A Clean Slate

A new year is upon us! How do you plan for your writing calendar?

by Dietrich

The new year offers that fresh start—or, if you’re writing crime fiction, you could think of it as a fresh canvas waiting for the blood spatter. My writing plan doesn’t follow the calendar. There are no deadlines or pub dates I need to hit right now. I’m just transitioning from one story to the next, letting ideas flow, at that point where I don’t have to push too hard or feel like I’m red-lining toward a burnout.

While I aim to finish a novel every year, it’s not the end of the world if I don’t make it. The one I just completed took roughly sixteen months from start to finish. And the first draft of the new one’s only taken about a month, so it’s a difficult thing to schedule.

Right now I’m at the point of digging through a lot of research while making character notes to keep myself from getting all tangled up in a mess later on. The second draft will be for digging deeper, cleaning up and looking for weak spots. It’s also the time to toss out anything that isn’t working and add any subplots that popped up since I started on the first draft. Once I’ve completed the second draft, I’ll step away for a week or so to regain some perspective. Then the final draft will be for revising, editing and adding the final polish. 

That’s the plan for this one. The next one may demand a different approach. The one rule that stays constant is it’s never how much I get done, but how good I feel about it once I finally stop typing. I never want writing to feel like a chore, so I like to try different approaches.

I’m also looking forward to take part in some writing events this year, and I’ve got my eye on some festivals and conferences, but nothing’s carved in stone as of yet.

I’m also looking forward to the release of my new novel, Rust and Bone, which will be released by ECW Press on March 31st. Here’s the synopsis and a link:

In winter of 1945, a German village deep inside Ukraine burns under Russian assault. Young Jakob Fritsch, torn from his family, is forced onto a cattle car bound for a work camp where death looms. When a Stuka’s bomb derails the train, Jakob escapes the smoking wreckage alongside two untrustworthy survivors. They forge through snow-laden wilderness, hunted by soldiers and partisans.

A tragic turn forces Jakob to go on alone. Starving and freezing, he braves the perilous countryside of Poland en route to Berlin — the only place he can go — which is being torn apart from all sides. 

Far away in the shattered outskirts of Berlin, Frida Beckmann lives amid relentless bombing raids and encroaching Soviet forces. With her father in a prison camp and her mother broken by grief, Frida shoulders the weight of her family’s survival. Tested by hardship, betrayal and loss, she is pushed well beyond her years.

Jakob and Frida navigate their war-torn paths, struggling to survive in a time stripped of mercy — seeking refuge when all the world’s gone mad.

Plan? What Plan?

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! 

 Terry here, with our question of the week: A new year is upon us! How do you plan for your writing calendar? 

 Plan? Calendar? I wish I were a planner. In fact, I used to be. I used to make lists, and prioritize them. Now it seems that whatever hits my desk and shows up first is what gets done. 

  Update: I wrote this before I received a certain email over the weekend. So, although it’s still largely operational, there is a caveat. Go to the end to see what that is. 

 Hmmm, planning seems like a good topic for New Year’s resolutions. 

 Resolved: I will plan my writing calendar. (Does that mean I have to stick to the plan?) Part of the problem is that I have two works in progress—and neither of them is a book I have a contract for. One is almost ready to foist onto my agent. 

 The other I have been noodling with for months and am only just now understanding its trajectory. This is a book that was half done when I got my first contract, years ago. For years I was so swept up with the intensity of writing “the next one, and the next one” in my Craddock series, that I let it fall away. 

 This summer, unable to focus on anything outside of the disaster of national politics, I couldn’t conjure up a new book, so I dusted that one off. And I liked it. But in the interim, I’ve learned to write better (I hope), so I realized it was a hot mess. I think I’ve wrestled it into submission. But will I be able to finish it before a deadline smacks me in the face? Yes, I have been given word that I will have two new contracts. Two books to write. So…plan? 

 Resolved: I will do better at promoting my books in 2026. I’ll put time on my calendar to do it. But how? I’ve kept dozens of articles about “how to” promote. When I try to read them I get bored. “Not now,” I think. “I’ll just write some more instead.” I get bored because none of it makes sense. I talk to writers who manage to do a good job of promoting, but their methods baffle me. Do they hire people to flog their books? Where? Do their publishers help? Rarely. Sometimes they have teams. The idea of assembling a team exhausts me. Furthermore, if I’m writing two to three books in year, exactly where is the promo time coming from? 

