That's the title the Mystery Writers of America's new anthology of short stories about drama, murder, mayhem, and other shennanigans in the Court.  It's edited by Linda Fairstein and includes a story by one of my Facebook friends, Joel Goldman.  From the Publishers Weekly starred review: B...

Last week, at about this time, I was writing about the poet Robert Lowell and the poet Elizabeth Bishop and Lowell's plans to visit Bishop in Brazil.  Specifically, I wrote this: I'm skipping around in Words in Air: The Complete Correspondence Between Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Lowell . It's S...

Jean Stafford was already gone from Robert Lowell's life when Elizabeth Bishop entered into it and he entered into hers.  So Stafford makes fleeting appearances in his letters to Bishop.  When I started grad school Lowell and Stafford were my ideal of a bohemian romantic couple.  I ha...

In your next letter I wish you'd saywhere you are going and what you are doing;how are the plays, and after the playswhat other pleasures you're pursuing: taking cabs in the middle of the night,driving as if to save your soulwhere the road goes round and round the parkand the meter glares like a mor...

Some people are going to be sadder to hear the news about Donald E. Westlake.  Other people are going to be sadder to hear about Richard Stark. Westlake and Stark are both dead.  They died together, over the weekend, killed by heart attacks, while vacationing down in Mexico. Course they di...

The only royalty this blogger bows to, The Countess, is guest posting at The Deadly Vixens under her pen-name Elizabeth Black.  Her post includes an excerpt from her erotic short story, "The Mud Licker."  The Countess' story will be appearing in an anthology called Like A M...

One of the reasons I don't need any Old Sneeps to tell me that Barack Obama is not the Greatest of the Great New Wonderfuls---besides the fact that I'm a grown-up and I read the newspapers and I gave up waiting for King Arthur's return a long time ago---is that Avedon Carol's and Wev McEwan's blogs ...

Now and again, I've given into the temptation to write about my old girlfriends here. As if you're interested. I probably should keep my romantic past to myself.  As Bertie Wooster says, a gentleman does not bandy names.  But I'm sentimental and I'm nostalgic and, frankly...

Never been much of a fan of movie monsters.   In fact, I'm not a fan of horror movies of any kind, even the good ones.   Which is too bad. It's not as big a loss as not liking foreign films, or gangster movies, or westerns, or mysteries, or films starring Robin Willia...

"I mean to kill you in one minute, Ned, or see you hanged in Fort Smith at Judge Parker's convenience.  Which'll it be?" "I call that bold talk for a one-eyed fat man." "Fill your hands you son of a bitch!" The best take on the shoot-out at high noon from a fun mov...