True Crime – Nannie Doss, the Giggling Grannie
Nannie Doss, born Nancy Hazel in Blue Mountain, Alabama in 1905, murdered so many people I had to make a chart to keep it all straight. Dubbed the Giggling Grannie and the Jolly Widow due to her gleeful laughter as she recounted her crimes, at first look she doesn’t look the part of a serial…
Book Review: Quick Sand by Malin Persson Giolito
This is the second book I have read this month about how relationships with the wrong man can get you into some serious trouble. In this case, it is a boy, rather than a man, but I hear they grow into men eventually, although I am still waiting on some of you. Eighteen-year-old Maja Norberg…
Interview with Mary Lou Dickinson
Mary Lou Dickinson has published four books, One Day it Happens, a collection of short stories, and three novels, Ile D’Or, Would I lie to You, and most recently The White Ribbon Man, a murder mystery set in downtown Toronto at a 171-year-old church hidden behind the Eaton Centre. Her short stories have appeared in numerous literary periodicals over the…
Review: Field of Blood – Denise Mina
I love Denise Mina. Nobody does down and dirty Glasgow like she does. She makes Scotland into this wildly dangerous and exotic playground for criminals that barely manages to control itself enough for the trains to run. I am travelling there on holidays this fall and fully expect to be stabbed with the blowstick of…
How could you Mrs. Dick?
A very dear friend of mine asked if I would look into the story of Evelyn Dick because she had such fond childhood memories of the schoolyard chant: You cut off his legs … You cut off his arms … You cut off his head … How could you Mrs. Dick? How could you Mrs.…
Book Review: Death Flight by Melissa Yi
“My cochlea vibrates for thee.” Only a real doctor and romantic could coin such a phrase. And Melissa Yi is both. Her bad guy busting medical resident and possible avatar, Dr. Hope Sze, takes to the not-so-friendly skies in Death Flight, the sixth book in her popular thriller series. Hope still can’t decide between Ryan…
The Dame was Trouble: Edited by Sarah L. Johnson, Halli Lilburne & Cat McDonald
What a treat to read this collection of short stories featuring some of the best women Canadian crime writers out there. Special call-outs to the authors recently interviewed by She Kills Lit, Elle Wild and R.M. Greenaway who bring both award winning skill and experience to their short stories. Both these writers riff on an…
Interview with R.M. Greenaway
BIO RM Greenaway began writing crime fiction some years ago, while northbound on the Greyhound. Work as a court reporter in the remoter parts of BC often took her on the road. Usually she got around by car, but the occasional blizzard would force her onto the bus. Which was good, as being a passenger…
Interview with Lisa de Nikolits
Originally from South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits has lived in Canada since 2000. Her body of work includes both novels and short stories. She is a multiple Independent Publisher Book Award winner and has appeared on recommended reading lists for both Open Book Toronto and the 49th Shelf, as well as being chosen as a…
Hélène Jégado – The Pious Poisoner
Hélène Jégado was born in 1803 on a small farm in Brittany just after the end of the French revolution, which you might remember had a lot of peasants revolting and killing rich society types for suggesting they eat cake. But by twenty-four years of age, Hélène began staging her own little coup in the…
