I mentioned a few weeks ago that I am now an official contributor to the mystery writers blog, Sleuthsayers, posting every three weeks.

My latest post is about an unusual anecdote that appears toward the beginning of the great mystery novel, The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiell Hammett.

While detective Sam Spade is hanging out alone with the femme fatale, he begins telling her about a missing persons case he worked back in the day.

Most readers have always wondered about the so-called Flitcraft Parable because it comes out of left field and seems to portend deeper meaning. I’ve written about it on my blog before, but my 2020 take—complete with Covid-19 references—is live at Sleuthsayers today. Please check it out, if you’re so inclined.

The link to the blog post is here.

Feel free to bookmark Sleuthsayers. The next post will be in three weeks.

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If you’re looking for reading material during this time, I hope you’ll consider one of my books or my wife’s. If ever there was a time for escapism it’s now!

The e-book versions of both of my two most recent books, Murder on Book Row and the fantasy novel, Sorceress Kringle, are available at almost every online retailer. You can order print copies at the usual suspects online, or autographed copies from Malaprop’s, the bookstore in my nabe.

Book “collage” photo credit: Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash