Friday, July 17, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Habit of Fear
In Reference to Murder: Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Habit of Fear: Dorothy Salisbury Davis (1916-2014) was born in Chicago and raised as a Roman Catholic but left the church when she married her husband, act...
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK : FACES OF FEAR
Jerry's House of Everything: FORGOTTEN BOOK : FACES OF FEAR: Faces of Fear by John Saul (2008) This was John Saul's 30th, and penultimate, novel published under his own name. (The count can be qu...
Guest Post: A Suspense Story Isn't (necessarily) a Thriller by Ed Teja
For some time now, you have seen news of author Ed Teja’s publishing success in my “Thursday Treats” roundup of publishing news columns. Please welcome Mr. Teja to the blog today as he discusses his latest novel, Songs of Saigon, and category placement.
A suspense story
isn't (necessarily) a thriller by Ed
Teja
In writing my latest novel, SONGS OF SAIGON, I
wound up doing a strange thing, at least for a writer who wants to sell books
that wind up categorized as thrillers — I took out several action scenes.
Those scenes weren’t badly written; they provided excitement
and drama. But in terms of advancing the story, they failed the book. They had
to come out.
To be fair (to me, of
course), I had set out to write an espionage thriller. But as the characters
and situations evolved, I found myself drawn into the personal stakes facing
Cole Miller, my main character. A young Chinese-American OSS agent, after his
mentor is killed, he finds out he is working for a boss who hates both
espionage and half breeds. An odd situation for a spy, and given the cauldron
he has been dropped into, he either evolves or dies.
When my focused changed from the larger political landscape
to the story of this man, it meant the bulk of the action — the war, the
convoluted administration of the Vichy government running the colony for the
Japanese, the gun smuggling — all became the stage. The story does revolve
around a murder mystery, but while the murder and the political intrigue
provide tension and suspense, I saw that they weren’t the story. When the novel
asserted itself, my espionage thriller had morphed into a historical crime
suspense novel.
And it took me along for the ride.
Revisiting the action scenes and cutting some of them was
not an easy decision. The realization that they didn’t fit took a long time and
three drafts. In my defense, I am a discovery writer at the moment, and that is
one of the perils of declaring one’s freedom from outlines. But I came to see that
exciting action didn’t necessarily make the suspense story come alive. And
although the murder is rather central to things, solving the crime wasn’t
exactly the point either. Learning this made me confront. in a new way (for
me), some of the many distinctions between a suspense story and a thriller. One
of the biggest distinctions was pacing and tone. Atmosphere, if you will. A suspense
novel can be quieter; its conflicts are often as much internal as external. When
the stakes increase, taking action isn’t always the best solution.
But you knew that. I should have. As with so many epiphanies
I’ve had as a writer, no sooner did I sit back in my chair to stare at my
bookshelves and mutter: “aha,” than it settled down into a dull: “Duh, Captain
Obvious.”
That’s okay. Catching on, even belatedly, was incredibly
helpful, although it had me spending an inordinate amount of time contemplating
the lesson — thinking about the nature of suspense, what creates it, and how
the tension in a suspense novel can be different from the sword of Damocles that
hangs over a thriller novel.
That was productive, but it got me thinking about the damn
categories — those irritating labels the sales platforms use to “help” readers
find your (my) book. And here is where this goes off the rails.
My artist wife likes to point out that, fundamentally, such
issues are a word thing. But then all our writing headaches are word things and
seldom do I stumble into more word traps (with deadly punji sticks in the
bottom) than in the publishing industry’s godawful (to use the technical term) distinctions
(or lack thereof) between “suspense” and “thriller.”
Let’s start with suspense: As Lee Child so eloquently points
out, all stories have suspense in them, or you wouldn’t read them. Good one.
Yes, suspense keeps the story moving, and I can’t take issue with that at all.
In fact, he goes on to suggest inserting tension into the writing at the paragraph
and sentence level, which are other excellent thoughts.
The problem, to my mind, lies more in the use of the
omnivorous and ubiquitous term “thriller.” According to the wise heads at
Wikipedia, a thriller is a story that “generally keeps its audience on the
"edge of their seats" as the plot builds towards a climax.” Sort of
like suspense, you (and me, and Mr. Child) might say. The implication that
suspense stories are thrilling goes without saying. The problem is that our online
bookshelves lump them together.