 Resolved: I’ll spend an hour a day on the business side of writing. That doesn’t seem like too much. I once read that an author I admire plans out her entire week on Sunday. She wrote about it in great detail. She included time for writing, but also time for the business of getting her books to the public. I thought it was a great idea. But when I tried it, I was paralyzed. I think of myself as a motivated person, but the business side of writing is daunting. It isn’t that I can’t do what needs to be done; it’s that I don’t know what needs to be done. I need a keeper. 

 Resolved: I will use my resources better. My agent. My writing friends. My tech friends. My brain. I can’t even… I had a new book come out in December. I really liked it. Thought it was a good book. But I did nothing to promote it. Oh yeah, I mentioned here and on Facebook. The problem? I don’t know what else to do. So much of promotion has gotten more complicated. (And, by the way, December is not a great time to come out with a book.)

 Resolved: I’ll pay more attention to when my publisher plans to come out with a book. So, if you’ll excuse me now, I need to get back to my jigsaw puzzle. 

 Update: My publisher has asked me to commit to when I can deliver the next books in both my series. That means…yep, getting my calendar in order. And writing the books!

Resolved: Get busy.

New Year, New Priorities - by Matthew Greene

A new year is upon us! How do you plan for your writing calendar? 

I've always loved the new year. A new start, new goals, new possibilities. Some friends and I even used to celebrate "New Month's Eve" so we could set and celebrate resolutions even more often! (Nerds, I know.) Call me a self improvement junkie, but a holiday dedicated to ambition and drive was exactly my cup of tea.

But this year, I'm just feeling a little...tired. Last year was tough, for reasons collective and personal. It's hard not to look at the expanse of calendar stretching out before me and wonder if surviving is an ambitious enough goal for 2026. 

But the muse continues to call. As do the agent, the collaborators, the (proverbial) bill collector...and so we write!

All this is to say: I'm trying to be more measured and realistic about my writing calendar this year. I'm trying to focus my efforts and spend my time on the projects that matter most. But how does one determine what's a priority? Ah, there's the rub. In the past, I've made that call based on the following questions, in order of importance:

1. Do I have a contractual obligation?
2. Is there money on the line?
3. Are other people depending on this?
4. Is this part of a strategic growth plan?
5. Does this project nourish my soul?

Wait, that can't be right. The question of whether a project nourishes my soul is in fifth place? Behind money and contracts and "strategic growth?" What a sad state of affairs for someone who dares to call himself an artist!

The reality is, though, that the moment I set forth to pursue my passion professionally, I took the risk of letting commerce trump art. Maybe I've done that too much. Maybe I've lost sight of why I wanted to be a writer in the first place. Maybe this year is the year I remedy that...at least a little.

So, in the spirit of the season, I'll make a New Year's resolution here and now. I can't forget about finances or ambition completely, but this year I resolve to pay more attention to and spend more time on the work that feeds my soul. Ideally, I'll find ways to make this work pay, of course. But it's high time I remind myself why I wanted to become a writer in the first place.

Because life is too short. And this year will be even shorter.

Here's to a successful and joyful twelve months for us all!

A few of My Favourite Crime Reads of 2025 by Poppy Gee

Choosing your favourite books is like choosing your favourite children. It's hard to do, and it depends on your mood. As the QLD convenor of Sisters in Crime, I'm excited about the books being produced by so many talented women writers, and here are some of my recent faves:

Learned Behaviours by Zeynab Gamieldien
Ultimo Press, 2025

The Sydney settings in this excellent novel – the Canterbury-Bankstown area, the business district of Martin Place, and the eastern and northern beach suburbs – collectively illuminate a collision of worlds that’s not frequently portrayed in crime fiction.
Barrister-in-training Zaid Saban grew up in a working class family in western Sydney and is struggling to fit into a top tier law firm. One day Amira, a woman he knows from high school, turns up at the office. She believes that an innocent man was blamed for the murder of a fellow student when they were teenagers and she needs his help. Zaid is an observant and compelling narrator, and combined with Amira’s sharp, heartfelt and funny perspective, Learned Behaviours is a great literary mystery, and a thoughtful commentary on race and class in contemporary Australia.   

We Saw What You Started by Carla Salmon
Pan Australia, 2025
This year I have been gifting this book to every child I know between the ages of 11 and 15. Californian boy Otto is struggling to fit into his new home in Red Sands, Australia. He makes friends with Milly at the surf club. Together they try to solve the mystery of who is lighting a series of fires in their close knit community. Gripping, smart, funny and heart warming, with a thrilling sinister undercurrent. It's a lot of fun.

