The President Is Missing, by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. Coming to your physical and digital bookstore in June. Watch for it. Pre-order from Amazon if you like. This won’t be the first time that a president has ventured into the mystery/detective/thriller genre, as Clay Fehrman points out in an interesting and enlightening article in • Read More »
Archives: detective fiction
Raymond Chandler and the development of the ‘private eye’; newsletter, Jan. 12, 2018
January 15, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: journalists, newsletter, watercolor.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (4,500) on Friday, Jan. 12, 2018. Special note: If you have unsubscribed to this list previously, I apologize for this email. I had some problems with the list over the past couple of weeks — due mainly to my incompetence — and some unsubscribers may have • Read More »
Raymond Chandler: a troubled author who raised the level of hard-boiled detective fiction
January 10, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: fiction, journalism, Private eye.Raymond Chandler brought a level of emotional complexity to his characters that had never been seen before in hard-boiled detective fiction.
Edgar Allen Poe and the development of the mystery novel
January 4, 2018 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: books, Private eye, writers, writing.The private eye’s business is trouble; newsletter, Dec. 22, 2017
December 25, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | No Comments | Filed in: newsletter, Private eye.This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (4,466) on Friday, Dec. 22, 2017. Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy New Year. Tis the season to celebrate, and there are lots of good greetings out there. I wish you good fellowship, good friends and family, good food, good music, and • Read More »
Trouble is their business: the ‘private eye’ and the writers who created them
December 21, 2017 | By Jim Stovall | 2 Comments | Filed in: Private eye, writers, writing.The opening scene of Raymond Chandler’s story Trouble is My Business tells you a lot in a very few words about Chandler’s “private eye,” Phillip Marlowe. Marlow is talking to a woman who runs a detective agency, a big one with several agents. But none of her people is suitable for the job she has. • Read More »