JEFFREY A. LOCKWOOD

Mystery Writing, by the numbers

Mystery Writing, by the numbers

The 2019 “Six-Word Mystery” contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain chapter of the Mystery Writers of America drew more than 200 entries from ten states and three countries. The results of this year’s competition were decided in December, and the winner is… me! By the slimmest of margins, my numerical noir finished on top. Sex, violence and justice combined to pique the imagination of the judges and voters: 36D, .44 magnum, 20 to life. I thought that toxic tales might be f

Immigration, Integration, and Imagination

Immigration, Integration, and Imagination

A reader of Lethal Fetish and the other Riley mysteries asked me why I chose one of this Irishman’s haunts to be a Polish bakery—and how I crafted believable, immigrant dialogue (crafting realistic dialect is one of the great challenges in writing). As for the “why”, I sensed a connection between Ireland and Poland. Both countries are grounded in working class lives. Both places have been oppressed by outside forces and have suffered terribly at times. Both countries embra

A Dark Genre’s Enlightening Lessons

A Dark Genre’s Enlightening Lessons

Last semester I taught an undergraduate course on crime noir, including films, radio programs, readings, and (of course) writing. Upon reflection, I think there were five things that the students realized—“lessons” about this genre and perhaps even life—along with what I learned about my students... First, noir is not a past-tense, old-school, has-been genre. Initially, many students thought noir meant black-and-white gangster movies (not that most of them had watched many s

The Original Femme Fatale

The Original Femme Fatale

The term femme fatale, used to describe a dangerous and alluring woman, originated in the mid-1800s and became a staple of noir mysteries in the 20th century. Classic films might’ve justified an inverted “Me Too” movement led by Frank Chambers (played by John Garfield in “The Postman Always Rings Twice”), Philip Marlowe (Humphry Bogart in “The Big Sleep), and Walter Neff (Fred McMurray in “Double Indemnity”). These poor saps were controlled by the likes of Lana Turner, Laur

Uncovering Cover Art

Uncovering Cover Art

The cover art for Lethal Fetish, my upcoming mystery novel in the Riley series features sultry, salacious, even lascivious images. Conor Mullen—my immensely gifted and creative artist—and I worked with various images to evoke the decadence that unfolds in the story. We settled on three evocative features (not including the less subtle elements in the storefront windows): stiletto heels, fishnet stockings and San Francisco’s Coit Tower. So why are these so suggestive? Accor

How to Write an Opera (Hint: Math Helps!)

How to Write an Opera (Hint: Math Helps!)

The challenge of scientific literacy is communicating knowledge in forms that are evocative, memorable and intelligent. Stories engage people—and this approach drove a collaborative venture to convey an ecological epic. Locust: The Opera is an environmental murder mystery in which solving the century-old extinction of an iconic species provides lessons for the modern world. The ghost of the locust haunts a scientist until he can figure out how a creature that once blackene

The Locusts are Coming (Operatically)!

The Locusts are Coming (Operatically)!

I previously wrote about a collaborative project with Dr. Anne Guzzo—an acclaimed composer in the Department of Music—to produce a chamber opera (How Science OPERAtes). We are excited to announce that LOCUST: THE OPERA will premiere at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming, on September 28th at 7:00 pm, with a matinee performance the next day at 1:00 pm. This is the story of the Rocky Mountain locust, whose swarms blackened the skies of North America until

Scientists Say the Darnedest Things

Scientists Say the Darnedest Things

Back in the 1960s, my family watched Art Linkletter’s television show, which included a segment in which he asked children questions or vice-versa. This format gave rise to a series of books titled, “Kids Say the Darnedest Things.” The notion was that the simple, direct, unfiltered words of children can be wonderfully incisive. Their provocative questions can reveal that grownups don’t really know—or maybe haven’t even thought—about some matters that we might presume to un

Controversial Chimera

Controversial Chimera

Here is an intriguing email and my response (both somewhat abridged, so let me know if you’d like the full versions). I showed the controversial image in question (Grasshopper in Cyberspace, Galina Lukshina, 2003) during a university presentation about my writing, when discussing the Riley mystery series. CONCERN: Your seminar was fascinating [but] the image of the woman on her back in a very sexualized position, with the insect head twisted around is not appropriate. Yes, p

Rarefaction, Riches—or Readers?

Rarefaction, Riches—or Readers?

