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...
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...
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...
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...
Uncovering Cover Art
The cover art for Lethal Fetish, my upcoming mystery novel in the Riley series features sultry, salacious, even lascivious images. Conor...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
