JEFFREY A. LOCKWOOD

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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