I’ve made a short list of recommended gift fiction that include some great historical and international novels. Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia—In the 1950s, a Mexico City debutante travels visits a grand estate in the mountains and falls under a malevolent spell. Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi—a young Ghanaian-American woman searches for religious and medical … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Have you ever frequented a bookstore so often it became a second home? From the moment in childhood that my parents permitted me to walk to our neighborhood bookstore, I’ve engaged in this kind of squatting. From Micawber’s Books in St. Paul, to long-gone independents in Baltimore and … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. A novelist I greatly admire wrote her last blogpost in September. Catriona McPherson, formerly of the Femmes Fatales, declared that that with the election ahead, so much work needed to be done that she felt it useless to write about “cats and courgettes”—nor did she want to turn her … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. In the early hours of Wednesday November 4, I am running on fumes and bittersweet chocolate. I stayed awake much of Tuesday night, watching and waiting as the votes roll in for the 2020 presidential election. Where was the easy win for Biden that I expected? I voted … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. This is not a post about death. It is about the phenomenon of Pandemic Bucket Lists. In the Before Times, my family and I commuted to work and spent long hours on errands and other activities outside our house. When our state locked down in April, I was … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. She promised us she would not give up. Cancer hit her four times, yet she stayed on the job, conscious of the Americans who relied on her power within the U.S. Supreme Court. She strengthened herself by lifting weights, made from iron, and from authoritarianism. Ruth Bader Ginsburg … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. What a grand feeling for a writer to labor over the creation of the book, reach the final page, and triumphantly type: THE END. (Sujata clears throat) Sorry, it’s not the end. If you’re a writer working with a traditional publisher, finishing a book means you’re submitting it to … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. This is a post about voting in 2020… but it begins at the time I was trying to become a citizen. In 1998, I was a longtime green card holder who had finally made a citizenship application. Friends had told me not to be nervous at my US … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. The most exciting kind of travel has been taken away from us. Borders are closed, flights cancelled, museums shuttered. And who dares go to a restaurant? Yet we can still escape quarantine with books. And nowhere has seemed more mysterious, gorgeous and suspenseful to me than the inner … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. I got a three-month writing retreat with every comfort needed! I scrawled the grand statement, which sounds like a cheesy advertisement, and taped it next to the guest room desk back in March. I was upset about the pandemic, and I was trying to reframe what I could … Read more