Melaleuca by Angie Faye Martin
HQ Fiction, 2025
Exquisite writing, gripping plot, and strong female characters, I adored this. Aboriginal policewoman Renee Taylor returns reluctantly to her childhood hometown and investigates a brutal murder. With poetic lyricism and thoughtful social commentary, Melaleuca tells the story of two eras, 1965 in a yumba (camp) on the outskirts of town, and in 2000 in the fictional small town of Goorunga. In rural crime fiction, we don't often see a tender, authentic, considered portrayal of First Nations characters, or an interrogation of how law enforcement intersects with their communities, or even how the past shapes the present for FN characters. Melaleuca is original, memorable and an important addition to Aussie rural noir. 

Hurt Mountain by Angela Crook
Lake Union Publishing, 2024
Several mysteries are interweaved in this atmospheric and haunting mystery about missing children, love, hope and despair. When a patrolman finds an injured girl in a strange situation on the road, it's his ex-wife who is the doctor on duty to care for the young, silent patient. Four years ago, this couple lost their own child. From the mysterious catalyst of the girl's arrival, a propulsive thriller plotline unfolds against the striking backdrop of the dramatic Colorado landscape. Hurt Mountain is a page-turning thriller that takes us into the disquieting outposts of Colorado you'll never see in any ski holiday brochure, and it's a really beautiful exploration of human endurance, grief, and forgiveness.

The Final Chapter by January Gilchrist
HQ Fiction, 2025
Fans of Lisa Jewel and Sally Hepworth will enjoy this twisty, clever locked room mystery about writerly ambition, author anxiety, murder and revenge at a remote writer’s retreat in the Blue Mountains. With a macabre history and isolated locale, Thorne House is a creepy and claustrophobic setting. This is compounded by its mysterious staff and a cohort of writers who are recognisable and engrossingly problematic. As Gilchrist draws us through her tightly plotted labyrinth of secrets, she offers a deliciously unapologetic commentary on the literary community. The combination of personalities and egos creates a delicious friction as a snowstorm and a killer start closing in.

The Bluff by Joanna Jenkins
Angus and Robertson, 2025
The Bluff is about who murdered Dash Rogers, a charismatic cattle king found dead at the farm gate of his vast Clive River property. Everyone has a motive, many have the means…it’s up to amateur sleuth Ruth to peel back the layers of the close knit rural hinterland community and find out the truth. This is a standalone with protagonist Ruth, the gruff yet endearing city lawyer, who featured in Jo’s bestselling debut How To Kill A Client. The characters are relatable, authentic, flawed and lovable. The Bluff doesn’t shy away from the thorny issues relating to colonisation. In regional towns, the topic of land and legacies of wealth and inheritance are often kitchen table conversations. A compelling, riveting, intelligent mystery with a big heart. 

A reader's dozen, from Catriona

Except one is missing . . . read on

2025 has been, as Angela said on Monday, a never-ending cycle of hold-my-beer awfulness. Globally, nationally, publicly, and privately. Apart from the books. Thank God for the books (and Britbox, but that's for another day.)

It really has been a year of stellar reading for me and now, at the last gasp of the long slog to Christmas, I'm going to do what I always do and re-create the full list, then pick a book of the month for every month. Thus my top ten becomes twelve and I don't have to choose a favourite from among more than about ten. 

And how do I pick? I look back over the list to see which books are still resonating like tuning forks, the books I want to press into others' hands, the books I still want to email the authors to say thanks for. It goes without saying, that's there's never only one of these in each month. Some months are a real challenge to make a decision about. But here goes:  

Xmas Hols 24-25

ROMANTIC COMEDY, Curtis Sittenfield

THE DARK WIVES, Ann Cleeves

TIME'S UNDOING, Cheryl Head: you don't need me to tell you ... but Cheryl's heartfelt yet briliantly controlled novel takes a mystery plot and a thriller plot and plays with two timelines - the Klan-ridden 1920s and the days after George's Floyd's murder - to tell a tale of racism in America, shifting without ever changing and grinding without ever ending, but also without ever quite snuffing out the spirit or the fight of people like Robert in 1929 and Meghan in 2019. I loved it. Hated that it had to be written but loved it.    

