The Man of Twists and Turns

Writers usually decide to be writers before they know what they might write about. In my case, a journey from teenage isolation in Britain to the violence of the Middle East led me to the elements of my fiction which could be true — not just based on reality, but in the sense that they [...]

As an award-winning crime writer, I’ve studied the greats of the genre and lectured about how they do what they do. Here I take my three favorite openings to crime novels — “Red Harvest” by Dashiell Hammett, “The Little Sister” by Raymond Chandler, and “The Saint-Fiacre Affair” by Georges Simenon — and examine what makes [...]

It’s hard to tell them apart, Wolfgang Mozart and the great composer’s sister Nannerl. Both had prominent noses, mischievous eyes, and a certain naiveté to their gaze. But there was a difference. Nannerl was a girl, and that decided which of these fabulous musical talents would be remembered. Until now. My novel MOZART’S LAST ARIA [...]

I’ve a guest post on the Fresh Fiction blog and also there’s an interview with me on the CBS columnist Jeff Glor’s blog about my new novel Mozart’s Last Aria. Read the Fresh Fiction post to find out why I don’t think Mozart was an idiot. Read the CBS post to see why I think [...]

I’m writing this in a plain office in the corner of a building that was described by the realtor as “exclusive,” though it doesn’t exclude despondent ultra-Orthodox Jews panhandling for cash, plumbers who break all the pipes you hadn’t called them to fix, or the cheerful lady who lets her dog pee in the elevator. [...]

A very nice review of my new novel Mozart’s Last Aria on Bookreporter.com has this to say, among other amusing and insightful observations: Music is notoriously difficult to capture in prose; Matt Rees tries valiantly, elegantly, and for the most part successfully to do justice to a composer who is regarded — and not just [...]

If you have a lot of time to waste, you never judge a book by its cover. But don’t try telling me you don’t judge it by its first paragraph. What makes a great first paragraph? And which are the greatest? We all have favorites, some of which have become clichéd –– as happens to [...]

My new novel Mozart’s Last Aria has two great reviews on the blogs Reading Lark and Life in the Thumb. I’m delighted because these are the places readers go these days to find out what’s hot. It’s a sign of growing word-of-mouth for the novel. Reading Lark gives it an “I Love It” tag and [...]

My son Cai has completed the draw for the winners of my MOZART’S LAST ARIA book giveaway. As predicted, Cai’s name was the first out of the hat (which took some organizing, I’ll tell you), but he agreed to forgo a copy of my novel so long as I let him watch Charlie and Lola [...]

My pal detective novelist B.R. Stateham features an interview with me on his blog In the Dark Mind of B.R. Stateham. He asked some very interesting questions about how a writer does what he does. I hope my answers are interesting too. The fabulous Campaign for the American Reader of Marshal Zeringue features me on [...]