http://crimespree.blogspot.com/
Jon and Ruth Jordan are mystery fans extraordinaire - they've even been featured at the B&N Studio as Book Obsessed!
I'm excited to share this guest blog to welcome the New Year!
GOOD-BYE 2010; HELLO 2011
It’s time to wave good-bye to 2010. It was an exceptional year for books. Many of Crimespree’s long time favorites and a lot of fresh faces contributed works that prove that the Crime Fiction Novel is alive and well. For a nice list of 2010’s best of mystery lists follow this link to Spinetingler Magazine http://www.spinetinglermag.com/2010/12/22/best-mys
The Sentry (Joe Pike Series #3)
Now it’s time to say hello to 2011. Are you excited yet? The exceptional reading will begin this month with Robert Crais’ THE SENTRY & Loren Estleman’s THE LEFT HANDED DOLLAR. Michael Koryta weighs in with THE CYRESS HOUSE & Charles Todd’s A LONELY DEATH will appeal to all who enjoy a little history with their mystery. For those of you reading this, looking for something a bit off the beaten track but great, I’d suggest Lori Armstrong’s MERCY KILL, Steve Hockensmith’s WORLD’S GREATEST SLEUTH & Wallace Stroby’s A SHOT TO THE HEART. This is just a sampling of January reads.
The Left-Handed Dollar (Amos Walker Series #20)
2011 will mark the launch of Little, Brown’s new imprint Mulholland Books. We see a continuing Crime Fiction commitment from all of the big publishing houses and some great releases coming from the smaller, independent presses.
I’d like to make a suggestion to everyone reading this blog. Whether you are a reader who occasionally dabbles in my genre of choice or someone who reads Crime Fiction almost exclusively step outside of your comfort zone this year. Find a new writer to dazzle you or try a book that’s getting buzz that doesn’t seem to be your cup of tea. Have you read a mystery from the publisher SOHO or Tyrus Books yet? The writing is strong no matter where you go amongst this field of death. If you’d like to challenge yourself I suggest you contemplate The Criminal Plot Reading Challenge.http://criminalplots.blogspot.com/2010/12/inaugura
Quite obviously the “book” is far from dead, although it does have quite a few new delivery systems. Audio has become an art form and the e-read is here to stay. Thanks to E-Book technology you may also be able to explore a writer’s previously “out of print” back list. Many writers are now offering these lists on line at sites like this one. I do suggest that before investing in e-books you vet the author. It’s a brave new world and a book may well be worth your investment…. BUT….Whether a novel is straight to E or has had a print release you’ll want to know if the author has a track record with the publishing world or is delivering an unedited piece of work that hasn’t found a publisher.
2011; a time for new beginnings. Take a look at your TBR (to be read) pile. Clean out the books that have been on there forever and make way for the new. Nothing in this world is quite as satisfying as a good book so go forth and find one and enjoy that remarkable feeling. Finally, if you have time, let me know what, in the mystery world you are most excited about in 2011. Right here, in the comments section.
Ruth Jordan
Who's Who of CrimeSpree Magazine...
Who are we? Collectively, we are mystery fans from all over the planet. We share a love of the mystery crime genre and it has drawn us together.
Individually we are:
Editors and regular contributors appearing in every issue
Jon and Ruth Jordan - Publishers and Editors
Jon and Ruth met at Bouchercon in 1999. Since then they have taken their love of books up a few notches. They have both contributed tomysteryone.com andbooksnbytes.com. Ruth is also hosting Bouchercon 2008 with fellow mystery fanatic Judy Bobolik. Jon is author of the Anthony-nominated interview book INTERROGATIONS and is trying to find time to do a second. When not reading or talking about books, they go to see live music whenever possible. And while they still love Rob Zombie, they realize they may be a little too old for the crowds that go to see him. They share their home with four cats who believe they are the center of the known universe. 
Jennifer Jordan - Fiction Editor
Jennifer's day never truly begins until she's begun to write. Her first book, written when she was nine, featured a cast of wizards and talking animals fighting an almost-Jungian archetype of evil known as the Shadow. Writing compulsively and voraciously reading everything, nothing presses her pleasure button quite like great writing. She has articles, interviews and short fiction featured in various magazines and has a short story called ‘Bitter Kiss’ that will appear in the anthology “Stirring up A Storm: Tales of the Sensual, the Sexual, and the Erotic” (edited by Marilyn Jaye Lewis,” available in the fall of 2005). She is halfway through her first non-wizard novel. You can visit her at her blog site: Human Under Construction.
Jeremy Lynch - Entertainment Editor
When not reading crime fiction, listening to music or watching movies, Jeremy can be found talking, or at least thinking, about crime fiction, music or movies. He also enjoys the rough and tumble worlds of Mixed Martial Arts (UFC, Pride) and politics, which are really not that different.
