Princess Passion: Born to royalty in a land with monarchic mystique … raised in fortune, her life a quiet reflection of grace … married amid unprecedented worldwide adulation … killed tragically, a possible victim of the media she... Read More

Imagine if Ed McBain’s 87th Precinct series was set in Australia and you’ll get a fair idea of Garry Disher’s series featuring Inspector Hal Challis. In "Blood Moon" (Soho Press, 978-1-56947-563-8), the latest entry which teams... Read More

What do we know about China, the enormous nation that will most likely dominate the next century? Already most of us are clothed by China, shod by China, supplied with hardware by China, effectively in debt to China. And yet most of us... Read More

Brian ODea was living a straight, peaceful, and somewhat productive life when he was arrested in Santa Barbara, California; his past had finally caught up with him. HIGH is ODeas story of his life as a drug smuggler extraordinaire, which... Read More

The prolonged visit to Europe was a rite of passage for well-educated and well-to-do Americans, and the numbers undertaking it swelled after the Civil War. A voluminous literature of reportage resulted. After Louisa, then thirty-eight... Read More

When a fiction writer concocts a plot in which the fate of the world is at stake, the reader becomes a confederate, suspending belief in the expectation that plenty of fun will result. The author has an obligation as well: He or she... Read More

It sounds like the plot for a thriller by someone like Robert Ludlum. In 1931 Germany, Nazi thugs shoot and wound several men at a dance hall. The incident triggers three months of violence. When the suspects are brought to trial, a... Read More

Fear of failure wreaks havoc on writers in many ways, from writer’s block to completely abandoned manuscripts. Perhaps it is even powerful enough to cause a celebrated, talented novelist to perpetrate one of the biggest frauds in... Read More