My Work in Mystery, Crime, & Mayhem’s “Cooking Up Crime”

My Work in Mystery, Crime, & Mayhem’s “Cooking Up Crime”

 

The new issue of Mystery, Crime, & Mayhem is out!  This quarter’s issue is themed “Cooking Up Crime!”  In this “cozy” issue, all of the stories are connected in some way to food.

 

In my true crime article “The Last of the Sob Sisters,” I tell the story of Ione Quinby, who was one of the star crime reporters in Chicago during the 1920’s and was also the author of Murder for Love, a collection of essays profiling several female murderers.  When the Depression ended her career in Chicago, she married Bruce Griggs, and the pair reported together until a tragic accident, and the now– Mrs. Ione Quinby Griggs began working as the advice columnist for The Milwaukee Journal’s Green Sheet, a job she’d hold for over half a century.

 

“This Wasn’t Murder” is a Funderburke and Kaiming novella.  When a young athlete dies suddenly, it’s determined that the death was due to natural causes.  The dead boy’s mother, who works in a bakery, struggles to accept this, but his father is wrongly convinced that this was a homicide, and this could lead to tragedy… if Funderburke and Nerissa can’t stop the situation from spiraling out of control.

 

Please take a look!

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s book The Autistic Sleuth, written with the professional guidance of his mother Dr. Patricia Meyer Chan, will be released on September 19^th!  He is the author of the Funderburke and Kaiming novels Ghosting My Friend and She Ruined Our Lives, released by Level Best Books.  He is also the author of the comedic novels Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis, published by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

Introducing Some of My Best Friends are Murderers!

Introducing Some of My Best Friends are Murderers!

 

Level Best Books is publishing the next book in my series of critical analyses of crime writers and television shows!  First, there was Murder Most Grotesque, my look at the comedic crime fiction of Joyce Porter.  Now comes the next book in the series: Some of My Best Friends are Murderers: Critiquing the Columbo Killers.  It’s an analysis of every murderer on the classic television show, focusing not only on what led them to kill, but also their relationship with Columbo.  I wanted to write a book that would show readers what a really well-written relationship between a detective and a villain looks like, and what better way to explore that than through a deep dive into one of the all-time great crime shows, with a collection of some of the strongest characterization and conflict to be found?  This book will interest not just Columbo fans, but also aspiring writers who want to learn how to create stellar antagonists.

 

And here’s the cover art!

 

The release date for Some of My Best Friends are Murderers will be announced soon!

 

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s book The Autistic Sleuth, written with the professional guidance of his mother Dr. Patricia Meyer Chan, will be released on September 19^th!  He is the author of the Funderburke and Kaiming novels Ghosting My Friend and She Ruined Our Lives, released by Level Best Books.  He is also the author of the comedic novels Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis, published by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

 

Why I Started Writing The Autistic Sleuth

 Why I Started Writing The Autistic Sleuth

 

The idea for The Autistic Sleuth first came to me about six years ago.  There were a bunch of factors that spurred my thoughts on the topic.  A lot of the television shows I watched– Sherlock, Hannibal, Bones, CSI, Doc Martin, The Bridge,and many others, had a character that was possibly on the autism spectrum, but other than a fleeting reference, nothing at all was said about it.  The trope of autistic detectives was mentioned– and criticized– on an episode of Community, and I read The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.  Over the past four years, I started creating a list of television and movie detectives with autistic characteristics, and I also started writing a list of topics and themes recurring in these productions.  I grew increasingly surprised by how long these lists had become.  

 

Multiple times over the past five years, I tried to start writing a book about this subject, but I never got very far, just a few paragraphs before the well of inspiration froze up on me.  Then, this past fall, I forced myself to keep writing on this topic, and slowly, intermittently, created the essays that would form The Autistic Sleuth.  I wasn’t sure if I could make this topic work as a book, but I was surprised by the final product.  I hope that this book conveys a complex psychological, neurological, scientific, and artistic subject matter in a readable manner for all sorts of readers.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s book The Autistic Sleuth, written with the professional guidance of his mother Dr. Patricia Meyer Chan, will be released on September 19^th!  He is the author of the Funderburke and Kaiming novels Ghosting My Friend and She Ruined Our Lives, released by Level Best Books.  He is also the author of the comedic novels Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis, published by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

An Article in Proceedings of the Pondicherry Lodge!

An Article in Proceedings of the Pondicherry Lodge!

 

My article “Depicting Sherlock Holmes’ Mind On-Screen,” which covers several points addressed in The Autistic Sleuth, has been published in Proceedings of the Pondicherry Lodge, the journal of the Sherlock Holmes Society of India!  Please take a look– my article starts on page 21!

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s book The Autistic Sleuth, written with the professional guidance of his mother Dr. Patricia Meyer Chan, will be released on September 19^th!  He is the author of the Funderburke and Kaiming novels Ghosting My Friend and She Ruined Our Lives, released by Level Best Books.  He is also the author of the comedic novels Sherlock’s Secretary and Nessie’s Nemesis, published by MX Publishing, as was his anthology Of Course He Pushed Him and Other Sherlock Holmes Stories Volumes 1 & 2.  His Agatha-nominated book Murder Most Grotesque: The Comedic Crime Fiction of Joyce Porter was published by Level Best Books.  His first non-fiction book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.