He lives in St.Paul with a neurotic, slightly overweight cat that doesn't solve crimes or do anything more strenuous than sleep on the windowsill. It also should be noted that he feels a little freaky referring to himself in the third person. He currently resides somewhere between being a know-nothing punk and an addled-minded fossil.
Mary Reagan - Photo And Special Events Editor
Mary lives in New York City and developed an interest in both books and photography at an early age. Aside from a stint as a photography editor during college, her photos have been featured in Plots with Guns, author web sites, MWA newsletters and a variety of work-related publications.
Ayo (Ola) Onatade
I have been an avid reader of crime fiction since I was ten years old. Since 1998 I have been a reviewer for Shots Magazine, a crime fiction magazine that reviews crime fiction books and interviews crime fiction authors. The magazine also has short stories and forthcoming information about crime fiction conferences. It is now an online magazine. I am a member of a group called Mystery Women that was set up by Kate Charles and Michelle Spring in 1998 to promote female crime writers. I also help run the group along with Lizzie Hayes.
Job: Clerk (Personal Assistant) to a Court of Appeal Judge at the Royal Courts of Justice, London
Ayo received the first Crimespree contributor of the year award in 2005.
Reed Farrel Coleman
Reed writes something for every issue, sometimes it's fiction, sometimes it's an interview and sometimes it's his thoughts on something about the mystery community. He is an Edgar-nominated author and is the 2006 Executive Vice President of The Mystery Writers Of America. He makes his home on Long Island, New York and can be found on the web at http://www.reedcoleman.com/
Robert J Randisi
Robert Randisi is one of the founders of The Private Eye Writers of America and has written over 40 novels, and has edited a huge number of Anthologies. He is one of the true legends of the genre and Crimespree is lucky to get a regular column from him calledRants And Raves.
Julia Spencer-Fleming
A military brat, Julia Spencer-Fleming grew up in places as diverse as Mobile, Rome, Stuttgart and Syracuse. Her debut novel, In the Bleak Midwinter, won the St. Martin's/Malice Domestic, the Dilys, the Agatha, the Anthony, the Macavity and the Barry Awards. A Fountain Filled With Blood received a Barry Award nomination, and Julia's latest Clare Fergusson novel, Out of the Deep I Cry, was a 2005 Edgar Award finalist. Julia lives in the Maine countryside with three kids, two dogs and one husband. Julia writes a regular column called Spencer-Fleming for Hire.
Frequent Contributors to Crimespree:
Ali Karim
Ali is an industrial chemist, freelance journalist and book reviewer living in England. He is Assistant Editor at Shots Ezine and also contributes to January Magazine and Deadly Pleasures Magazine and is an associate member of The Crime Writers Association (CWA) of Great Britain.
Annie Chernow
Annie lives in the Chicago suburb of Inverness, Illinois in a house filled with thousands of books and never enough shelf space. The most annoying thing you can ask her is 'do you really read these?'
Anthony Rainone
Anthony Rainone lives in New York City. His addiction to crime fiction began with Cain and Hammett, though Ross MacDonald is his biggest influence. When not reading, Anthony writes reviews and interviews as contributing editor for January Magazine, as well as ramblings on his blog, Anthony Rainone's Criminal Thoughts. He has published short stories with various online magazines, including Plots With Guns. Anthony rates The Big Lebowski as the finest crime fiction movie ever made.
Dave Biemann
Hey, Lama, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know? And he says: "Oh, uh, there won't be any money but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that going for me. Which is nice.
This quote is from Caddyshack which sums up Dave just fine…..
Kevin Burton Smith
Kevin is an all around mystery fanatic, but his real love is detective fiction, which would explain his running the Thrilling Detective website. Kevin does a feature for Crimespree called Crimes on .45
Michael Lister
Michael Lister is the author of the John Jordan mystery series and contributes a feature called Sunshine and Crime
Sarah Weinman
Sarah is the fiction editor for SHOTS Ezine, a contributing editor of January Magazine, and has written for a number of print and online publications including the Washington Post, Deadly Pleasures, Plots With Guns, and the Denver Post. She also blogs about crime fiction and whatever else pops into her head at "Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind." Relaxing is not amongst her list of activities.
Thalia Proctor
Thalia has been selling crime and mystery books since 1990. She is currently working for Goldsboro Books in a bookish alley near Leicester Square. She lives in Barnet, North London, and gets a lot of reading done on the daily train journey.
Joe Lemmer - artist extreme
Likes:
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Dislikes:
Evangelists
Sum me up:
Lacking a concept of time with a loose sense of reality, a sick sense of humor a love of pudding.
Some of our regular reviewers are:
Aldo Calcagno
Judy Clemens
P.J. Coldren
Rae Helmsworth
Karen Hildebrand Jordan - Crimespree den mother
Richard Katz - Owner of Mystery One Books in Milwaukee
Gary Shulze - Co Owner of Once Upon a Crime Books in Minneapolis
Woodstock