I’d go so far as to argue that the publishing industry (I
include the platforms in this) conflates these two (quite different kinds of
stories) together to an incredible degree. For instance, while surrealism is
given its own BISAC code, mystery, thriller, and suspense stories share a
single category.
Of course, there are a few subcategories that let a clever reader
summon from the algorithm a list of cozy mysteries or even assassination
thrillers. Unfortunately, the suspense reader will have less luck doing that.
Searching on suspense leaves her confronting the task of digging through a less-than
homogenous pile of titles in an uber category called, unhelpfully, “thrillers
& suspense.”
A case in point: On its Amazon product page, Patricia
Highsmith’s THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY is listed as: Books > Mystery, Thriller
& Suspense > Thrillers & Suspense > Crime
In all fairness, it is a crime novel. But a thriller? I
can’t see Mr. Ripley even concerning himself with global stakes or impending
doom. He’s a bit self centered for that.
And the bestseller list this book would fit into (thriller
& suspense, subgenre, crime) includes numerous books that are also listed
as “domestic thrillers,” “psychological fiction,” and “amateur sleuths.” (I
should add that delving deep into those narrower subcategories can lead the
unwary into other treacherous and equally murky miasmas.)
A quick interaction with Amazon’s online chatbot lying in
wait in the sidebar of the bestseller page assures me that the most popular
suspense crime fiction books are Lee Child’s Jack Reacher stories. Stories his
publisher calls thrillers.
All this suggests that, like so much jargon, the term
“thriller” might be a tad overused, a bit too ubiquitous, while its unwanted stepchild
“suspense” is simply misunderstood.
Of course, this essay has wandered into the dark forest that
is marketing. None of this should have anything to do with the writing, and
yet, in this age, it does. Those two intermix annoyingly. This isn’t even
restricted to abuse of us, the modern suspense writers, or even just books. If
you look at the listings for several of Hitchcock’s most famous suspense
stories, such as Vertigo or Rear Window, you will learn that, in today’s
jargon, the “master of suspense” produced thrillers.
There isn’t much one can do about this situation. It’s just
a frustrating reality confronting a writer who fancies writing suspense fiction.
Her suspense novel will inevitably enter an arena face a cohort of fiction that
is action oriented and plot driven.
From the cheap seats, the situation seems unavoidable. Using
“common sense” or even “English” (as in relying on dictionary definitions
rather than influencer-coined catchwords) to pick your book’s categories will
lead you straight off the nearest cliff. No, success lies in going with the
flow. Thus, after a lot of painful research to select the terms to feed the
platforms, I’m not thrilled by my choices. Honestly, Amazon and its ilk
sometimes ignore your input and substitute their own judgment, so even that can
be futile. For better or worse, my book is categorized as:
·
Literature & Fiction › Historical Fiction › World War II
·
Literature & Fiction › Historical Fiction › Thrillers
·
Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
› Thrillers & Suspense › Suspense
As I write this, the book is on preorder, leaving me waiting
to see if those word crumbs will lead the right readers to my book. I don’t
find that particular suspense all that thrilling.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link for Songs
of Saigon: https://amzn.to/3RlxyfA
Amazon Associate Purchase Link for the
Storefront Assassin series: https://amzn.to/4fcM6WR
Ed Teja ©2026
Ed Teja is a
full-time writer and part-time martial arts instructor. A member of The Short
Mystery Fiction Society, his recent publications include stories in Black Cat
Weekly, Punk Noir, Yellow Mama, Black Petals, Thrill Ride, Wyldeblood 13,
Anotherealm, Mystery Tribune, and several Crimeucopia anthologies. In addition
to writing suspense, he actually writes a thriller series: THE STOREFRONT
ASSASSIN STORIES. https://edtejaauthor.com/
Thursday, July 16, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange
In Reference to Murder: Mystery Melange: Noir at the Bar, the long-running live literary event that combines crime fiction, cocktails, and live performance, returns to the Yonder Ba...
