Chapter One In my dreams, the dead can speak. They call to me, in whispers and murmurs, and I greet them by name, like old friends. Tommy and little Andrew. They seem to smile in return but this is merely my imagination; I have no way of knowing what their smiles looked like. I’ve seen…
Though it has been over four hundred years since William Shakespeare’s death, his works continue to inspire new generations of authors. There’s just something about the Bard, isn’t there? The tragic love of Romeo and Juliet, the darkness of King Lear’s psyche . . . Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets are rife with possibilities for retelling…
Shatter the Night by Emily Littlejohn is an enthralling, atmospheric novel and the fourth book in the Detective Gemma Monroe series—take a visual tour with GIFnotes! It’s Halloween night in Cedar Valley. During the town’s annual festival, Detective Gemma Monroe takes a break from trick or treating with her family to visit an old family…
What would you do if your life started mirroring that of your character? If you’re a horror author, you might freak out. Romance novelists, on the other hand, might find it exciting and sexy. But I’m a mystery writer, which leads me to believe that the most appealing mysteries are those grounded in reality. Let…
Lost Lake by Emily Littlejohn, the third mystery featuring Colorado police officer Gemma Monroe, follows the investigation of a woman who went missing while camping. On a bright Saturday in early spring, Detective Gemma Monroe responds to a missing person call at Lost Lake, near the small town of Cedar Valley, Colorado. With its sapphire…
A Season to Lie by Emily Littlejohn is the second Detective Gemma Monroe novel, where a twisted killer stalks his prey in the dead of winter. Read Emily Littlejohn's guest post about using weather to enhance setting & learn how to win a copy of A Season to Lie! It’s winter in the Rockies. Add…
Every Wednesday, we here at Criminal Element will put together a list of Staff Picks of the books that published the day before—sharing the ones that we are looking forward to reading the most! This week, Andy Weir's latest space thriller and a new Molly Murphy mystery from Rhys Bowen highlight an awesome week of…
Read Emily Littlejohn's guest post about using weather events to enhance setting, then make sure you're signed in and comment below for a chance to win a copy of her second Detective Gemma Monroe novel, A Season to Lie! “It was a dark and stormy night…” Though it is much parodied and oft-mocked, aspiring mystery…
What do you do when you're investigating a killer in the dead of winter? Warm up with this week's Pick Your Poison—where we create a cocktail inspired by a recently published mystery, thriller, or crime novel—the “A Season for Rye” cocktail, inspired by Emily Littlejohn's second Detective Gemma Monroe novel, A Season to Lie!
A Season to Lie by Emily Littlejohn is the second Detective Gemma Monroe novel, where a twisted killer stalks his prey in the dead of winter (available November 14, 2017). On a cold dark night in February, as a blizzard shrieks through Cedar Valley, police officer and new mother Gemma Monroe responds to an anonymous…
