Could Gas Prices Make You a Victim of Fuel Thieves?
A month ago, the catalytic converter was hacked out of my daughter’s car as it was parked on a street in Chicago. Apparently, thieves troll at night for older cars with catalytic converters because the precious metals inside--palladium, rhodium, and platinum—now fetch...
Spying on Elon Musk?
Elon Musk hardly needs an introduction these days, but here goes. He’s the richest man in the world, has a droll sense of humor, is a naturalized US citizen (born in South Africa) and has 7 children. Founder of blazing-into-the-future companies Tesla and SpaceX, on 30...
President Trump vs Mexican drug cartel labs
Mark Esper has written about his stint as secretary of defense during the last year of President Donald Trump’s administration in A SACRED OATH. Before the book came out this month, excerpts published in the New York Times revealed that President Trump, frustrated by...
How a Real Cliff Diver Tames Her Fears
Ellie Smart is a professional cliff diver, but not an adrenaline junkie. Riiiight. A native of Missouri and former collegiate diver at UC Berkeley, with a Masters degree in sports and exercise science, Smart is the only American woman with a permanent billet on the...
Book Review: A PALE HORSE by Charles Todd
I’ve been gobbling up the Inspector Ian Rutledge historical mystery series by Charles Todd and A PALE HORSE is a prime example of what makes this post-WWI series so irresistible. You get a travelogue of Great Britain, layers of plot complexity, and a flawed hero who...
At least you didn’t fall into a narco sinkhole
Imagine taking a nap on your sofa one afternoon, only to be awakened when the floor collapses, pitching you into a sinkhole. But it’s not a true sinkhole, it’s a tunnel built by drug cartel smugglers that runs under your house. This happened last week to a man in...
The Best Thrillers set in Exotic Locations
I was recently invited to curate a page on Shepherd, a new book discovery website. Warning, this site can easily become your new favorite rabbit hole. Authors are invited to introduce their book at the beginning of a showcase of books similar in genre or theme. I...
Book Review: Bone Canyon by Lee Goldberg
I love Goldberg’s Ian Ludlow series, starting with the ridiculously wonderful KILLER THRILLER, in which a nerdy writer repeatedly saves the world, but I was willing to go along for a more serious ride in BONE CANYON. A traditional police procedural, BONE CANYON...
Book Review: BACK SIDE OF A BLUE MOON by Caleb Pirtle III
I’ve been roaming Amazon, looking for historical fiction set in the blue collar world of the 1920’s and 30’s and won the prize when I discovered BACK SIDE OF A BLUE MOON, the first book in Caleb Pirtle’s Boomtown Saga trilogy. Part Music Man, part Grapes of Wrath,...
New Release! Road to the Galliano Club
ROAD TO THE GALLIANO CLUB, prequel to the Galliano Club historical thriller series, is available now in Kindle and paperback formats. The Galliano Club historical thriller series has been in the works for over a year, with excerpts doled out in the Mystery Ahead...
Book Review: COMMAND AND CONTROL by David Bruns and J.R. Olson
I was already a fan of this author duo’s espionage thrillers but COMMAND and CONTROL by David Bruns and J.R. Olson ratchets up the intensity to truly epic levels. Buckle up, because this a fast-paced thrill ride through an ocean churning with conflict, tech wizardry,...
Book Review: SHARPE’S ASSASSIN by Bernard Cornwell
First off, let me confess that I’m such a fan of the Richard Sharpe historical thriller series that we own ALL of the Sharpe television episodes starring Sean Bean (on video) AND the Sharpe board game which is like Risk but cooler. So I was thrilled that Bernard...
2021 Gift Guide from the Mystery Ahead newsletter
My 2021 Gift Guide features everything a mystery lover needs for the year ahead. Keep scrolling to find reader favorites from the Mystery Ahead newsletter, non-fiction reads that go inside the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series and the Galliano Club thriller series,...
