There's a whole bunch of craziness going on in the latest Seishi Yokomizo mystery, She Walks at Night, involving sleepwalkers and hunchbacks and a killer with a fondness for beheading their victims. It's a lot! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/07/01/t...

More of the Perry Mason/Dark Shadows connection: this time, we center on John Lasell, who played the first "Van Helsing" type character on the soap! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/29/t...

We're going to take a periodic look at the 144 original teleplays for Perry Mason through the lens of the guest stars who made multiple appearances. Here are the three episodes in which Diana Millay, who played Laura Collins on Dark Shadows, appeared. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/24/c...

Peter and Iris Duluth are one of the most intriguing couples in crime fiction. But in A Puzzle for Fiends, where is Iris? And who is Peter??? ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/22/t...

My thoughts on some films that took us from spring to summer, including Spielberg, some sheep, some Streep, and Sir Ian McKellen. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/19/l...

"Coquette" is a delightful word wasted on a fair-to-middling Perry Mason adventure. Ah, les femmes, les femmes . . . ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/17/u...

From the scene shop in her mind, Agatha Christie carefully selected the furniture and props to create some of the most theatrical crime scenes ever! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/12/a...

The wait is over! Here are the result from Sergio @tippingmyfedora.bsky.social, Nick Cardillo, and my draft of the TWENTY GREATEST SCREEN SLEUTHS OF ALL TIME! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/10/t...

With A Deadly Episode, Anthony Horowitz proves once again that murder and meta-fiction go together like Holmes and Watson! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/08/a...

Another time loop/murder mystery hybrid - and a sense that I've been through all of this before! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/03/d...

Happy June! With summertime just around the corner, it's time to rank Agatha Christie's best (or is it worst?) bad boys! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/06/01/t...

What a pleasure it was to discuss my favorite Hitchcock film with Sergio Angelini @tippingmyfedora.bsky.social on his fabulous podcast. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/31/m...

Is Rear Window the greatest of Hitchcock's thrillers? Brad Friedman @ahsweetmystery.bsky.social is absolutely certain that it is. We look at its literary origins, development and exhibition history. Apple buff.ly/wDl4xnB Podbean buff.ly/wk2LnPK Spotify buff.ly/34bRrLu YouTube shorturl.at/Cj5rC

The Case of the Crimson Kiss is the bonus novelette on our Perry Mason Girls! Girls! Girls! tour - something different from the usual and maybe the best of the four shorter works starring the ace defense attorney! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/29/b...

James Scott Byrnside has struck again! His new story collection features three impossible murders, a nightmare finale at a carnival and, in the third story, the most lovable character to ever appear in crime fiction! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/25/t...

When there's no Poirot, no Nero Wolfe, no series character of any kind, what do you do? You stand alone. Here are ten of my favorite stand-alone mysteries! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/18/b...

When we started our GIrls! Girls! Girls! tour of the Perry Mason universe, we knew it was bound to get risque! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/17/n...

Our examination into theatricality in Agatha Christie's work continues as we discuss one of the most dramatic scenes in her stories - the scene of the crime! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/12/a...

Not a mystery, perhaps, but otherwise it's Agatha Christie in every way. If I'm going to ride the Westmapod, I'd better read the books!! First off: Giant's Bread, by Mary Westmacott. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/04/a...

The game's afoot! What is YOUR favorite screen performance by an actor playing a detective???

In June, Nick Cardillo, Sergio Angelini and I will create The Greatest Screen Sleuths Draft. Who should be on our list? Start nominating NOW!!! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/05/02/c...

Imagine being trapped in a bank where no one is safe!!! (Get it? Get it??) It's the latest Ernest Cunningham whodunnit from Benjamin Stevenson! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/04/25/k...

Perry Mason and Paul Drake find a closed circle mystery on board a gambling ship in our latest Girls! Girls! Girls! adventure, 1937's The Case of the Dangerous Dowager! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/04/17/o...

We call them "the devils in disguise" - all the miscreants in Agatha Christie's fiction who applied costume and make-up to kill! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/04/12/a...

I think it's A. A. Fair to say that this cat digs Donald Lam and Bertha Cool as much as he digs Perry Mason! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/04/06/b...