Mystery Fanfare: MAIGRET, Season 2, news
Mystery Fanfare: MAIGRET, Season 2, news: MASTERPIECE PBS has announced that Season 2 of Maigret will premiere on Sunday, October 18 at 9/8c on PBS . It will also be available t...
Beneath the Stains of Time: Out for Delivery: "The Jersey Devil" (1971) by Edward D. Hoch
Beneath the Stains of Time: Out for Delivery: "The Jersey Devil" (1971) by Edw...: Some months ago, I reviewed a short story from Edward D. Hoch's Captain Leopold series, " The Rainy-Day Bandit " (1970), which...
Thursday Treats: 7/16/2026
Some reading opportunities of interest this week.
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I
am leading off with this publishing news as I am in the new issue this week. Black
Cat Weekly #254 is out and includes my crime fiction short story, A Plan
Comes Together. Also in the issue are frequent guests here, Tom Milani
(Andrea Gutiérrez) and Paula
Messina (A Little Help). You can pick up the
latest issue here.
Also
now out is the latest issue of Kings River Life Mystery Magazine. In addition
to the book giveaways, reviews, and other pieces, Leslie
Budewitz announced that publication of her
short story, Pepper Reece and the Ghost of Arthur Goodwin: A Spice Shop Short
Mystery. You can read it for free here.
Janet Rudloph announced that the latest volume of the Mystery Reader’s Journal was now out. Mystery Readers Journal: Mysteries Set in France (Volume 42:2) is available here. By the way, if you are not already paying attention to her great Mystery Fanfare blog, you should be. I watch a lot of British, and elsewhere, mystery television and I get most of my news on the programs via her blog.
Author
James
H. Lewis announced that his latest novel, The
Boy in the Mirror, is now out. You can pick it up direct from the
author here, or through
several vendors including Amazon.
Author
Allen
Wyler announced that his latest novel, Deadly
Odds 9.0 was out. Published by Stairway
Press, the latest in a long line of
techno-thrillers is available at Amazon and other
vendors. Aubrey reviews it Monday here on the blog.
SMFS
Derringer Coordinator Mark Schuster sent word that John Joseph Adams has
curated the Magic & Mystery collection scheduled to be
released on July 28th. These are seven Amazon Original Tales on
Kindle. Learn more at Amazon.
Speaking
of SMFS, recently re-elected President Joseph S. Walker posted his latest
compilation of recent publishing news of the members. News of the various books
and short stories can be found here.
By
the way, Joseph’s post title reminded me of the great blog, Make Mine Mystery.
While it is dormant now, you can still read the posts if you go to the Make
Mine Mystery blog here.
The anthology, Bad Intentions: A Crime Fiction Anthology Based on the Music of Warren Zevon, has been released by Literary Garage. Edited by Michael K. Downing, the read features fifteen stories from authors, Chance Adorjan, Colin Brightwell, Jesse Binger, Geonn Cannon, Andrew Careaga, Dylan Demasi, Zakariah Johnson, Whiskey Leavins, Scott MacLeod, Bruce W. Most, Joel Nedecky, Nathan Pettigrew, Keith Roysdon, DJ Tuskmor, and Mike Zimmerman. Cover design by Frank Vatel. All proceeds go to benefit Philabundance, a Philadelphia-based charity working to end food insecurity. You can pick it up in print or digital formats at Amazon and other vendors.
Until next time….
Kevin R. Tipple ©2026
Wednesday, July 15, 2026
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century
Bitter Tea and Mystery: Short Story Wednesday: The Best American Mystery...: The Best American Mystery Stories of the Century is an anthology edited by Tony Hillerman and Otto Penzler and published in 2000. The ant...
Jerry's House of Everything: SHORT STORY WEDNESDAY: TAPPAN'S BURRO
Jerry's House of Everything: SGORT STORY WEDNESDAY: TAPPAN'S BURRO: "Tappan's Burro" by Zane Grey (first published in Ladies' Home Journal , June 1923; reprinted in Pearson's Magazine ,...
Publishing News: A Plan Comes Together in Black Cat Weekly #254
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As you may already know, I got published this week. My short story, A Plan Comes Together, appears in Black
Cat Weekly #254. They say "write what you know" and the narrator is very much me and my life these days. Though what happens is not. I hope you will pick up the issue and check out my story. Hope you like it too. You can pick up the
latest issue here.
