to anyone who knows me, or reads me. It's not that I think it's the best place in the world. I've seen a lot, though not nearly as much as I want, of the world, and my lord, it's full...
By Jessica Thompson When reading a book, watching a movie, listening to a story, or even playing a game, most people focus on the characters or plot, but the third big ingredient is your setting. What is the setting? Google says it is the place or type of surroundings where something is positioned...
By Z.J. Czupor On Tour with Dead Writers is Z.J. Czupor's new installment on Rogue Women Writers. Guess the correct dead writer and be entered to win a free book. Let’s check in to New York City’s famous St. Regis Hotel on 55th Street. The hotel has long been a celebrity haven and is where, in...
By Lisa Black Truth is often stranger than fiction, but sometimes fiction is truth—whether it means to be or not. Any cozy mystery worth its salt has a small town, a bickering couple, eccentric characters, and a great climate. A murder in 2013 checked all these boxes and more, but to the...
Writing Outside the Box Chris Goff: I first met Lee Goldberg at a Bouchercon some 20 years ago, and what sticks with me is his sense of humor and bigger-than-life personality. The man was holding court in the hotel foyer, recounting a conversation he’d had with his beautiful wife, Valerie (who is...
By Tosca Lee Last night an author friend of mine sent me a message accompanied by an unspoken (but noted by me) sage nod. “I am never more productive with busywork type tasks than when I’m on deadline for a book!” she said. How’d she know I was “writing?” Because I’d just posted a picture of...
K. J. Howe: Paul Vidich’s Beirut Station is a novel with deep historical roots, and it reads like a real-life thriller. Spies, revenge, betrayal—buckle up your seat belt! By Paul Vidich On March 16, 1985, William Francis Buckley, the newly appointed CIA Chief of Station in Beirut, left his...
Kim Howe: PJ Caldas is a Brazilian writer and expert martial artist who is an ardent supporter of strong female characters, as you will see in the blog below. Welcome to the Rogues, PJ! By PJ Caldas This is Sharon. Five times per week, we train together in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in Port...
By Isabella Maldonado For my most recent novel, I wanted a lead character who was an action hero like Jack Reacher, Jason Bourne, Mitch Rapp, or Scot Horvath. But my hero had to be a woman. And she had to be believable. After some research, I learned such women do exist in real life. They are...
By Z.J. Czupor On Tour with Dead Writers is Z.J. Czupor's new installment on Rogue Women Writers. Guess the correct dead writer and be entered to win a free book. Over the duration of her short life and writing career, this author wrote six novels, two memoirs and more than 200 short stories....
