Linwood Barclay signs a book for an adoring fan. Photo by Peter Rozovsky by special agreement with Detectives Beyond Borders. I’ve never been able to get Ross Macdonald or, as Macdonald himself might have said, I am paralyzed by a deep-seated fear of wince-makingly amateur Freudianism that I just can’t express. Linwood Barclay, on the other hand, is a great admirer of Macdonald’s, so naturally when Barclay approached as I chatted with a fellow attendee at the Theakston Ole Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate last month, I said: “Oh, hey! We were just ripping the ---- out of ..read more

Jay Stringer This is Parker Bilal, who said: “If Chandler were  writing today, he’d be writing about Cairo or Mumbai or Lagos, these new megacities.” Chris Brookmyre Howdy. And may I say it's nice to be back? Here are some photos I shot at the Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, known to most as, simply, "Harrogate." Photos by me unless otherwise specified. This is Stav Sherez, whose book The Intrusions won the festival's novel of the year award. He also said that of all the crime writers influenced by James Ellroy, Don Winslow is ..read more

Peter Lovesey, named an MWA Grand Master at the 2018 Edgar Awards. Photo by Peter Rozovsky for Detectives Beyond Borders. © Peter Rozovsky 2018 ..read more

James Grady. Photography by Peter Rozovsky for Detectives Beyond Borders Authors talk about how tongue-tied they get in the presence of their literary heroes.  Not me. I've made Susan Sontag and Fran Lebowitz laugh. I know from firsthand experience what one Nobel laureate thought of instant coffee.  And I've schmoozed giants of crime and thriller writing in limousines, outside banquet halls, by coat racks, and queued up for free booze. Three years ago I wrote this after the 2015 Edgar Awards dinner of the Mystery Writers of America: "I got my New York errands done earl ..read more

My latest report from the world of audiobooks concerns an author who appears to confuse "concede" and "accede." (At least twice he has had political leaders "concede to" demands.) The other thing he does is a lot more interesting. The book is a history of the Habsburg Empire, and it naturally mentions cities that have names in German and one or more Slavic languages. Many books of history handle such matters of nomenclature with a prefatory note in which the author presents the problem, then explains why he or she has chosen to use one name or the other. This author, on the other hand, almo ..read more

This time it was (from left) Ed Aymar, Jenny Milchman, Angel Colón, and Hilary Davidson stopping in at Mysterious Bookshop to talk about The Night of the Flood, a novel to which they and a bunch more authors contributed. All photos by Peter Rozovsky for Detectives Beyond Borders They talked about the book, the story behind it, the issues it embraces, and the chords it struck with them. Colón and Davidson were especially compelling and, as was the case when Scott Adlerberg touted his new novel at Mysterious not long ago, authors talking can be even better than authors reading when it ..read more

Alison Gaylin. Photos by Peter Rozovsky for Detectives Beyond Borders Another day, another crime fiction event at Mysterious Bookshop. This time it was Alison Gaylin talking about her new novel If I Die Tonight on Tuesday with Megan Abbott for a crowd that included Sarah Weinman and other luminaries I'd have had a chance to talk to if I hadn't had to get back to work. Elsewhere, well, from the Lower East Side to the Upper West Side, New York is just a fine place to do some shooting. And let me tell you: The hotels up there are nicer than the ones down here. © Peter Rozovsky 201 ..read more

Lee Child, Steve Cavanagh. Photos by Peter Rozovsky for Detectives Beyond Borders. Steve Cavanagh is a lawyer in Northern Ireland who sets his legal thrillers in New York because the U.K. legal system, which divides a lawyer's job into the two professions of barrister and solicitor, would force him to create two protagonists, and besides, who could take seriously a hero in a white powdered wig? That's what Steve said, at least, and if he was having his audience (Friday, at the Mysterious Bookshop in New York) on a bit, that would be thoroughly in keeping with the sort of fun and ..read more

Jeff Markowitz, head of the MWA's New York chapter, who really is as genial as he appears here. Photo by Peter Rozovsky I'm not a joiner, but I'm going to make an exception for the Mystery Writers of America, the New York chapter of whose Mix and Mingle brunch I attended Saturday. A good time was had by everyone whose opinion I could verify, and the only glitch was that, thanks to some confusion on the staff's part, I got an extra margarita.  Here's some of what I learned: 1) Sara Blaedel, Danish crime writer, now lives in New York, knows a lot of stuff, and is good to chat wit ..read more

One of the cool things about my new job in New York is that one of my new colleagues is a big Alfred Hitchcock fan. In her honor, here's a photo I took in New York's Chinatown last week. © Peter Rozovsky 2018 ..read more