The Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words

My guest today is the writer behind the Twin Cities Mystery Series featuring detectives Erik Jansson and Deb Metzger, which have been widely lauded for clever plots, witty and intelligent dialogue and just generally being great reads. She is also an excellent short fiction author, including a story in the great new anthology ON FIRE AND UNDER WATER, which came out from Rock & a Hard Place Press in September and which explores t...

For more than two decades the Men of Mystery conference has celebrated the many great men who write the mysteries so many of us love. Established in 2000 by the late Joan Hansen, this very popular events is put on these days by today’s guests, Jan Wilcox and Cindy Woods. Over the years Men of Mystery, or MoM for short, has featured a literal who’s who of great male mystery writers: T. Jefferson Parker, Matt Coyle, C.J. Box, Michael...

I’ve known Richie Narvaez mostly as a great crime novelist, with works like Roachkiller and Other Stories, Hipster Death Rattle, Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco, and Noiryorican. But he is also a writing teacher, a speaker and one of the very best short fiction authors on the market today. His short stories appear in any number of anthologies, including one that I just grabbed my copy of, ON FIRE AND UNDERWATER: A CLIMATE CH...

My guest today is someone with whom most of you have at least a tangential relationship. How is that possible? Well, because before he started writing compelling techno-thrillers, he spent much of his career at Microsoft, where he led the creation and development of a little thing you might have heard of – the Xbox. His first technothriller – THE WILKES INSURRECTION – came out in 2021. That one introduces us to his lead protagonist...

I have often noted how prolific some of my guests are in their work, but I have to say my guest today really is one of the most prolific I working in the field today. As a writer he is the author of around 1300 short stories across a wide range of genres, at least eight novels and scores more non-fiction books and articles. When not doing his own writing he has edited dozens of crime fiction anthologies, including one of my new obs...

Most of the authors who join me on this show are fiction writers, but this week I bring you a conversation with the really great nonfiction author Andrea Lankford. A former National Park Service ranger and investigator, Lankford's latest book TRAIL OF THE LOST is a gripping tale of her efforts to help find a trio of missing Pacific Crest Trail hikers who all seemed to vanish without a trace. One might think this would be an ea...

If you follow this show at all you know I am a big fan of the short story, and particularly the crime fiction and noir genres. Stacy Woodson's work has appeared in numerous high quality short story magazines, including Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen, Mystery Weekly and many others. She has also had her work in a lot of other great single anthologies with awesome titles like the Tattered Blue Line, Jukes and Tonks and...

My guest today has one of the most varied resumes of anyone I have ever had on this show. He is: an Author / Filmmaker / Actor / Composer / Educator / Public Speaker / Consultant / Reviewer / Writer-in-Residence /CEO/ and a columnist with Writer’s Digest. And, most important for our purposes today, Clay Stafford is the founder of the Killer Nashville International Writers Conference, which this year will be held August 22-25th, in ...

My guest today is the award-winning author of a dozen books, including three different multi-book series and two standalones. She is also a veteran journalist who has reported from more than a dozen countries over her long career, and is now she’s back in the newsroom serving as an interim editor at the Seattle Times. And somehow between books and the news, she finds time to produce a Substack newsletter – I am now tired even sayin...

I met my guest today a while back at the Left Coast Crime conference in Bellingham, Washington. She has been a magazine writer, a writing tutor and an editor during her career, but only began writing fiction about 10 years ago. In that time she has published several short stories and, in 2023, her debut novel I KNOW WHAT YOU DID, which deals with this fascinating premise: What if a bestselling novel fictionalizes the death of your ...

My guests today are a husband and wife team of Anthony Leigh Adams and Christina Adams that collectively write under the nom de plume of A.C. Adams. They are longtime veterans of Hollywood with a ridiculously long list of credits for many major studios, including ABC, CBS and Disney. They are have worked on scores of projects with Oprah Winfrey, produced documentaries for PBS, musicals for the stage and, well, you get it – they are...

 My guest today is a very talented writer, particularly in one of the forms I enjoy the most – the short story. His stories have appeared in numerous publications, and he has been a finalist for the Derringer, Anthony and Macavity Awards, which for the uninitiated are kind of like the Oscars, Golden Globes and maybe the Grammies for us writer types. And on top it all, he’s one of the industry’s good guys. So please welcome Curtis I...

My guest today is a very multifaceted author, editor and journalist whose work includes short stories, two nonfiction books, editing the Columbus Noir anthology, and the Andy Hayes Private Eye series, featuring a former Browns quarterback turned private eye. He is here today to talk about The Mailman, his brand new thriller starring Mercury Carter, a former postal inspection agent who must track down a violent crew across the Midwe...

My guest today has long been a world traveler who has had more adventures than anyone I know. He is joining me today from his home in France, a country I very much look forward to returning to someday. He has been a guest before, all the way back when this was still just a blog and before the YouTube and podcast shows. His work has won numerous awards and accolades, including the Paris Prize for Fiction in 2013 for his novel, a Vis...

My guest today, Jason Powell, is one of the up and coming authors out there in the mystery genre. His debut novel No Man’s Ghost introduces us to Charles Davids, a probationary NYC firefighter whose first week on the job coincides with that of a mentally disturbed man going through a divorce who moves from calling in fake fires to acting on the real thing. It is a gripping and fast moving story that not only is a crime tale, but gi...

My guest today came to me via a recommendation from another writer and friend of the show, A.J. Devlin. We were talking at Left Coast Crime in March and he said he had a friend with a new book coming out that I really should know about. He even had a signed copy for me! I know A.J. is a great writer, so I of course said I would check it out. I am so glad I did. That book, CALL OF THE VOID by J.T. Siemens is one of the best crime fi...

My guest today, Mary Keliioka, has authored two notable mystery series: the PI Kelly Pruett mysteries, which features the title protagonist, and the Misty Pines series, featuring Sheriff Jax Turner. She also has a brand new book out, her first domestic thriller, DON’T ASK, DON’T FOLLOW, featuring a new lead character, paralegal Beth Ralston. The book has been called “a pulse-pounding read about truth, justice and the unexpected sec...

Sagit Schwartz’s debut novel SINCE SHE’S BEEN GONE is a dual-timeline thriller that has been called a nuanced roller-coaster ride, gripping, pulse-pounding, emotional and a non-stop ride of twists and turns. Sagit is a licensed psychotherapist, so perhaps it’s not surprising that her character is also a mental health professional and that the story deals with several mental health themes to add to the suspense of the story. She’s h...