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    Mystery Publishers

    • Academy Chicago Publishers
      An imprint of the Chicago Review Press. Features a number of interesting authors, most long out of print, plus some other odds and ends, including some horror stories by Conan Doyle.
    • Crippen & Landru
      Crippen & Landru publish mystery short story collections. Of particular interest is what they call "Lost Classics," a series of anthologies of mostly uncollected stories by authors who might be enjoyed by a new generation of readers.
    • Dean Street Press
      This small British publisher has a great many classic crime books in its much broader catalog. They are bringing back many Golden Age classics by authors who deserve another chance at a new audience.
    • Felony & Mayhem
      This publisher specializes in classic mysteries, broadly defined, including newer mysteries that adhere to classic standards. They have just overhauled their website to make it much more informative and user-friendly.
    • Locked Room International
      A small press, specializing in very good English-language translations of (so far) mostly-French authors of locked room and impossible crime stories. They publish in Print-On-Demand and electronic editions.
    • Merion Press
      The Merion Press is an independent publisher of out-of-print works that were originally published over 75 years ago, but are enduring even today.
    • MysteriousPress.com
      The brainchild of editor/anthologist/author/bookstore-owner Otto Penzler, the Mysterious Press has recently returned to life and now works with Open Road Media as an electronic book publisher. It is already republishing the work of a lot of classic authors, with more books on the way.
    • Oconee Spirit Press
      A small, independent publisher committed to publishing "lively fiction, and provocative non-fiction." Most of their list covers early works by established authors writing traditional mysteries, such as Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron.
    • Oleander Press
      This small eclectic British publisher has begun publishing a series of classic British mystery novels, primarily from the Golden Age. The series is grouped into a section of their catalogue named "London Bound," as the books are set in London.
    • Ostara Publishing
      "Ostara Publishing re-issues titles that have unjustifiably become unavailable either through the ravages of time or the forces of publishing economics. We specialise in Crime and Thriller fiction titles and our range goes from the1920s through to the 21st century. We publish thematically and currently have six series available. All our titles are published in a 'trade paperback' format and printed to order."
    • Poisoned Pen Press
      Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Poisoned Pen Press publishes a fairly wide variety of mysteries. Some are reprints; many are new, by newer authors. Their website has a great deal of information about their books and authors.

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    « Raising Cain | Main | Banned Books »

    September 23, 2011

    Definitions

    All of us have read many, many book reviews (including, I fear, the ones published here) which contain certain buzzwords. These are words used by the publishing industry, blurb writers and reviewers to provide more-or-less useful guides to a book's content and/or style. But in order to understand them properly, it is essential to know their definitions - what the words really mean.

    In that spirit, I call your attention to a most helpful post at One-Minute Book Reviews called "40 Publishing Buzzwords, Clichés and Euphemisms Decoded." Yeah, that's the word - "helpful."

    I think she's nailed it. Ouch.

    Hat tip: Patrick Ohl of "At the Scene of the Crime."

    Posted at 10:46 AM in General Suggestions |

    Tags: book reviews, buzzwords, cliches, humor

    Comments

    Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

    Alex Baugh

    I love the list - it was the laugh I needed on this dreary rainy morning. Thanks, Les.

    Posted by: Alex Baugh | September 24, 2011 at 08:15 AM

    Les Blatt

    Glad you enjoyed it, Alex. A lot of those look awfully familiar, don't they!

    Posted by: Les Blatt | September 26, 2011 at 09:16 AM

    Bill

    Here I thought "frothy romp" was something they sold at Starbucks. Silly me.

    Posted by: Bill | September 26, 2011 at 04:53 PM

    Les Blatt

    You may be right, Bill...

    Posted by: Les Blatt | September 26, 2011 at 05:59 PM

    The comments to this entry are closed.

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      That means that if you order anything from Amazon through a link from my site I get a small commission. As a result, I'd consider it a favor if you would consider making your purchases through my links. As always, though, if you have a local mystery book store, I encourage you to use them as your first choice. For anything else...thank you.

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