Craig McDonald

Crime Novelist

Craig McDonald, author of El Gavilan, is an Edgar®-nominee and an award-winning journalist, editor and fiction writer. His short fiction has appeared in literary magazines, anthologies and several online crime fiction sites. His debut novel, Head Games, was published by Bleak House Books in September 2007. Head Games was selected as a 2008 Edgar®-nominee for Best First Novel by an American Author. Head Games was also a finalist for the Anthony, Gumshoe and Crimespree Magazineawards for best first novel. His nonfiction books include Art in the Blood, a collection of interviews with 20 major crime authors which appeared in 2006, and Rogue Males: Conversations and Confrontations About the Writing Life, a second collection of interviews published by Bleak House Books in 2009. McDonald was also a contributor to the NYT's nonfiction bestseller, Secrets of the Code. He recently won national awards for his profiles of crime novelists James Crumley, Daniel Woodrell, James Sallis and Elmore Leonard. His new novel, El Gavilan, is available from Tyrus Books.

For more information visit http://www.craigmcdonaldbooks.com, and follow the author on Facebook and Twitter.

Culture & Religion

The Devil’s Highway: Truth and Consequences Across the Borderline

The issue of illegal immigration is heating up again as November’s presidential decision looms. A fresh wave of political rhetoric along both sides of the aisle — mostly disingenuous assertions calculated to woo a perceived, as-yet-undedicated pool of potential new voters — is picking up pace, left and right. All that speechifying will further ratchet up racial tensions. Over-the-top cartel bloodletting along both sides of the border is just more fuel sprayed on that crazy fire.