Happy Thursday! I hope your reading week is going well. Welcome to the first edition of 3-2-1 Thursday (shameless stolen from James Clear).

I’m in the midst of getting over that holiday hangover and plotting out my next Max book. In addition to that I’ll try to uphold my promise of creating a little content with “the most crime fiction enthusiasm per word” of any post or email on the web.

Here are 3 crime fiction links, 2 quotes, and 1 question for this week:

 

3 LINKS

• Marie Claire has a great profile of Meg Abbott, one of my favorite crime fiction writers, as she acts as the showrunner for USA’s adaptation of her novel DARE ME. When people say they don’t really read crime fiction, I often recommend Abbott or Laura Lippman and pretty soon they’ve changed their minds.

• Criminal Element looks at 4 authors that used true-crime events as inspiration and jumping off points for their crime fiction.

• The New York Times currently has an excerpt of Liz Moore’s very buzzy LONG BRIGHT RIVER. Have this on request and hope it comes in soon at my local library. It will immediately jump to the top of my teetering TBR.

 

2 QUOTES

I love fist lines. So simple but so important for both the reader and writer. Hit me with a good first line and I’ll cut you fifty pages of slack.

• They were in one of the “I” states when Zeke told Isaac he had to ride in the trunk for a little while. ~ Laura Lippman, By a Spider’s Thread

• When the phone rang, Parker was in the garage, killing a man. ~ Richard Stark, Firebreak
  

 

1 QUESTION

If I look past additional installments of my favorite author’s (new Sandford, new Connelly, new Child, etc) Moore’s LONG BRIGHT RIVER might be my most anticipated mystery/thriller of 2020. It’s definitely my top pick for the winter.

• What mystery/thriller/suspense book are you looking forward to most this year?

 

Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series