As a reader I have always enjoyed mystery series. That started with the Grand Dame of mystery Agatha Christie with her delightful characters Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. Then it was John D. McDonald and the Travis McGee series. A few years later I stumbled upon the 87th Precinct Series by Ed McBain, the alter-ego of Evan Hunter, and that's what stirred my interest in police procedural mysteries. There are so many other series that I've enjoyed. Sue Grafton's alphabet series with Kinsey Millhone. Dennis Lehane's series with Patrick Kenzie and Angela Gennaro, a much too short series for me. Louise Penney' s series with Armand Gamache and a whole cast of intriguing characters. Timothy Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series set in Bangkok that recently ended, much to the dismay of this reader and many others. For a reader, when a series ends, it's like we've lost a whole family. That's especially true if there've been a lot of books, or even just...

Marketing experts have cautioned writers to be careful about being too political in writing blogs or in social media posts. The concern is that by stating opinions about social issues we might turn off some of the people who will then decide to never buy one of our books because they disagree with us on a particular issue. One of my friends, Tim Hallinan, decided after the election of 2016 that he would not hold back. He was so dismayed that somebody as unqualified to be a president as Donald Trump was actually elected, that he, Tim, would speak out when he saw wrongdoing or abuse of power. He knew people would disagree with things he posts on Facebook. He knew that people might decide not to buy his books because of what he posts on Facebook. And Tim has been okay with that. For a long time I've not heeded the advice of those marketing people either. I want to. I try to. I need to build a readership not drive people away because I say something that sticks in their craw. Bu...

I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of Timothy Hallinan's most recent release, Fields Where They Lay , a new Junior Bender mystery. Tim has been nominated for the Edgar and Macavity Awards, and Herbie's Game won the Lefty in 2014 for  the best comic mystery. As a long-time fan of Tim's writing, I was thrilled to get the advance copy of this book that releases in October. I first got acquainted with his work when I was reviewing for BloggerNews.com and received a copy of Breathing Water, a Poke Rafferty Thriller . That was back in 2010, and I have read a number of other books in the Poke Rafferty series, as well as the Junior Bender series. It's hard to say which I like better, as they both are so well-written and packed with fascinating characters and interesting places. Junior Bender is not your ordinary thief. He's a cultured thief, if cultured and thief could actually be used in the same sentence, but as you get to know him, you recognize that he is wel...