Building a Mystery: Four Writers on Crafting Crime Fiction

To celebrate the 2017 Edgar Awards for mystery writing, four crime novelists talk about what it takes to write stories that kill. Explore the dark alleyways of the publishing industry with this panel featuring (from left to right) Alex Segura, Lori Rader-Day, Julia Dahl, and Reed Farrel Coleman.

Reed Farrel Coleman has been called a “hard-boiled poet” by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan and the “noir poet laureate” in the Huffington Post. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Robert B. Parker’s “Jesse Stone” series.

Julia Dahl is a journalist specializing in crime and justice. Her first novel, “Invisible City,” was a finalist for the Edgar Award and was named one of the Boston Globe's Best Books of 2014.

Lori Rader-Day, author of “The Day I Died,” “The Black Hour,” and “Little Pretty Things,” is the recipient of the 2016 Mary Higgins Clark Award and the 2015 Anthony Award for Best First Novel. She lives in Chicago, where she is the president of the Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter.

Alex Segura is a novelist and comic book writer. He is the author of the Miami crime novels featuring Pete Fernandez, "Silent City," "Down the Darkest Street" and "Dangerous Ends," all via Polis Books.

Recorded April 26th, 2017