Let’s Share – Crime Fiction Fun Topics!

Crime fiction includes all sub-genres of mysteries and thrillers and any blend thereof. (FYI: One list of 21 crime fiction sub genres.)

Fun includes reviews, information, suggestions, and your comments about crime fiction, such as:

  • crime fiction books the club is not reading,
  • crime fiction movies, TV shows, and theatrical performances,
  • crime fiction tours, field trips, conferences you hear about or better – have attended,
  • crime fiction sites (author homes, museums, etc) you have visited,
  • crime fiction games,
  • online interviews, classes about crime fiction
  • crime fiction news (about authors, actors, and other crime fiction celebrities),
  • crime fiction cartoons and jokes,
  • crime fiction insights, opinions, analysis.
  • virtually anything that’s interesting in crime fiction to at least some of our MBC participants!
CHECK IN! See if there is something new that you might enjoy.

If this is your first visit to “Fun Topics,” scroll down through some of the existing posts to see things that match up to the bullet points above.

If you think of it, check back to this tab regularly. See what is newly posted.

BUT, if you think you’ll forget to check for new material, then… sign up to “follow” these fun posts using the yellow box with the subscribe button at right. You can unsubscribe anytime, of course. What you will get is an automated email with a brief blurb and link back to this spot, the day after it is posted. That way, you won’t miss anything! (There is some advertising at the bottom of the email. Sorry, but that is how the service is paid for. Ignore it.)

PARTICIPATE! Your involvement will be fun for you and others.

Tell us what you think of a post the interests you. Use the “Leave a Reply” box at the bottom of all these posts to add your thoughts, additional information, comments. Also feel free to read others’ comments and comment on their comments!

Send me mystery-related news you find that should be passed along to the group! Yes, for this to be really successful, we need YOU to share what you are discovering in the way of new books, movies, mystery news items etc etc (see bullets above). HOW? (1) Write it up as an article and email it to me. OR, (2) just send me a link or clipping of something juicy, and I’ll take it from there. My contact information is in all of the regular MBC meeting notices sent to you. What do you want to suggest, recommend, or just share with us? Let me know!

Now – let’s have fun together! Fun is optional. But I prefer it, don’t you?

Is Reading in Your New Year’s Resolution?

“Do you read a lot?” you ask. “I don’t know, compared to what?” I respond. On December 13, with still 18 days to go, George Easter, editor of Deadly Pleasures, wrote on his blog: “My reading goal for 2023 was to read 120 mysteries, crime novels and thrillers. Today the count stands at 121 read. So my goal was reached.” Holy book pages, Batman! Gosh all Fiddlesticks! Damn, that’s amazing!! … Continue reading

Ngaio Marsh’s DCI Alleyn’s Series

I was introduced to Dame (Edith) Ngaio Marsh 19 years ago during my first Christmas in the Mystery Book Club at Manchester Library. The book was appropriately, Tied Up in Tinsel, the 27th book in Marsh’s Detective Chief Inspector Roderick Alleyn series. Her first book was in 1934 and her last, the year of her death, was in 1982. Alleyn presents as a British “gentleman detective” – schooled at Eton, … Continue reading

Fun Bits in Crime Fiction (End of 2023)

Short Stories by Kate Flora It’s the Holidays and Kate Flora invites you to read her four Christmas short stories. If you read nothing else on this page, I hope you will find time to read one of them as they are all feel-good crime fiction stories. Just what the doctor ordered for me, anyway, as the world does seem darker than any of my preceding 76 Christmases. Free for … Continue reading

British Police Procedurals

“British” – The story takes place in the United Kingdom of Great Britain with British law enforcement officers (LEOs). It can be written by writers that live inside or outside of the UK. “Police Procedural” – It is a sub-genre of crime fiction that emphasizes the investigative procedure of police officers, police detectives, or law enforcement agencies as the protagonists, as contrasted with other genres that focus on non-police investigators … Continue reading

Our Reaction to BETTER THE BLOOD

Expect spoilers in the bottom half of this post – the beginning of this post is only a repeat of the information provided about the book that was provided at the start of the month, before the meeting. Then halfway down the page we report some of the discussion from the meeting which likely includes spoilers. Your comments, corrections, additions, clarifications are welcome at the end. We read Better the Blood … Continue reading

The Hardy Boys and Me

A really young mystery book fan.

I got the polio virus just after turning nine years old, in the summer following my third grade. I was hospitalized for a month. Within two days after my admission to the hospital and unknown to me, my mother also caught polio and died. While I was in the hospital, my father visited me but said nothing about my mother’s death until the day before I was brought back home. … Continue reading

Publishers are Not Fans of Libraries

March, 2020 was the only month that our Mystery Book Club did not meet (in some fashion) since its beginning more than 20 years ago. That month we read The Forgotten Garden and I asked people to post their book comments on this website because the pandemic had struck. By April, I had purchased a Zoom account and figured out (mostly, LOL) how to use it. But the library had … Continue reading

Meet an actual FBI Profiler

…and other goodies, like Join an online presentation with best selling authors Lisa Jackson and Nancy Bush. See what happens when you love a-maze-ing mystery books. Meet FBI Special Agent Julia Cowley:Inside the Behavioral Analysis Unit (Virtual) TUESDAY, AUGUST 22 at 7:00—8:00 PM Join Special Agent Julia Cowley for a look inside FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit. Cowley will discuss how and why she became an FBI profiler, what profiling is … Continue reading

Our Reaction to THE DIME

There are no spoilers for the top part of this post – the beginning of this post is only a repeat of the information provided about the book that was provided at the start of the month, before the meeting. But….. Near the bottom of the page, there is a place for our participants to leave comments about the book, and spoilers will likely be included. Don’t scroll down to the comments area, until you … Continue reading