ANTHOLOGIES
- “The Short Mystery,” in How To Write A Mystery: A Handbook from Mystery Writers of America, edited by Lee Child and Laurie R. King (Simon & Schuster, 2021)
- “James Ellroy Previews Blood’s a Rover,” in Conversations with James Ellroy, edited by Steven Powell (University Press of Mississippi, 2012)
NEWSPAPERS/MAGAZINES
AARP: The Magazine
- A review of Richard North Patterson’s The Devil’s Light, June 2011
- “A Shortcut Worth Taking,” a review of P.G. Sturges’ Shortcut Man, March 2011
- “2010 Books: Overlooked and Overlauded,” January 2011
- A review of John Curran’s Agatha Christie’s Secret Notebooks and P.D. James’ Talking About Detective Fiction, April 2010
- A review of John Lescroart’s Treasure Hunt, January 2010
The Armchair Detective
- “Tracking Dirt onto the Parlor Rug: The Mystery Novels of Michael Malone,” Summer 1995
- “Bloody Kin: The Southern Mysteries of Margaret Maron,” Winter 1994
Los Angeles Review of Books
- “The Man Who Read Too Much: Art Taylor Interviews Otto Penzler,” October 27, 2014
- “Poe’s Paradoxes: Art Taylor Interviews Paul Collins,” August 26, 2014
Metro Magazine
Mississippi Quarterly
- “Magical Realism and the Mississippi Delta,” Summer 2004 [Note: Another version of this article is available in full text online at Southern Spaces.]
Mystery Scene
- “Tales from the Tar Heel State: The North Carolina Mysteries of Margaret Maron,” Fall 2013
- “Where the Ripped Edges Peel Away,” an essay on Elizabeth Hand’s Cassandra Neary novels, Spring 2012
- “The Celebrated Poirot,” Winter 2012
- “The Woman’s War,” an interview with Sarah R. Shaber, Fall 2011
- “Louis Bayard: The School of Night,” Spring 2011
- “Deadline! Journalists in Crime Films,” Winter 2011
- “The Write Stuff: Crime Films Starring Writers,” Fall 2010
- “Nevada Barr: New Orleans Bound,” Fall 2009
- “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, Great Romantic Crime Movies,” Spring 2009, and “Love Bites: Romantic Crime Films, Part 2,” Summer 2009 (cover story)
- “Heartbreaker: Hannah Berry’s Britten and Brülightly,” Spring 2009
- “Miss Jane Marple: Spinster Sleuth Extraordinaire,” Winter 2009
- “Murder in Black & White: Novels of the Civil Rights Era,” Fall 2008
- “Do the Right Thing: Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird,” Fall 2007; reprinted here on the novel’s 50th anniversary
- “Last Laughs: 10 Comic Crime Films,” Spring 2007
- “Visions of Sugar Plums: An Interview with Janet Evanovich,” Holiday 2002
North Carolina Literary Review
- “Taking the Long Way Home,” a review of John Hart’s Iron House, 2012 (electronic supplement)
- “Michael Malone, Witness to the Times,” an interview, 2011
- “Wanda Canada’s Coastal Crimes,” an interview, 2010
- “Crimes Close to Home,” a review of John Hart’s North Carolina mysteries, 2009
- “A Directory of North Carolina Mystery Writers,” 1995
- “Sister in Crime: An Interview with Margaret Maron,” Spring 1994
The Washington Independent Review of Books
- A review of John Walton’s The Legendary Detective: The Private Eye in Fact and Fiction, November 20, 2015
The Washington Post
- “A fast-paced thriller that speeds from L.A. to D.C.,” a review of Matthew Quirk’s Cold Barrel Zero, May 4, 2016
- “A thriller full of counterfeit bills and a few other false notes,” a review of Agent Kasper and Luigi Carletti’s Supernotes: A Thriller, February 17, 2016
- “Sleuthing fact from fiction in Dashiell Hammett’s life,” a review of Nathan Ward’s The Lost Detective: Becoming Dashiell Hammett, September 13, 2015
- “Scam artist extraordinaire,” a review of Dean Jobb’s Empire of Deception: The Incredible Story of a Master Swindler Who Seduced a City and Captivated the Nation, June 21, 2015
- “Big dig into whodunnit posits an answer,” a review of Stephen Kurkjian’s Master Thieves: The Bostson Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist, March 15, 2015
- “A CIA affair: detonating over dinner,” a review of Olen Steinhauer’s All the Old Knives, March 9, 2015
- “Victorian details can’t compensate for vampire novel’s lack of focus,” a review of Lauren Owen’s The Quick, June 24, 2014
- “Retracing a classic’s hard-boiled lines—with little to add,” a review of Benjamin Black’s The Black-Eyed Blonde, March 31, 2014
- “Pursuing fresh clues to a crime writer’s life,” a review of Sally Cline’s Dashiell Hammett: Man of Mystery, March 16, 2014