KILLING TIME, Alan Bennett

THE FARMER'S WIFE, Helen Rebanks

MIDNIGHT AT THE CHRISTMAS BOOKSHOP, Jenny Colgan

EVERYONE THIS CHRISTMAS HAS A SECRET, Benjamin Stevenson

THE PARTY, Tessa Hadley

JACOB'S ROOM IS FULL OF BOOKS, Susan Hill

FALLEN, Linda Castillo

 

January

WE SOLVE MURDERS, Richard Osman

ABSOLUTELY TRULY, Heather Vogel Frederick

THE BOOKSHOP MURDERS (ARC) Jennifer Gladwell

THE CAT WHO SAVED BOOKS, Sosuke Natsukawa

ANN AND HER MOTHER, O Douglas

A GUEST AT THE FEAST, Colm Toibin: I don't read a lot of non-fiction but I'd read Colm Toibin's shopping lists. This volume of essays is one third cancer journey (he's fine, him and his one remaining testicle), one third a trio of "complex and vexing" popes yes popes, and one third pandemic and writers and religion and general Toibinesque marvellousness. If' you're a writer, don't read him on a bad day, but every other day and everyone else - dive in. 

February

ALL GOD'S SPARROWS, Leslie Budewitz

HOW WE LEARN TO BE BRAVE, Mariann Edgar Budde

RABBIT HOLE, Kate Brody

FLAUBERT'S PARROT, Julian Barnes

DEAR EVEN HANSEN, Emmich et al.

THE UNTELLING, Tayari Jones

GONE MISSING, Linda Castillo

NOUGHTS AND CROSSES Malorie Blackman

COMMONWEALTH, Ann Patchett

NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH, Robyn Gigl: I mean New Jersey can't really be as marinated in corruption at every level, from governor to dog catcher, as Robyn Gigl would have us believe in the Erin McCabe legal thrillers, right? Right? Ooh, but it's irresistible in a fictional setting where we know that evil-doers will get their come-uppance and virtue will eventually prevail. There's nothing like a courtroom scene written by a practising lawyer either. And you get romance and a family saga thrown into. The quartet of novels that this rounds off has been a proper treat.

 

March

PET, Catherine Chidgey: Another double timeline. Here it's the recent past and the present day in New Zealand, in a novel that reminded me a bit of Heavenly Creatures, a bit of Miss Jean Brodie (or that episode of Derry Girls with the non-nun English teacher), when a relentlessly inevitable disaster is born out of febrile adolescent relationships and toxic secrets. 

BEYOND THE CEMETERY GATES, Valerie Biel

DEATH AT THE SIGN OF THE ROOK, Kate Atkinson

THE HIDDEN ONE, Linda Castillo

UNDER THE STORM, Christoffer Carlsson

THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONNESS, Frances Hodgson Burnett

 

April

SCORCHED GRACE, Margot Douaihy

SAME DIFFERENCE,  E J Copperman

OZARK DOGS, Eli Cranor

AN EVIL HEART, Linda Castillo

ECHO, Tracy Clark: Huh, I didn't notice the echo (no pun intended, or indeed achieved) at the time but Tracy's last but one Harriet Foster mystery (EDGE, the next one is eligible for this year's awards) concerns a wealthy student, an elite college, and an old secret, like last month's pick. Plus one very hard to intimidate with all your fancy malarky Chicago cop. I love her!  

THE ROSE AND THE YEW TREE, Agatha Christie (Mary Westmacott)

 

May

WRITING THE COZY MYSTERY, Phillis Betz

ALL THE QUEEN'S MEN, S J Bennett

STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS ONE, Kristen Arnett

BETWEEN A FLOCK AND A HARD PLACE, Donna Andrews

BIG F@!KING DEAL, Lawrence Allan: See what I did? The picture isn't of the book. But I read the book the picture is of in a month where I also read something else amazing, so I've cheated. Go F*$k Yourself, is the current book, eligible for the humorous Lefty at Left Coast Crime in February. And they're all fantastic. Jmmy Cooper is a washed-up former child star in LA, who's trying to become a PI. He's a disaster but his heart is in the right place and the depcition of the city - well, the freeways - is perfect. 

