Did you hear about the goblin horde that commissioned gnoll blacksmiths to sharpen the swords of their bugbear heroes? They knew that a gnoll edge is power. D&D joke or DAD joke? You decide.

Does anyone else remember when Grand Duke Alexei's name was spelled "Alexis" in English? When did we switch?

Today I learned that Sarah Winchester (of the Winchester Mystery House fame) had a female personal physician (very progressive for the 1800s) and this doctor's name was ... Euthanasia Meade. Never mind that she's a medical professional named Euthanasia. Who names their daughter Euthanasia??

If you happen to be in Calgary this September, please do drop in!

I keep thinking about this bit in one of the HHGttG books, about modern humans being descended from all the inept losers (eg, telephone sanitisers) who'd been expelled by the elites of their planet ... And how all those elites then died out from a disease transmitted through a dirty telephone.

Did you hear about the summer retreat for drag queens? It was a very ... camp camp.

Does anyone remember when toothpaste tubes were made of ... aluminium, I think? Some kind of pliable metal? And if you squeezed from the middle, you'd have a lump of toothpaste at the end that would be a pain to get out?

If a man lives on lies, he deserves to have his truth disbelieved.

The suburban expansion of #London is as much a feature of the #1920s as flappers and jazz, and the driving force behind it is #WW1 (of course) and something that looks suspiciously like the #cottagecore aesthetic.

Ugh, Buckley's ... I wonder if your strategy is to be so awful that the body cures itself double-quick just to avoid another dose.

We've had one London, yes, but what about second London? What do they really mean when stories set in London talk about "the City"?

Louis XVI of France was obsessed with locksmithing. If the French Revolution were an RPG campaign, he'd have picked the lock of his prison and escaped himself long before the PCs could find and rescue him.

How's this for a book video? (Music by Jon Radburne at www.youtube.com/@JonRadburne...)

#Fashion always means something, whether we're talking clothes or #books. Here is my personal theory on where #flappers, #WinniethePooh, and #PTSD meet: one of the many factors going into the post-WW1 #1920s mindset.

This was probably THE political upset of the mid-1920s. In case you were wondering what's going on in the background of my books.

If we're talking about locked room mysteries (like that upcoming anthology from Crippen & Landru, see my repost from @tommeadauthor.bsky.social a couple days back) let's talk about where it all began ...

Grade A #BookReview: A Pretender's Murder by Christopher Huang #booksky @misericordius.bsky.social #Inkshares #EricPeterkin #mystery #HistoricalMystery #HistoricalFiction #WW1

Probably my favourite tale of murder to come out of the interbellum period.

Sure, I suppose you COULD jump-start the Second Coming ... but how friendly would YOU be to the dude who rolled you out of bed at three in the morning and loudly insisted you come over to his place, like, RIGHT NOW?

James Herriot's stint in WW2 makes him a vet who's also a vet.

Said this once, gonna say it again.

If you're gonna clutch your pearls, you're gonna need a reason ...

(Repost) We all know that libraries are a good thing, yeah? Some thoughts on the social effects of injecting hope into depressed urban societies ...

ICE BREAKING APART!

Here's a peek into Eric Peterkin's head (or, at least, his journal) in the days just before A Pretender's Murder ...

Yeah, why DO we love this genre so much?

Happy release day to @misericordius.bsky.social for A PRETENDER'S MURDER! www.crimewritersofcolor.com/bookdetails?...

ONE DAY MORE before A Pretender's Murder officially releases into the wild!

Writing a mixed-race main character in a Golden Age mystery means researching racial tensions in post-WW1 Britain. (Most of the images used here come from The Mixed Museum, which is well worth the look: mixedmuseum.org.uk)

Writing Beyond the Fields You Know: Guest Post #ChristopherHuang #crimefiction mysteryreadersinc.blogspot.com/2026/02/writ...

I must admit, I will be a little sad if Mountbatten-Windsor's prison isn't the Tower of London. It's TRADITION, dammit.

As a Canadian, I find myself unreasonably pleased with this one little detail about the upcoming book. (24 FEBRUARY, GUYS! Less than a week to go!)

Today I learned that, in Italian, "winter" is "inverno" while "hell" is "inferno". Which means that faulty Italian pronunciation could potentially make hell freeze over.

Silly numbers through history ...

ONE WEEK TO GO! We see a lot of front covers, but how about this back cover for A PRETENDER'S MURDER? Many thanks to Martin Edwards (@martinedwardsbooks.bsky.social) and S.A. Cosby (@blacktopkid.bsky.social) for the kind words. (go read their books)

I'm not sure if I will ever understand people who can crack an egg and throw away the shell without first running a finger around the inside of the shell to extract all the egg still stuck there.

Look what the postman dropped off today. Also: TWO MORE WEEKS TO LAUNCH! Tell your friendly neighbourhood bookstore!

Americans, please tell me: does your government issue picture ID to ALL eligible voters? For free, and not just to those who can drive?

Three weeks to go! A PRETENDER'S MURDER releases on 24 February 2026! March 1925: Colonel Hadrian Russell, father-in-law to four war widows, is charming and popular ... and when he's shot and thrown through a club window one night, Eric Peterkin is once again called to investigate.

I think that Luis Gustavo Nunez Caceres looks like the most respectable gentleman to have ever respectably gentlemanned.

Thoughts on watching "Dept. Q": 1) Matthew Goode? I thought this was a David Tennant vehicle. 2) I am NOT used to seeing Matthew Goode with a beard. 3) ... are we sure this isn't David Tennant?

I just want to point out that abolition is a perfectly valid means of reform.

Why was the nanny-cam focussed on Superman? Because he had super-vision.

When you successfully skirt around a hole in the ground, you avoid a void.

A tip I picked up from National Service in Singapore thirty years ago.

Idea: a shop called The Steel Toad that makes/sells boots.