I bristle at the notion that basic science, which eschews the crassness of economic utility, is more virtuous than applied research, which pursues gritty questions and messy answers needed by farmers, nurses and soldiers. Maybe this distinction is rooted in the Plato’s separation of the heavenly forms and the shadow on the cave wall (when in doubt, blame Greek philosophers). In reading Erik Dussere’s, America is Elsewhere: The Noir Tradition in the Age of Consumer Culture, I

What the World Needs Now

What the World Needs Now

There is no doubt that various groups have been terribly oppressed. This history combined with contemporary politics has produced a strategy in which those at society’s margins describe themselves as victims—a status that ironically confers social power. But is accepting this role the only or best approach? It’s been said that when the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. So what if you have another tool? Say, a Mike Hammer? Okay, Mike Hammer is mo

Pestilence Payback

Pestilence Payback

Murder on the Fly, the second installment of the “Riley the Exterminator” mystery series, is available for pre-ordering at pen-l.com/MurderOnTheFly.html. In addition to trying to provide readers with “a good story well told” (Mark Twain’s criterion for a worthwhile tale), I’ve again included elements of entomology and ethics. My hope is that folks will discover some unexpected features of the natural world and encounter some abiding qualities of the moral sphere—while enjoy

Listen Up!

Listen Up!

I’ve heard that undergraduates can only communicate in 140 character bursts. But this semester, I have a batch of students in my creative writing course who can write. Brilliantly, elegantly, evocatively? Well, sometimes. But their competency allows me to focus craft, taking their writing to the next level. The course is devoted to noir—and like many complex concepts, the best way to grasp this genre is through immersion. So, we’re reading the great writers, watching cla

Six-Word Challenge

Six-Word Challenge

People have been enjoying the notion of the micro-mystery that I introduced in my last blog posting, so I’m announcing a contest for anyone to email their six-word mysteries to me (lockwood@uwyo.edu). A panel of distinguished writers will select the winners who will receive copies of full-length mysteries (and of course, one of the prizes will be a signed copy of POISONED JUSTICE). Entries will be accepted for six weeks and the winners will be featured on this website. You

Longing to Belong

Longing to Belong

In Poisoned Justice, I used a murder mystery to walk the line between vengeance and justice—a most difficult philosophical problem. One can read the book without worrying too much about whether the anti-hero, Riley, has crossed moral line. But for those with an interest in what makes an act right or wrong, the story works at this deeper level. My next book in the series, Murder on the Fly (tentatively titled), includes mysterious deaths, dark motives, and conflicted charact

Hard-boiled or Soft-hearted?

Hard-boiled or Soft-hearted?

With Valentine’s Day around the corner, you might not be associating romantic love with crime noir. A reader of POISONED JUSTICE wrote to me saying that Riley—the (anti)hero of the story—reflects the genre’s typical tough guys: “chick magnets who appreciate the various parts of a beautiful woman but without any warmth.” While that seems a bit cold, my writing reflects the aesthetic of the hard-boiled detective. The reader went on to say: “Carol was a delicious character [but

Christmas shopping made easy!

Christmas shopping made easy!

Looking for the perfect gift for the lover of mystery, mayhem and maggots? Poisoned Justice was released yesterday! It’s available for sale directly through the publisher http://www.pen-l.com/PoisonedJustice.html(the website will also let you order from Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but I get a bigger cut if you order directly from Pen-L—as if this is going to make me rich). The cost is $14.97 (plus shipping, depending on how you order) or $4.97 for the Kindle edition. So wha

Uncovering a Cover

Uncovering a Cover

According to Thomas Edison, “Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration.” And in my experience writing is about 10% drafting and 90% revising. What I didn’t fully appreciate was how much redoing and undoing goes into art—or at least what is required to get a book cover “just right.” My nonfiction books involved sending off a few images for a cover, which the publisher’s graphic artist pretty much ignored. And then I’d get a virtually final cover im

A San Francisco Treat

A San Francisco Treat

In December, I snuck away for a long weekend in San Francisco to research settings for my next book in the Riley Mystery series. Having begun my writing life in non-fiction, I feel compelled to experience a place where I’m going to have action unfold. I could make up the locations, but this feels lazy. Ok, fiction is, well, fictional, I believe that readers can discern whether an author knows a place in a deep and authentic manner. So here are some of my (abridged) field n

Now and Then

Now and Then

As I conduct research for my next mystery book, I’ve been delving into the events that shaped America in 1981. Exploring how life looked at that time helps to contextualize the current state of the world. Today, we’re convinced that international politics are an unprecedented disaster and domestic conflicts are tearing apart the nation. While things look pretty grim in 2015, let’s consider what was happening 35 years ago. In January, 53 American hostages were finally relea

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Wyoming is the State that Keeps on Giving (at least when it comes to censorship)

Wyoming is the State that Keeps on Giving (at least when it comes to censorship)

A Textbook Project (really, it’s not as dull as you imagine!)

A Textbook Project (really, it’s not as dull as you imagine!)

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