THERE'S NO MURDER LIKE SHOW MURDER, M S Greene

 

June

STORYBOOK ENDING, Moira Macdonald

THE CONJURE-MAN DIES, Rudolph Fisher

THE TREES, Percival Everett

THE STOLEN HOURS, Allen Eskens

EXPOSURE, Ramona Emerson

SHUTTER, Ramona Emerson: I'm cheating so hard now. But I read Ramona Emerson's debut and follow-up back to back and they're both just fab. Rita Todacheene is a forensic photographer with the Albuquerque PD who lives part time with her grandnother on a Navajo reservation, where she - Rita - is a portal between the spirits of the dead and the living world. And man these are some high-engagement ghosts! Eager to have their murders solved (which is understandable) they hound Rita day and night. I'm making it sound humorous and I shouldn't be. The first case is a hit and run, the seocnd a serial killer and the toll taken on Rita is a heavy one. 

LITTLE WHITE LIES, Phillipa East

 

July

STILL SEE YOU EVERYWHERE, Lisa Gardner

BEFORE SHE DISAPPEARED, Lisa Gardner

ONE STEP TOO FAR, Lisa Gardner

THE FAMILY BIZ, Alan Orloff

THE SEARCHER, Tana French

TRULY, DEEPLY, Heather Vogel Frederick

THE MYSTERY OF HENRI PICK, David Foenkinos: This month and next is mostly Lisa Gardner and Linda Castillo. I binged. I enjoyed it at the time but now I can't actually remember which terrific book is which. I'll reread them all in order one day. For now, the July pick is a translation of a satire about the publishing industry, set in provinical France. A little bit AJ Fikry, a wee tiny bit Yellowface, but as Mr Carson said in Downton Abbey once "They're very French, the French." They sure are. This little book is a gem, a one-off. Go on! You know you want to.

 

August

CRIME INK: ICONIC Copenhaver and West, eds

DOWN A DARK ROAD, Linda Castillo

GO F@!K YOURSELF, Lawrence Allan

KISS HER GOODBYE, Lisa Gardner

AMONG THE WICKED, Linda Castillo

TO DIE FOR, Lisa Grey

THE DEAD WILL TELL, Linda Castillo

WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU A CAT, Syou Ishida: I'm all in on the recent run of shortish, urban-set Japanese novels. Some of them edge into too cute for me; the best of them are closer to the slightly odd and unsettling tone of The Memory Police or Where the Wild Ladies Are. Is it science fiction? Is it a ghost story? Is it an anthology or a novel? Who cares. It's a delicious literary bento box and I've read the sequel too. Highly recomnend.

OUTSIDER, Linda Castillo

HER LAST BREATH, Linda Castillo

THE RAILWAY CHILDREN, E. Nesbitt

 

September

COOKING WITH FERNET BRANCA, James Hamilton-Paterson

THE HAUNTING OF HERO'S BAY, Amanda Block (June 2026)

RIGHT BEHIND YOU, Lisa Gardner

DARK RIDE, Lou Berney: Buckle up. This short novel about an aimless young man who takes on the problems of a pair of abused - or at least negelcted - children he happens to meet one day might break you, but you'll be happy to be broken. There's another background theme of found family running through, and I'm a sucker for a found family, even one as dysfunctional as this. And you know how you buckled up? Add another buckle for the ending.

A GATHERING OF SECRETS, Linda Castillo

ECHOES OF THE LOST, Cindy Brown (May 2026)

 

October

THE WEDDING DATE, Jasmine Guillory

THE FIRE NEXT TIME, James Baldwin

OTHER PEOPLE'S SECRETS, Meredith Hambrock

AS THE WICKED WATCH, Tamron Hall

SIRENS OF MEMORY, Puja Guha: Sorry about the picture. My copy of Puja's wonderful novel is trapped behind the cleared-away lamps and other stuff that have had to make room for the Christmas lights and Christmas stuff. I couldn't face mining all the way back for it. It's my third dual timeline novel on the list. One story takes place in a refugee camp after the invasion of Kuwait, the other amongst the resettled refufgees in present-day Texas. As the twenty-fifth anniversay of the war comes around, Kuwaitis gather to mark it at the embassy in DC, bringing all their secrets with them . . . Wowser! This is a tense read with a very rewarding ending. 

WHILE WE WERE DATING, Jasmine Guillory

AFTER THE STORM, Linda Castillo

 

November

HOKULOA ROAD, Elizabeth Hand

THE KILLER QUESTION, Janice Hallett

FRANKLY, Nicola Sturgeon: the former first minister of Scotland is basically me, if I wasn't such a flake and a bubble-head. She's from the same background but so focussed and serious; no swerves and false starts for Oor Nic. It's the first politcal memoir I've ever read, although Kamala Harris's is on my TBR file. I'll let you know. 

