Hawaiian Noir

Murder Calls

Honey West at 60 The first really successful female private eye in a series was a bimbo! Or at least frequently clothing challenged and none to swift. So says Kevin Burton Smith on The Thrilling Detective website about Honey West, created by the husband and wife team, Gloria and Forest, “Skip,” Fickling writing as G.G. …

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Maka’ikiu Monday. Welcome Hawaiian author Terry Ambrose. I met Terry Ambrose at Left Coast Crime—Honolulu Havoc in March. He served as moderator on the panel, “Writing Hawai’i: Surf’s up or is it a crime wave?” It was a fun panel. Terry kept it lively and informative. I think the panelists and the audience had a …

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This Weekend in Mystery Houston Writers House hosts a crime and punishment weekend Friday, September 15 and Saturday, September 16 at the Crowne Plaza Houston Galleria. The event kicks off with a murder mystery dinner Friday evening. The keynote speaker Friday evening is Texas Ranger Lieutenant, Wende Wakeman. Saturday features talks by forensic artist Lois …

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Woman of Noir Megan Abbott is one of the best contemporary noir writers. My introduction to her work was a short story, Policy, which appeared in an anthology of short stories, Damned Near Dead edited by Duane Swierczyinski. It appeared one year after her debut novel, Die A Little. Abbott expanded Policy into a novel, Queenpin. …

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Hawai`i/California Author Leslie Karst I first met Leslie in March at Left Coast Crime in Honolulu where she and I shared a panel on writing mysteries about Hawai`i. From an early age through conversations with her parents, Leslie learned the value of both careful analysis and the arts—ideal ingredients, she says, for writing mysteries. Ingredients …

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Writing Mojo I first met Joe R. Lansdale in early 1988, not long after we moved to Texas. I had moved with a partially completed novel which I submitted to a writing workshop sponsored by Cepheid Variable, a Texas A&M student organization. The workshop was led by two unknown (to me) writers, Lew Shiner and …

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Violet McDade and Nevada Alvarado I’m always looking for stories with tough women. Last week I gave you one such woman, Julie Killeen in The Bride Wore Black by Cornell Woolrich (Julie Kohler, in Francois Truffaut’s film adaptation.) Julie was a bad girl. Although we sympathize with her, she took on the role of vigilant …

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French film actress, Jeanne Moreau, best known for her role in the French New Wave Film, Jules et Jim, has passed away. She was 89. Moreau also starred in Francois Truffaut’s film, La Mariee Etait En Noir adapted from the noir classic, The Bride Wore Black by William Irish (Cornell Woolriich.) The Bride Wore Black …

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