Debra Goldstein

Words are the instruments with which writers ply their trade. On good days, the work seems to magically flow in an unending stream. On others, a writer may lean on a dictionary or thesaurus in search of a perfect word to set the tone, or describe a character, or ensure that the language reflects the

Has an older relative ever told you an old family story that surprised you? Or perhaps you’ve stumbled (hopefully not literally) over an item at a flea market and wondered what it was ever used for? Or maybe you have happened on a historical marker that gave you peek into previously unknown events of the

Many crime fiction protagonists don’t have to take care of anyone except themselves. They are single, divorced, or widowed. Some are young and haven’t found anyone to start a family with. Others are older, or jaded, or have lost what family they had.  Being single makes the sleuthing life of an amateur – or a

Did you know “Mystery”, the genre we all know and love, wasn’t a genre in the early 1800s?  There was romance (which did not mean what it does today) and horror (which does mean what it does today), history, and biographies, but no Mystery. In addition to writing full-length mysteries, including my current release Guilty

People often ask me where I get my ideas for my books. A lot of my ideas come from real life. Yes, I write murder mysteries, but that doesn’t mean that I have been involved with murders. Sometimes a building or a house will spark my imagination. One of those buildings is a stone mansion

Why is “Murder She Wrote” set in Cabot Cove, Maine? Probably first and foremost because the creators of the popular series wanted a charming backdrop that provided a plausible home for a retired teacher/mystery author turned amateur sleuth. And the small tight-knit community meant Jessica Fletcher had access to everyone and everything she needed to

“Relax,” said the librarian in the history department at the Los Angeles Public Library. “If you can’t find it, probably no one else can.” Probably. Hmmmmm. Probably doesn’t mean won’t, and knowing my luck, some self-important blowhard is going to find some uber obscure factoid that I missed in my latest historical mystery and work

Four million books entered the marketplace worldwide last year, and at least some of them entered their path to publication via a query letter, addressed to either a literary agent or a publisher.  A strong query letter can push your manuscript farther up in the slush pile. Considering that agents receive thousands of queries each

In 2018, I wrote my first mystery novel, MURDER IN THE ONE PERCENT. In the months after the book launched, I took it on a whirlwind tour of ten U.S. cities, where I met with people at bookstores, libraries, museums, and private homes. One of those cities was Chicago, where I had lived for several