Tuesday, July 14, 2026
Mystery Fanfare: MYSTERIES SET IN FRANCE: La Fête Nationale aka Bastille Day
Mystery Fanfare: MYSTERIES SET IN FRANCE: La Fête Nationale aka Bas...: Celebrate La Fête Nationale aka Bastille Day with the hot off the presses issue of Mystery Readers Journal: Mysteries Set in France (V...
Jerry's House of Everything: OVERLOOKED FILM: THE CANARY MURDER CASE (1929)
Jerry's House of Everything: OVERLOOKED FILM: THE CANARY MURDER CASE (1929): Ogden Nash famously write "Philo Vance needs a kick in the pance." The pompous fictional detective created by S. S. Van Dine has ...
Monday, July 13, 2026
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday
In Reference to Murder: Media Murder for Monday: It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news: THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES Matthew Mic...
Little Big Crimes: Pitchapalooza, by Robert Parker
Little Big Crimes: Pitchapalooza, by Robert Parker: "Pitchapalooza," by Robert Parker, in Black Cat Weekly, #253, 2026. The main character of this tale is Geneva Slitherbee (grea...
Aubrey Nye Hamilton Reviews: The Devoted: A Novel by Catherine Cho
Catherine Cho
is a literary agent and the founder of her own literary agency. She wrote a
critically acclaimed memoir that was shortlisted for the Sunday Times'
Young Writer of the Year Award, the Jhalak Prize, and a New York Times' Editor's Choice. Her debut novel,
The Devoted (Washington Square Press, July 14, 2026) is a compelling
tale of a young woman who is born into the shadow of transnational crime
syndicates and has to decide what she will do about it. I found her character
to be similar to a young Michael Corleone who also was determined to move
outside his family’s lawlessness.
Told in
flashbacks between childhood and maturity, the story describes Eunha growing up
with her older brother in Hong Kong in the care of her grandmother, her
mother’s mother, in an isolated cottage. Her mother is institutionalized for
some vague illness. A caretaker whom Eunha eventually realizes is a personal
security officer assigned by her father is omnipresent. His nephew appears
periodically and joins the family. Eunha’s father visits occasionally, focusing
his attention on his son.
By the time
Eunha reaches her late teens, she understands that her father is a Dragon, the
head of a Triad, and that her brother will follow her father into the world of
organized crime. She marries into what she believes is an ordinary family but
she learns when her son is kidnapped that the shadow of her family and its
activities is far-reaching.
Cho’s writing
is lavish with imagery and opulent turns of phrase. It’s often at odds with the
gritty world it describes. The cultural melting pot of Hong Kong simmers in the
background, contrasting mainland Chinese, British colonialists, and immigrants from
elsewhere in the East, all of whom settled on the island that serves as a bridge
between East and West. Hong Kong’s status as a financial nucleus in the East is
a magnet for many, including the Triads.
The
Devoted is a compulsive piece of crime fiction and I expect to see it on
many of the nominations lists for 2026 awards. Starred reviews from Library
Journal and Booklist.
·
Publisher: Washington Square Press
·
Publication date: July 14, 2026
·
Language: English
·
Print length: 256 pages
·
ISBN-10: 1668099462
·
ISBN-13: 978-1668099469
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4aNsCXA
Aubrey Nye Hamilton ©2026
Aubrey Hamilton is a former librarian who works on Federal
It projects by day and reads mysteries at night.
Sunday, July 12, 2026
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Case of the Running Man (1958) by Christopher Bush
Beneath the Stains of Time: The Case of the Running Man (1958) by Christopher ...: The Case of the Running Man (1958), the 52nd entry in the Ludovic Travers series, rang in the last phase of Christopher Bush 's decades...
SleuthSayers: Unsolicited Thoughts on Spider-Noir
SleuthSayers: Unsolicited Thoughts on Spider-Noir: One of two things would happen with Episode One of Spider-Noir (Amazon Prime, 2026). Either I would press the stop button quickly, or I wou...