Book Review: THIEF OF SOULS by Brian Klingborg
THIEF OF SOULS by Brian Klingborg I love a mystery with a unique plotline in which a crime or a twist (or both!) is only possible because of the setting. And I love an author who pulls me into that setting and makes me experience it in an almost tactile fashion. THIEF...
NEW EVIDENCE IN 43 MISSING TRUE CRIME
It only took 7 years, but the real truth behind Mexico’s most notorious true crime is finally coming out. 43 MISSING TRUE CRIME On 24 September 2014, students from the Ayotzinapa rural teacher’s college in the Mexican state of Guerrero—best known as home to the iconic...
Book Review: KILLER THRILLER by Lee Goldberg
KILLER THRILLER by Lee Goldberg Action thriller writer Ian Ludlow is at it again in this zany unputdownable page-turner, the sequel to the equally wonderful TRUE FICTION. Like TRUE FICTION, KILLER THRILLER combines an over-the-top plot with author Goldberg’s own...
Hard truths about the war on drugs from a retired US intel officer
Chris Reed, deputy editorial and opinion editor for the San Diego Union-Tribune, recently wrote a piece entitled “Add Mexico to Afghanistan, Iraq to list of nations U.S. has severely wronged.” I was surprised to find that the article centered on the views of Don...
A pivotal bone-chopping moment of awareness
On his radio show National Security This Week, thriller author and former US military intel officer Jon Olson asked me why I'd specialized in Western Hemisphere issues as an intelligence officer. Related: National Security this Week broadcast Build things and Fix...
Detective Emilia Cruz’s Origin Story
What is Detective Emilia Cruz's origin story? How was the mystery series invented? Well, it started with poinsettias. Many, many poinsettias. The following is from the Author's Note in the new edition of CLIFF DIVER, the first book in the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery...
Killer Nashville on Writing International Mystery and Crime Fiction
Killer Nashville, the international mystery writers conference, is a gold mine of inspiration and resources for the mystery and thriller author, including those who write international mystery and crime fiction. Held last month outside Nashville, TN, Killer Nashville...
Book Review: HEAD WOUNDS by Dennis Palumbo
HEAD WOUNDS is the most recent entry in the action-filled Dr. Daniel Rinaldi thriller series by Dennis Palumbo. Dr. Rinaldi is a Pittsburgh-based psychologist and police consultant with a few rough edges and a remorseless, deranged enemy. The combination is an...
Book Review: THE SEPTEMBER SOCIETY by Charles Finch
THE SEPTEMBER SOCIETY by Charles Finch THE SEPTEMBER SOCIETY is one of the early novels in the Charles Lenox historical mystery series, which is my new obsession. Imagine Victorian London through the eyes of an upper-class private detective, with great descriptions,...
Book Review: DEL RIO by Jane Rosenthal
DEL RIO by Jane Rosenthal Jane Rosenthal joins the small but vital community of authors using fiction to reveal the complexity and heartbreak of the US-Mexico relationship. DEL RIO confronts the issues of human trafficking and migrant labor and delivers a compelling...
Book review: ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE by Louise Penny
ALL THE DEVILS ARE HERE by Louise Penny An entry in the Gamache mystery series that doesn't take place in Three Pines? What is the world coming to?? Paris. The premise Armand Gamache is once again head of Homicide for the Sureté de Quebec. He is on vacation in Paris...
Inside my CIA Career: Parting Words
I had a retirement photo opportunity with then-CIA Director John Brennan. He greeted me with a CIA keepsake coin and a firm handshake. We posed for the photographer and chatted for a minute about favorite assignments over my 30 year career. He asked me what I...
Inside my CIA Career: The Point of It All
Before retiring, I took a seminar about transitioning to the private sector. All the students were fellow CIA intelligence officers. At one point, somebody raised a hand and said what everybody was thinking: “I’ve been an intelligence officer my entire professional...
Inside my CIA Career: Variety and the Spice of Life
What did I do? Whenever I’m asked, “What did you do in the CIA?” I’m a bit stuck. There’s no good snappy answer. I did a variety of things, many of which can't be defined in layman's terms. One of the reasons for such a varied career was that I was balancing work and...
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