DEAR COMMITTEE MEMBERS, Julie Schumacher

THE IRISH GOODBYE, Heather Aimee O'Neill

WE'LL PRESCRIBE YOU ANOTHER CAT, Syou Ishida

WATCH WHERE THEY HIDE, Tamron Hall

 

December

BROKEN LIGHT, Joanne Harris: It's a bit early to call it, but I wouldn't be surprised if this ends up being book of the month. It's the story of a woman who had Carrie-esque powers before puberty but lost them. Now she's menopausal and they've come roaring back. As much fun as it sounds. Punch the air good! 

PERFECT LITTLE CHILDREN, Sophie Hannah

And that's that. Another year of crime fiction, general fiction, a light smattering of other books and absolutely no guilty pleasures. Guilt? About pleasure? Shehhh, right. 

Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah with extra hugs, have a Killer Kwanza and here's hoping for a Cool Yule,

Cx

Favorite reads of 2025 by Eric Beetner

It’s that time of year when I realize I need to do a better job of keeping track of what I read in any given year. I can’t give you a specific number, but I read well over 100 books this year. Here are some favorites:

WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES - Ken Jaworowski

Probably my book of the year. Definitely the one that I knew almost nothing about and sat in awe as it blew me away with every page. I immediately went out and bought Jaworowski’s previous debut novel, Small Town Sins. This book is everything I love about crime fiction.

YOU WILL NEVER SEE ME - Jake Hinkson

I love Jake Hinkson’s writing like few other authors. This one took a few left turns I had no idea were coming. It’s dark, doesn’t care if you like the characters or not, and will surprise you at every turn. Trust me, you have no idea what this book really is.

THE PRICE OF EVERYTHING - Jon McGoran

Few writers create believable near-future worlds like Jon McGoran. In The Price Of Everything he wraps a breakneck thriller plot in just enough sci-fi and cyberpunk ornaments that you get something completely new. And none of it feels forced or like he has to do “world-building” because he’s writing about our world here and now, but with a few tiny augmentations to add to the thrills.

THE LENGTH OF DAYS - Lynn Kostoff

Like WHAT ABOUT THE BODIES, this novel balances multiple storylines that intersect in interesting ways. Any great book is all about characters, and this one has some great ones. Seeing how it all intertwines is a fascinating process and kept me glued to the pages. A stellar crime novel.

SAINT OF THE NARROWS STREET - William Boyle

Boyle is one of contemporary Noir’s best practitioners and his new novel is his epic. Again, character takes center stage along with location, as in all of Boyle’s work. Epic is code for long and it is a slow burn, but something about Boyle’s prose just goes down so easy for me. He makes you ache and long with the characters. He makes you smell and hear the Brooklyn on the page. When someone talks of “literary crime novels” this is what they mean.

THE GALLERY ASSISTANT - Kate Belli

I don't read a ton of traditional mysteries, but when I come across one that keeps my interest and is rooted in a world I find fascinating (in this case the high end art world) I can see the appeal. It's not new to have a character missing pieces of the night before, but Belli has crafted a main character who is deliciously flawed and increasingly annoyed at herself for being an unreliable narrator in her own life and the mystery she has unwillingly been thrust into as a result. This one is a winner for trad mystery fans.

GO F*CK YOURSELF - Lawrence Allan

The Jimmy Cooper series continues in this book 3 and Jimmy is just the funny, misanthropic, trainwreck of a P.I. you gotta love. Skewering Los Angeles and the entertainment biz while keeping the action and the chuckles come at you fast, Lawrence Allan's series is just the right pick when you want something fun to read. Ok, fine, it's less than cozy as the title might suggest, but even us tough guys need to laugh now and then.

It was a great for Westerns. I read some really great ones like:

LUCKY RED - Claudia Cravens

A revisionist western that is sumptuously written and features a main character I loved maybe more than any other this year. It’s forward and progressive, pushing the women to the front of an old west story, but doesn’t skimp on action, grit and the things that make us love westerns. Superb!

HIRED GUNS & NO HALLOWED GROUND - Steve Hockensmith

Hockensmith already earned his western bona fides with his Holmes On The Range series, and his launch of a new series kicks off in rollicking fashion with these two tales. His trademark wit is there in spades and the action comes fast and furious. A great entry into the western genre.