- “Infiltration of moles in a debut by CIA insider,” a review of Jason Matthews’ Red Sparrow, October 16, 2013
- “A morally shaken and boldly stirring Bond,” a review of William Boyd’s Solo, October 14, 2013(reprinted in the Miami Herald, the Concord Monitor, and Newsday)
- “Striving to illuminate a couple’s private life,” a review of Sam Toperoff’s Lillian & Dash, August 23, 2012
- “Present as prologue to puzzles of the past,” a review of Harlan Coben’s Six Years, March 24, 2013 (reprinted in the Concord Monitor)
- “Doubly enigmatic mystery,” a review of Emily Winslow’s The Start of Everything, January 4, 2013
- “Yet another Thin Man, thinner than ever before,” a review of Dashiell Hammett’s Return of the Thin Man, November 19, 2012
- “Art-forgery thriller ‘seems’ to draw on fading headlines,” a review of B.A. Shapiro’s The Art Forger, October 22, 2012
- “A fresh voice in the world of noir,” a review of Ariel S. Winter’s The Twenty-Year Death, August 13, 2012
- “Neruda Case uncovers Chile’s troubled history,” a review of Roberto Ampuero’s The Neruda Case, July 20, 2012
- “Dark sheds light on chilling crimes, tortured lifestyles,” a review of Elizabeth Hand’s Available Dark, February 15, 2012
- “A thriller adrift in a swamp of murder and mystery,” a review of Bret Lott’s Dead Low Tide, January 25, 2012
- “A cold case heats up for detective Harry Bosch,” a review of Michael Connelly’s The Drop, November 30, 2011
- “International intelligence’s meeting of the minds,” a review of Matthew Dunn’s Spycatcher
- “A mother’s worth realized in her absence,” a review of Kyung-sook Shin’s Please Look After Mom
- “High stakes, swift pace keep readers on the Edge,” a review of Jeffery Deaver’s Edge
- “With Mile, Lehane is back, baby, back,” a review of Dennis Lehane’s Moonlight Mile
- “Jack Liffey’s daughter, following in her dad’s gumshoe footsteps,” a review of John Shannon’s On the Nickel
- “Military-industrial-fashion complex,” a review of William Gibson’s Zero History
- “Bureaucrats go bang-bang,” a review of Dale Brown’s Executive Intent
- “Can an author rewrite her life?” a review of Carolyn Parkhurst’s The Nobodies Album
- “The Science of Murder,” a review of Deborah Blum’s The Poisoner’s Handbook: Murder and the Birth of Forensic Medicine in Jazz Age New York
- “Travel Advisory: Murder Stalks Foreign Lands,” reviews of Cara Black’s Murder in the Latin Quarterand Andrea Camilleri’s August Heat
- “The Boy Who Lived,” a review of John Hart’s The Last Child
- “Spy Vs. Spy: Two Nuclear Iran Thrillers,” reviews of David Ignatius’s The Increment and Rich Lowry & Keith Korman’s Banquo’s Ghosts
- “Mysteries: Nothing Stays Buried Forever, Especially Evidence of Murder,” reviews of Bryan Gruley’sStarvation Lake and Jefferson Bass’s Bones of Betrayal
- “High-Energy Maneuvering,” a review of Peter Schechter’s Pipeline
- “Africa, in the Shadow of Sept. 11,” a review of Richard North Patterson’s Eclipse
- “Checkmate,” a review of Katherine Neville’s The Fire
- “A Broadly Painted Bull’s-Eye on the South,” a review of Stephen Hunter’s Night of Thunder
- “Noir or Not: A Compelling Compilation,” a review of D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, edited by George Pelecanos
- “007’s Double,” a review of David Baldacci’s The Whole Truth
- “Contemporary Masters Offer Unique New Twists on the Classic Whodunit” (Mystery Round-Up), reviews of Nevada Barr’s Winter Study, Peter Abrahams’ Delusion, Jonathan Kellerman’sCompulsion, and Henning Mankell’s The Eye of the Leopard
- “Memento Mori,” a review of Kate Mosse’s Sepulchre
- “Risky Business,” a review of Joe McGinniss Jr.’s The Delivery Man
- “When the Suspect is in the Family” (Mystery Round-Up), reviews of Sophie Hannah’s Little Face, John Hart’s Down River, Iris Johansen’s Pandora’s Box, and Miyuki Miyabe’s The Devil’s Whisper
- Mystery Round-Up, reviews of Tana French’s In the Woods, Raymond Miller’s The Scent of Blood, Peter Pringle’s The Day of the Dandelion, and Mitch Silver’s In Secret Service
- “An Appetite for Suspense,” a review of Patrick Anderson’s The Triumph of the Thriller
- “Mail-Order Ghost,” a review of Joe Hill’s Heart-Shaped Box
- “Shallow Grave,” a review of William Gay’s Twilight
- “Mowgli in Vermont,” a review of Victoria Vinton’s The Jungle Law
- “The Ultimate Makeover,” a review of William Hoffman’s Lies
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