The fifth Max book is now about a quarter of the way done. And I had a mild freakout this week that it was all terrible and I was wasting my time. Maybe it’s true. Maybe it’s not. A lot is going on right now way beyond writing. Pandemic, the election, school starting up. Letting my emotions bubble up shouldn’t have been a surprise.

It was a good reminder that while our to-do lists continue to grow at the top of the list should be working to remain calm. To do what we need to do to slow down our racing mind because emotional responses only ever make things worse. I got my head right and went back to work.

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

 

3 LINKS

• Criminal Element highlighted 12 neo-noir authors that you should know but probably don’t (not yet). Really like Barron’s Coleridge series. That was a recent new-to-me series discovery.
  

• If you like Ware’s latest, a homage to Christie’s AND THEN THERE WERE NONE, Book Riot picks 8 more books that use the locked room mystery to gin up suspense. I can vouch for Foley’s debut and really liked Lafferty’s genre bending SIX WAKES.
  

• I’m surprised more of Michael Connelly’s books haven’t been adapted but this one caught me off guard. Connelly will adapt his recent 3rd Jack McEvoy book FAIR WARNING into a feature. Be interested to see how that works. Loved the book, timely, but so much hinged on personal privacy and information sharing. Will it translate visually?
  

 

2 QUOTES

Two quotes from Agatha Christie this week as she celebrates a birthday:

• “Time is the best killer.”
• “Very few of us are what we seem.”

 

1 QUESTION

• The Queen of Crime is the best selling novelist of all time so chances are that you’ve read at least one of her books. My two favorites are AND THEN THERE NONE and the third Poirot, THE MURDER OF ROGER ACKROYD. What is your favorite Agatha Christie mystery?
  

 

Until next Thursday, happy reading,

Mike

Author the Max Strong thriller series