A SHORT ROPE FOR A TALL MAN & DEAD MAN’S TRAIL - Nate Morgan

Nate Morgan is a pen name for Victor Gischler, who has long been one of my favorite crime writers. These two novels are stellar western tales written with wit, pace and never skimping on a good plot turn. For some reason, the publisher mixed up the order of the two novels so I read book 2 first, but it didn’t make much difference. They’re both great in any order.

In other off-genre reading for me, I devoured five books from humorist Simon Rich, all on audio. Rich reads most of his own work, but John Mulaney read Glory Days and brought an extra something to it. Rich is so damn funny, but also an endlessly creative and inventive writer that these short stories (and one novel, Miracle Workers) are like candy filled with crack cocaine. I think there is no finer humor writer working today.

If you are new to his work, start with Glory Days or Man Seeking Woman. 

 

OFF-ROAD YEAR’S-END RECOMMENDATIONS

 

2025 was a year when the news cycle felt like a car alarm that wouldn’t shut up. During Covid and Trump 1.0, Murder, She Wrote offered refuge—Angela Lansbury restored moral order with a raised eyebrow. Trump 2.0 has been less cozy: Checks and Balances under strain, Far Right movements worldwide, and a lingering suspicion that something odd is in the drinking water.

The upside: it’s been my most productive year as a writer. I wrote to be constructive, not destructive. And along the way I found a handful of books and films that cut through the noise—crime fiction with teeth, nonfiction that reminds us history loves reruns, and movies whose literary roots make them doubly satisfying.

Think of these as clarity, escape, or—at the very least—a well-timed jolt to the system.

 

CRIME FICTION

 

1. Crimson Tide — Bruce Robert Coffin
A strong launch for a new series and a sharp contrast to Coffin’s Byron books. Book two arrives in January, book three next August—always a comforting thing to know.

2. Knave of Diamonds — Laurie R. King
The latest Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel introduces Mary’s Uncle Jake, whose past is a little… flexible. Watching him and Holmes circle each other, with Mary in the middle, is pure pleasure.

3. The Thursday Murder Club — Richard Osman
Retirees, cold cases, and wit sharp enough to leave a mark—proof that menace doesn’t retire. Now a Netflix film, making this a two-for-one recommendation.

4. Slow Horses — Mick Herron
The misfit spies of Slough House are equal parts tragic, hilarious, and terrifyingly plausible. Herron writes intelligence-world satire with a scalpel. Also an excellent Apple series.

5. The Silver Book — Olivia Laing

Queer love story, noir thriller set in Venice 1974, months before the murder of poet and film director Pier Paolo Pasolini. 

 

NONFICTION

 

5. The Age of Acrimony — Jon Grinspan
Nineteenth-century America was a carnival of political violence, election fraud, and institutional brinkmanship. Grinspan gently reminds us that history doesn’t repeat itself—but it does recognize familiar tricks.

6. The Outsider — Frederick Forsyth
Forsyth’s memoir proves the line between journalism, espionage, and crime fiction has always been thinner than we pretend. Read alongside le Carré’s The Pigeon Tunnel for a study in contrasts: le Carré broods; Forsyth shrugs, lights a cigarette, and keeps moving—passport already stamped.

7. A Resistance History of the United States — Tad Stoermer (June 2026)
From abolitionists to labor radicals to modern whistleblowers, Stoermer maps a lineage of resistance to abusive power. Not out yet, but worth saving to your Wish List.

 

FILMS INSPIRED BY BOOKS

(The two-for-one category: watch the movie, know the book)

 

8. The Secret in Their Eyes (2009)
Adapted from Eduardo Sacheri’s La pregunta de sus ojos. A noir romance spirals around justice, obsession, and wounds that outlive their explanations.

9. Killing Them Softly (2012)
From George V. Higgins’s Cogan’s Trade. A critique of capitalism delivered with Higgins’s trademark dialogue—no wasted words, no mercy.

10. Il conformista / The Conformist (1970)
From Alberto Moravia’s novel. A dazzling psychological thriller about the seduction of authoritarianism—gorgeously composed and disturbingly timeless.

 

BONUS HOLIDAY PICK

 

11. Spirit of Steamboat — Craig Johnson
A Christmas tale with a mystery engine: a blizzard, a WWII bomber, a desperate medical flight, and a story that earns its sentiment without a drop of sap. A perfect fireside read.