BY KAY KENDALL Earlier this month, Bethany Maines asked us Stiletto Gang members the question so many authors struggle with: “what other authors are you like?” My answer to this question has evolved over the past twenty years. At first I didn’t even know it was a question—one I was supposed to be readily able to […]
By Kay Kendall Author of GONE GIRL Gillian Flynn (left), me on the right Every few years a new book bursts on the scene and throws the crime novel genre into a tizzy. These are big books that sell millions, remain on bestseller lists for months and months, get remade as movies, and establish new […]
By Kay Kendall The advent of Mad Men on television marked the return of the 60s to the popular consciousness. Before that, the tumultuous decade of the 1960s had a bad rep. It was a divisive time, and people were sick of it. The go-go economy of the 1980s buried “radical chic” in piles of […]
By Kay Kendall Most writers now spend countless hours each day seated at their computers pouring words into their machines. Oh, for sure, a few rare birds do exist who live otherwise—British writer Graham Greene wrote his usual 500 words each day and then called it quits. Few of us are that disciplined, however, and […]
By Kay Kendall For the last five years I’ve lived half of my life in the 1960s. Life inside my head, that is. During this time I wrote two mysteries—one set in 1968 and the second a year later. Because it was important for me to evoke the time period and get the feel just […]
By Kay Kendall Yesterday was my birthday, and I had a lovely time. I got to feeling so buoyant I decided that today I would give a present to someone. Two presents, actually. I have written two mysteries, and the latest one is RAINY DAY WOMEN. If you haven’t yet read it, check out the first four chapters […]
By Kay Kendall Even though we are now six days into 2016, I still feel compelled to write something about entering a new year. On the other hand, maybe this is trite. To resolve the issue, I did a quick online search of topics to blog about…and here is the advice that jumped out at […]
By Kay Kendall Last December my husband and I were running an endurance test. He underwent three months of daily radiation treatment plus chemo for his neck cancer. This understandably obliterated the entire holiday season. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s. Everything. By my birthday around Valentine’s Day, he was beginning to feel a tiny bit better. […]
By Kay Kendall Now that December has arrived, the holiday season has truly begun. And I love every bit of it, even when nighttime comes early. After all, this means that now the festive lights are visible as early as six in the evening. But it’s odd. Tis the season to be jolly, and yet […]
By Kay Kendall Are you a fan of Laura Lippman’s detective stories or Megan Abbott’s crime novels? Do you ever wonder how they manage to draw you into a web of intrigue, book after book—holding you spellbound, keeping you reading way past your bedtime? Lucky me, I got to learn some of their secrets last […]