Matt Beynon Rees's Blog
RSS
Dec.22.2011
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...
Continue Reading »
Dec.15.2011
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 anything, whether it...
Continue Reading »
Dec.02.2011
I am, as they say back in the UK, chuffed as hell that Mystery Scene magazine gives my new novel an absolutely terrific review. Reviewer Sue Emmons says MOZART'S LAST ARIA deserves "a resounding bravo." Sue also calls it "beautifully written and diligently researched. Rees makes the musical realm...
Continue Reading »
Dec.01.2011
I happened to read a few crappy books in a row of late. So I did what I always do when I can’t afford for the next book I get into to disappoint: I re-read a Raymond Chandler.
I picked “The Long Goodbye” off the shelf, because it’s my favorite. From the very first page, where Marlowe finds Terry...
Continue Reading »
Nov.29.2011
On the Wall Street Journal's Speakeasy arts blog, I've written a piece about why artistic attention is finally being paid to Nannerl Mozart, sister of the great composer and an important musical figure who was denied "greatness" because of her sex. I'm referring to the new French movie "Mozart's...
Continue Reading »
Nov.29.2011
Marshal Zeringue's Campaign for the American reader continues with an invitation for me to speculate about which actress ought to play the lead in a movie version of my new historical crime novel MOZART'S LAST ARIA. (It's speculation for now, because movie deals take a long time coming...) Here's...
Continue Reading »
Nov.17.2011
I'm a crime fiction writer. So I ought to shoot straight. Here it is: there are lots of crappy detective novels out there. Which is why I say thank God for Arkady Renko.
The hero of Martin Cruz Smith’s excellent series set in the Soviet Union and, later, Russia (with stops in Cuba, Ukraine, Germany...
Continue Reading »
Nov.04.2011
In my novel MOZART'S LAST ARIA, the great composer's sister Nannerl sings an aria written by her brother. The aria, Vorrei spiegarvi, is about a woman who tells her lover to return to his fiancee, despite the pain this causes her. It's a key moment in the book and I decided to write this rock...
Continue Reading »
Nov.02.2011
My new novel MOZART'S LAST ARIA is out this week in the US, published by HarperCollins. The book has earned terrific reviews from top writers like Tess Gerritsen, who says it's a "fascinating historical mystery. A perfect read." NPR compares it to The Da Vinci Code, and Kirkus Reviews says it "will...
Continue Reading »
Oct.07.2011
My latest podcast is a guided meditation for writers. Sit or lie down and listen to it. Do what I suggest in the podcast, and you’ll be meditating. I’ve used meditation techniques to help my concentration and to build my creativity in writing my award-winning crime fiction and historical novels. I’...
Continue Reading »
Sep.22.2011
Whenever a novelist’s biography tells me that he’s “working on a screenplay,” my heart falls. I feel pity for the poor fellow who’s no doubt heading for disappointment (most scripts don’t get made) and for the novel, which exerts such a lesser lure than the glamour of the movies that a perfectly...
Continue Reading »
Sep.08.2011
Thriller titles often seem designed to confuse prospective readers. Pick up a book by a well-known author, read the title which is something like “Better Off Dead,” and you’re likely to think: “Did I already read that one?
It seems to me titles in the thriller world have moved away from any kind of...
Continue Reading »
Sep.02.2011
Eleanor Roosevelt said that no one can make you feel bad, except yourself. I live by that rule. Particularly when it comes to reviews. And double-particularly when it comes to online reviews.
A recent Cornell University study found that 85 percent of amazon.com’s “top reviewers” had received free...
Continue Reading »
2 comments
Sep.01.2011
My latest podcast gives away all the secrets of the professional writer's trade. This follows previous podcasts about researching, structuring and plotting your book. Download my other podcasts here.
Continue Reading »
Aug.25.2011
British Prime Minister David Cameron recently invited Tracey Emin, a purveyor of work which is shit even by the standards of contemporary art, to produce something – they probably call it “an installation” – for Number 10, Downing Street.
Emin, who won the Turner Prize for exhibiting her own used-...
Continue Reading »
About Matt Beynon
Matt Beynon Rees is an award-winning crime novelist who lives in Jerusalem. Major authors have compared him to Graham Greene and John Le Carre. The French magazine L'Express called him "the Dashiell Hammett of the Middle East." Born in Wales, Rees...
Connections
Matt Beynon is a fan of
