Starting to let new ideas for the next book percolate. As if I have any choice. And new probably isn’t quite right either. Everything is a remix—and the world is better for it. It’s almost impossible to come up with a truly unique idea. You can however present an old idea in new and surprising ways.

Ok, let’s get to it.

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

3 LINKS

• The 2021 Audie Awards were announced this week. Michael Connelly’s FAIR WARNING narrated by Peter Giles and Zach Villa took the mystery category. I actually have never listened to a Connelly on audio. Right now I’m working me way through Penny’s Gamache series on audio and really enjoying the narration.
• The NYTs has an essay from Edmund White (with a follow up online conversation on 4/22) on Highsmith, her career, and her most famous creation in Tom Ripley.
• PW checks in (right on time) with Ben H Winters on his latest, THE QUIET BOY, which mashes up a legal thriller with an unsettling mystery.

2 QUOTES

Two from Tom Ripley:

• “I always thought it would be better to be a fake somebody than a real nobody.”
• “I could live Dickie’s life for him.”

1 QUESTION

• Do you have a favorite mystery series to listen to on audio?

---

Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series