KRL Update
Up on KRL this week a review and giveaway of "A Botanist's Guide to Tradition and Treachery" by Kate Khavari, along with a fun guest post by Kate about poisonous plants https://kingsriverlife.com/07/11/a-botanists-guide-to-tradition-and-treachery-by-kate-khavari/
And a review and ebook giveaway of "Dreidels and Dead Ends" by Nancy Cohen https://kingsriverlife.com/07/11/dreidels-and-dead-ends-by-nancy-cohen/
And a review and giveaway of "Voted Most Likely to Murder" by Lacey Moon, along with an interesting interview with Lacey https://kingsriverlife.com/07/11/voted-most-likely-to-murder-by-lacey-moone/
We also have a fun mystery short story by Leslie Budewitz https://kingsriverlife.com/07/11/pepper-reece-and-the-ghost-of-arthur-goodwin/
Up during the week we posted another special midweek guest post, this one by mystery author Greta Sinclair about the fun research she did for her latest book, "Murder by Meringue" https://kingsriverlife.com/07/08/when-research-tastes-this-good/
Up on KRL News and Reviews this week we have a review and ebook giveaway of the latest Irregular Detective Mystery, "The Vampyre Client" by Jeri Westerson https://www.krlnews.com/2026/07/the-vampyre-client-by-jeri-westerson.html
And a review and giveaway of "Hemlock Bay" by Martin Edwards https://www.krlnews.com/2026/07/hemlock-bay-by-martin-edwards.html
And a review and giveaway of "The Redemption Center is Closed On Sundays" by Andrea Hairston. This one is a mystery with a lot of twists--it's a scifi mystery with a dog detective https://www.krlnews.com/2026/07/the-redemption-center-is-closed-on.html
Happy reading,
Lorie
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Jerry's House of Everything: MORTIFIED #10 (UNDATED)
Jerry's House of Everything: MORTIFIED #10 (UNDATED): Mortified is a continuing series from CNCC Classic Comics. On May 3, 2024 on this blog, I quoted the Comic Book Plus website: "CNCC ...
Scott's Take: This Inevitable Ruin by Matt Dinniman (Dungeon Crawler Carl Series)
This Inevitable Ruin
by Matt Dinniman is the seventh book in the Dungeon Crawler series.
Warlords Donut and Carl are leading the former Crawlers who have returned to
the Dungeon, alongside the remaining Crawlers, against the alien tyrants and
their mercenary forces. Luckly, they have allies in the NPC army, but they are
still vastly outnumbered. Can Donut and Carl beat thousands and thousands of
soldiers even with the help of the former crawlers? Can Donut and Katia find a
way to escape the curse of the Sepsis Whore?
This is action packed humor filled war tale with
Donut becoming a sniper. Yes, she even has her own little ghillie suit. The
main former Dungeon Crawlers are fully realized heroes of their own tales and
one could imagine them having their own separate series. Jamal the mechanical
shark (an NPC hero) is introduced and is given a giant flamethrower. I enjoyed
this character’s sense of humor immensely.
I really liked how the author explored the toll the war is having on
Donut and how the Crawlers band together to help Donut deal with the trauma she
goes through.
There is no shortage of villains in the tale and
plenty of high stakes. The third act gets incredibly weird. Even weirder than
the last book and I did not think that was possible.
The short story in the hardback highlights the
Shadow Mimics that have infiltrated the backstage of the Dungeon and their
plans.
The next book
in the series comes out May Twelfth and is titled, A Parade of Horribles. Donut, Carl,
and those who chose to remain are going to compete in a death race while the AI
continues to lose his mind.
As of right now, there are two more books planned, a
Peacock tv series in production, a graphic novel adaption which can be read for
free on webtoon, a separate graphic novel planned for next year that will
feature, Florin, the shotgun wielding human turned into a Crocodile. There is
also an increasing amount of merchandise such as shirts and other things. There
is also now a table top game. And, Libby signed a deal to be the exclusive home
of the eBooks for libraries. It is
rather amazing how this series has exploded in so many ways.
Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4nqN6uq
I read the eBook by way of the Libby/Overdrive App
in the Dallas Public Library System. While in the middle of the eBook, the
hardback showed up at my local branch as it had been transferred from the
Lakewood Branch. That allowed me to read the short story.
Scott A. Tipple ©2026
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