I often wonder how famous characters like Sherlock Holmes are served in the public domain. In the Amazon Prime series Young Sherlock, he's served pretty well! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/04/04/s...

A big slice of nostalgia for me from Crippen & Landru via Edward D. Hoch's short story epic, The Will o' the Wisp Mystery! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/30/w...

Another March! Another rally! Another day of declaration that America will not tolerate kings!

@tinahodgkinson.bsky.social has written the ultimate guide to Agatha Christie's London! It's brilliantly researched, a mighty fun read and a great tool for exploration!! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/28/f...

We wrap up our discussion on Agatha Christie's actors with the darkest and most controversial of them all. Plus - an actors index! (Please help me make it complete!!) ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/25/a...

"O why do you walk through the field in gloves/O lean grey woman whom nobody loves?" Who are the best spinsters to be found in Agatha Christie's books? ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/23/s...

Who on earth had the chutzpah to create a list of The Twenty Greatest Literary Detectives of All Time? Okay, we did - but you helped, so it's not all our fault!!! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/19/s...

On our "Girls! Girls! Girls!" Tour, a spunky miss leads Perry Mason into a good old-fashioned country house mystery, complete with a fine twist ending! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/17/a...

Missed the Ides of March by one day! But any day is good to discuss the actor-murderers found in Agatha Christie. SPOILERS ABOUND! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/16/a...

I'm thrilled to announce that once again I'll be taking part in the Agatha Christie Festival, this fall in Torquay! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/07/t...

My examination into theatricality in Agatha Christie's novels and stories continues with a March two-parter, all about the actors. First up: the actor as suspect or victim. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/03/04/a...

Reading about Nero Wolfe and Archie Goodwin is always good for the soul. This time, the case of The Golden Spiders has some added emotional heft. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/02/25/l...

How does a non-impossible crime fan rank his favorite reads by John Dickson Carr??? Fortunately the answer is right here! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/02/23/b...

1930's Perry Mason is always a snappy read, and this one is interesting for the rules it breaks! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/02/17/g...

Agatha Christie's childhood was rich in theatrical experiences, some of her own making. All of this had an effect on the elements of theatricality found in her books. ahsweetmystery.com/2026/02/12/a...

I like my movies with lots of murders and lots of meta content. Which is why this class I'm taking at Stanford University fits the bill so well! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/02/06/t...

When a mystery reader needs cheering up, one sure bet is Craig Rice and the delightful Carstairs family of Home Sweet Homicide! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/02/04/f...

One of God’s big mistakes is that he made the lives of our animals too short. I was blessed with Mimi’s presence for almost sixteen years. There should have been sixteen more, and sixteen more after that. Mimi, Mommy, Ma . . . I love you love you love you forever.

Forget the cold outside! Think of spring - and of our upcoming draft for the Greatest Literary Detectives of All Time! Here's how YOU can take part and maybe find your favorite sleuth included on our list! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/01/25/a...

More 1984-like reinvention from our administration. Even dystopian novels come to an end; the trouble is, they never end happily. I, for one, am eager to band together and change the narrative! But now we weep for Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good, and offer our support to the people of Minnesota.

When will actors who get shot on stage learn to be nicer to their peers before the curtain goes up? Certainly not in Death on the Pier, Jamie West's first Bertie Carroll mystery! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/01/21/t...

The Wooden Overcoat is fifty percent murder mystery and a hundred percent farce, complete with an overdramatic poodle, a homicidal cat, and a thousand rats with a sense of humor! It is to laugh!! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/01/18/b...

Our year-long survey of Perry Mason's Girls! Girls! Girls! begins with one who's sulky but sympathetic, naughty but nice - and, fortunately for us, in need of an ace attorney! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/01/17/n...

Well, it had to happen: I watched this so you a. don't have to or b. can chat along about it. Here's my HIGHLY spoiler-y take on Chris Chibnall's, er, Agatha Christie's Seven Dials! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/01/16/n...

The game's afoot: Antony Johnston's Can You Solve the Murder? makes the reader the detective and challenges you to figure out whodunit in this Choose-Your-Own-Adventure for grown-ups! ahsweetmystery.com/2026/01/15/i...