Brash Blog

Big Ideas and Big Names in suspense from Brash Books

Get the big ideas from the biggest names in suspense on the Brash Books blog. Here, you'll find posts by some of your favorite mystery authors sharing their views on crime fiction - along with inside stories about everything from how they wrote their bestselling thrillers to what inspires them.

You'll also hear from experts in the mystery and suspense genre, along with fans, publishing insiders, and of course, Brash Books. Posts will range from informative to controversial - but you can bet every one will be a compelling read. This is your destination to explore great crime fiction writing - past, present and future - from the authors, readers, and publishers who keep it alive.

Janet Evanovich Poised to Rule the Bestseller Lists Next Week

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Next week, New York Times bestselling author Janet Evanovich will release the next thriller in her bestselling Stephanie Plum series of mysteries, Top Secret Twenty One, and the newest title in the blockbuster series is poised to debut at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list – just like every other Stephanie Plum mystery in the last 15 years. Fans can’t get enough of the beloved bounty hunter, and those fans range from romance readers to mystery lovers to fans of crime fiction. With such a diverse audience, it’s no wonder Evanovich is one of the most successful female mystery writers in the business. One For the Money  Sparked the Plum Crazy Phenomenon Evanovich started out as... more

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Carolyn Weston’s Mean Streets

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We're thrilled to announce that we've acquired Carolyn Weston's three classic police procedurals -- Poor Poor Ophelia, Susannah Screaming, and Rouse the Demon -- which were the basis for the hit TV series The Streets of San Francisco starring Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. We'll be publishing all three books, beginning in February 2015. Everyone knows about the TV series, but few people are aware of the woman who created the characters. Carolyn Weston grew up in Hollywood during the Depression. She played hooky from school in movie theaters and libraries, honing the craft that would make her books so remarkable. During World War II, she worked in an aircraft plant and then did odd... more

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The Story Behind “Outrage at Blanco”

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Bill Crider reveals the story behind his novels Outrage at Blanco and Texas Vigilante Outrage at Blanco has an interesting history.  What I set out to do was to write a western novel like the kind I admired so much by people like Harry Whittington, Donald Hamilton, Clifton Adams, Marvin H. Albert, and many others who wrote what were essentially crime novels with a western setting.  The books were fast-paced fiction, lean and tough. I loved reading them, and I wanted to write something similar. When I began the book, I didn’t know that Ellie Taine was the main character.  What I had in mind was something else entirely.  By the end of the first chapter, however, Ellie had... more

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Robert B. Parker’s Spenser Series And Others That Ended Too Soon

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Low End Of Nowhere by author Michael Stone

For fans of crime fiction, it’s both satisfying and slightly surreal to see a new book in Robert B. Parker’s Spenser series on the New York Times Bestseller List. More than four years after Parker’s death, his private eye lives on through the talents of Ace Atkins. Seeing the latest Spenser thriller, Cheap Shot, on the bestseller list made us think of how lucky readers are to get a little more of Spenser– and think of some of the other fantastic thriller series’ that ended too soon.... more

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Great Sex

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The trick to writing good sex scenes is the words you choose to do it. The words you use to describe sex...and the body parts...has to be a reflection of the characters and their attitudes...and the overall tone of the book. To me, writing a sex scene is less about the sex itself than what the scene is supposed to accomplish as far as revealing character or furthering the plot. It shouldn't just be there to turn the reader on...even if you're writing erotica. The sex act, in and of itself, will be mere coupling between two creatures...and certainly won't be compelling, entertaining or arousing if the reader isn't emotionally invested in the characters. Here's an example of what I'm... more

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Bragg: Credit Due

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Whenever long term mystery fans gather there is often talk of obscure private eye series still considered to be gems of the hardboiled genre, like Jack Lynch's Bragg novels. These long out of print, usually paperback original series, are learned about by word of mouth from one mystery fan to another. This action often causes mini-tsunamis on Internet used book sites as the new fan seeks out the titles to which they have been referred.  Tattered copies often change hands for ridiculously high prices for what are slim volumes with bad ‘70s cover art. However, it is the words between those tattered covers that keep readers rediscovering the series again and again. Other series falling... more

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