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Why Ordinary People Make Extraordinary Detectives

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allen Poe (1841) is generally considered the first modern detective story. Most writers of crime fiction know that, and yet many of us are surprised to learn that the eccentric detective, M. Auguste Dupin, isn’t a policeman. He isn’t even a detective…

Connie BerryDecember 5, 2025

Miscellany Potpourri

Characters Who Take Over Your Book

I needed a ghost. I’d just published my debut novel, A Beginner’s Guide to Starting Over, and was beginning my follow-up. I was about halfway into writing the second book when I began to receive feedback from readers about the first. One of the things they commented on was how…

Gabi CoatsworthDecember 3, 2025

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What Covering Crime In TV News Taught Me About Crafting Thrillers

The leap from reporting crime as a TV news producer to writing psychological thrillers is not as big a jump as you might think. For me, it’s been a logical next step, a distillation of so much of what I’d heard and seen and experienced in the nearly two decades…

Christina KovacDecember 5, 2025

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The Woods Hold Secrets — As Do the People Who Live There

“Middle children always knew how to remain unseen. They knew how to slip below the notice of others … Middle children were tricksters.” In Julie Doar’s The Gallagher Place, Marlowe Fisher, 36, is the middle child between two brothers, Nate and Henry, the three of them raised in a big…

Neil NyrenNovember 28, 2025

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When Everyday Tech Turns Enemy: Two Eye-Opening Thrillers

While I was listening to Elliot Wolf’s Eavesdropper (read my review here), I occasionally had to put my phone face down on the table. Not because the story was too intense — though it is — but because the novel’s premise felt uncomfortably close to the little black rectangle already…

Monique SnymanSeptember 22, 2025

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How Far Would You Go to Get the Perfect House?

“‘We have to stop putting all this pressure on ourselves. It’ll work out eventually.’ “I am so goddamn sick of everyone telling me that.” So — As Marisa Kashino’s Best Offer Wins begins, here’s where we are: Thirty-seven-year-old Margo Miyake and her husband, Ian, have been house-hunting in the Washington,…

Neil NyrenOctober 31, 2025

Miscellany Popular

Think Bigger. Think Greener. Think Ten Thousand Central Parks.

The story of Central Park stretches from its nineteenth-century origins — with an unlikely cast of colorful characters — to the experiences of some 42 million visitors each year, and no single book could encompass it. Ten Thousand Central Parks: A Climate-Change Parable nonetheless attempts the impossible. It seeks…

David Brown MorrisOctober 20, 2025

Miscellany

Kick-Ass Grandparents: Why Horror Needs More Elderly Heroes

Perception is everything. When we’re kids, we look at teenagers like they’re these wizened old ones who, often times, we aspire to be like, thinking that’s the epitome of being an adult. When we enter our twenties, most kids think of their parents as elderly — doddering old folks whose…

Philip FracassiOctober 17, 2025

BooksToScreen - Featured Listicles

How to Build a Cult Following: Lessons from Fiction’s Most Charismatic Manipulators

Why do we root for people we’d cross the street to avoid in real life? Fiction is crowded with liars, schemers, stalkers, even killers … and somehow, they have fan clubs. Whether it’s Tom Ripley’s suave cons, Amy Dunne’s razor-sharp vengeance, or Joe Goldberg’s murderous devotion, these characters inspire not…

Monique SnymanSeptember 2, 2025

Setting the Mood with Historical Settings - Tall Poppies

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Historical Scenery Turns Sparks into Fire

The screen flickers and the camera sweeps across a tree lined drive, rolling hills, and bees frolicking among the flowers. Mr. Darcy steps into frame and with a perfect swan dive plunges into the pond on his estate where the elegant manor of Pemberly watches all. Another screen flickers. This…

J'nell CiesielskiJuly 14, 2025

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The Secret Book Club Starter Kit

I’ve always loved book clubs. Not just because they keep us reading — and reading builds empathy while offering escape — but because of the incredible bonds that form when people share stories. Book clubs allow us to connect through characters, dive into each other’s perspectives, and ask the big…

Eliza KnightJune 2, 2025

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The Evolution of Romantasy, from The Canterbury Tales to Fourth Wing

In the last two decades, romantasy has emerged from relative obscurity to become one of the most popular book genres among avid readers. The genre — its name a portmanteau of “romance” and “fantasy” — combines the magical elements of fantasy with the emotionally charged plotlines of romance. Romantasy has…

Caroline ReedApril 11, 2025

Copy of Novels with Surprising Structure - Tall Poppy Writers

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My Coauthor is Slacking on the Job

“My goodness, thank you all so much for this incredible honor. I’m truly humbled and proud to receive this award from the literary community that I admire so much. I’m speechless. Well, I would be speechless if I hadn’t already prepared this speech, ha, ha! Apologies for the note cards,…

T.M. BlanchetApril 1, 2025

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Remembering Barbara Taylor Bradford, Who Shaped Fiction With Strength, Resilience and Heart

Barbara Taylor Bradford, the British author whose career spanned decades, passed away on Sunday at the age of 91 at her home in New York City. She became a household name with her groundbreaking 1979 debut A Woman of Substance, which introduced millions of readers to the unforgettable character of…

BookTribNovember 26, 2024

Fiction Miscellany

Be Careful What You Witch For: Revenge and the Salem Witch Trials

Revenge gets a bad rap. This uncharitable thought popped into my mind as I was reading Stacy Schiff’s The Witches, a nonfiction masterpiece that explores the ins, outs, and maddening cruelties of the Salem witch trials. Schiff provides a handy-dandy “cast of characters” at the start of the book, and…

T.M. BlanchetMay 8, 2024

Nonfiction

A Bunny’s Tale: Gloria Steinem’s Shocking Exposé That Challenged Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Empire

After responding to an ad offering “attractive young girls” $200 a week to work at Hugh Hefner’s infamous New York Playboy Club, now-famous feminist, author, and activist, Gloria Steinem, donned the classic Bunny outfit and spent nearly a month working undercover as part of a searing Show Magazine exposé. In…

Early Bird BooksOctober 10, 2017

Why Ordinary People Make Extraordinary Detectives

Characters Who Take Over Your Book

What Covering Crime In TV News Taught Me About Crafting Thrillers

The Woods Hold Secrets — As Do the People Who Live There

When Everyday Tech Turns Enemy: Two Eye-Opening Thrillers

How Far Would You Go to Get the Perfect House?

Think Bigger. Think Greener. Think Ten Thousand Central Parks.

How to Build a Cult Following: Lessons from Fiction’s Most Charismatic Manipulators

Historical Scenery Turns Sparks into Fire

The Secret Book Club Starter Kit

The Evolution of Romantasy, from The Canterbury Tales to Fourth Wing

My Coauthor is Slacking on the Job

Remembering Barbara Taylor Bradford, Who Shaped Fiction With Strength, Resilience and Heart

Be Careful What You Witch For: Revenge and the Salem Witch Trials

A Bunny’s Tale: Gloria Steinem’s Shocking Exposé That Challenged Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Empire

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