The second year of my master’s program started a few weeks ago, and I’m buried in Global History until mid-December. Exciting stuff on the Cold War that my fellow history nerds might be interested in. Hit me up if you'd like some recommended nonfiction reads! We just got pics from our Colorado family that the leaves… Continue reading BIG NEWS & CHANGING SEASONS!
Juana Barraza is a criminal in Mexico who is also known as the "Old Lady Killer" due to the murders she had committed. She was sentenced to 759 years in prison for killing 42 to 48 older women. The press estimates her murders to be in between 29 to 49 women. Barraza was born in… Continue reading Juana Barraza – The Old Lady Killer
Ironic situations are one of the most gripping parts of any detective story. One of these occurred in real life in December 1926, when popular mystery writer, Agatha Christie, disappeared under suspicious circumstances. The author wrote a note stating that she was going on vacation and drove away from her home in Berkshire, England. Shortly… Continue reading Agatha Christie – An Author’s Mysterious Disappearance
Judy Buenoano, whose birth name was Judias Welty, was a notorious murderer in America and was known as the Black Widow. She killed many of her loved ones in the name of greed. She was imprisoned for a total of 3 murders, which got her on death row. Buenoano was one of the first women… Continue reading Judy Buenoano
Born in the northern town of Oswego in Mexico, Raymond C Schindler’s life was not initially exciting. Raymond struggled with odd jobs ranging from that of a salesman, an insurance agent, to working as a gold-miner in order to establish a promising career. However little did Raymond know what the future held for him. After… Continue reading Raymond C Schindler
Born in Michigan in 1956, Aileen Wuornos is quite possibly the most infamous female serial killer in America’s history. Aileen murdered 7 men in just under a year, at first claiming that these men had raped her. She had been a sex worker at the time and maintained for some time that all of the… Continue reading Aileen Wuornos
One of the most popular sub-genres of detective fiction, the locked room mystery, takes place in a situation where it would seem to be impossible for somebody to commit the crime. The most popular example being a dead body found in a room, locked from the inside. Several possibilities about how the victim was killed… Continue reading The Locked Room Mystery – Committing the Impossible Crime
Something to make you smile in these dark times... The fictional character, Lt. Franklin ‘Frank’ Drebin, is played by Leslie Nielsen. He appears in the TV series Police Squad! and the Naked Gun movies. Frank Drebin is best described as a ‘bumbling fool,’ who is completely oblivious to the problems that he causes. His indiscretion… Continue reading Frank Drebin – Comedy Quotes
Cynical detectives, overwhelming emotions and a corrupt legal system are the foundations of most of the novels written in the hardboiled genre. The longer you boil an egg the harder it will become and, as the name of the genre suggests, this was the nature of the detectives. As a result of the tough world… Continue reading Philip Marlowe – Typical Hardboiled Detective
The detective must always be memorable. Whether he (or she) is funny, misguided, inept or super intelligent, these traits have to endear the detective to the audience. Fictional detectives are expected to be slightly out of the ordinary. They must have some small habit, mannerism, eccentricity, interest or talent – something that sets them apart… Continue reading 12 Rules for writing a Detective Novel
