RARA-AVIS: Re: Critic's again....

Kevin Smith (kvnsmith@colba.net)
Tue, 6 Apr 1999 12:18:56 -0400 >Interesting that no one, so far, has
>mentioned any of the "major" weekly or monthly news or opinion/cultural
>magazines as having regular reviewers of mystery fiction that you would
>trust.

Hmmm....I guess because most of them only mention mysteries in passing,
usually to tie-in with some film adaptation, or a big advertising budget.
But both THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEWS' Marilyn Stasio, and Canada's THE
GLOBE AND MAIL's Margaret Cannon are pretty dependable reviewers, with
bi-weekly mystery columns, who do brief, but generally well-informed,
reviews. Certainly not the last word in in-depth mystery or crime fiction
criticism, but good opening shots, I think, or at least ones I've come to
trust, if I may be so uncool as to actually admit I read reviews. And they
don't live or die by hyperbole; one of the chief shortcomings of much genre
criticism.

Kevin Smith
The Thrilling Detective Web Site
http://www.colba.net/~kvnsmith/thrillingdetective/

Now out: The Spring Break issue, with fiction from Robert Iles and Leigh
Brackett,
and FACE THE FACE, our new contest for fans of paperback eyes. Win a copy
of THE BIG BOOK OF NOIR!

#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.