Author Archives: Richard Cass

About Richard Cass

Dick is the author of the Elder Darrow Jazz Mystery series, the story of an alcoholic who walks into a dive bar in Boston . . . and buys it. Solo Act was a Finalist for the Maine Literary Award in Crime Fiction in 2017 and In Solo Time won the award in 2018. The third book in the series, Burton's Solo, came out in November, 2018. Dick serves on the Board of the Mystery Writers of America's New England chapter and lives and writes in Cape Elizabeth.

Serendipity Rules

Posted on May 3, 2019

Many decades ago, as a young freshman at a small liberal arts college in Maine that shall go herein unnamed, I was cautioned by the then-president, named after a Confederate general, to practice the art of serendipity. His advice? Go … Continue reading →

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Fall Down Nine Times, Get Up Ten

Posted on April 2, 2019

Or, if as happened earlier this month on my second outdoor walk of the spring, fall down once on an icy patch in the shade on Charles Jordan Road, get up, and don’t fall down again. But falling down—failing—is so … Continue reading →

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Where We’ve Been is Where We Are

Posted on March 4, 2019

I’ve been lucky enough to live in some beautiful places: the Oregon Coast, the Connecticut River Valley, the Rockies and the Cascades, and though I always knew I’d come back to New England eventually, I wasn’t always sure which part. … Continue reading →

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Hold My Mail!

Posted on February 4, 2019

I do wish the bhastids wouldn’t start sending them out in January. But I’ll get to that in a minute. We’ve had a slow month post-holidays chez Cass. I’ve been rehabbing from a hip injury and working my way through … Continue reading →

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Crime Writing and the Grandmaster

Posted on January 4, 2019

Going to go a little inside baseball on this topic, but when something wakes me up in the middle of the night, I know it’s something I need to write about. And since I have no facility at all for … Continue reading →

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Back Spasms, Walter Mosley, and the Meaning of Ort

Posted on December 6, 2018

Dick here, slowly clawing my way back to health from a nasty stretch of back spasms, the kind of mystery tweaks that appear without warning, where you’re standing at the kitchen counter chopping garlics and you reach for the bottle … Continue reading →

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Why We Do It (Besides the Money)

Posted on November 5, 2018

Dick here, prepping madly for the launch of Burton’s Solo on Wednesday, November 7, 2018 at Longfellow Books in Portland. 7:00 PM. Actually not prepping too madly because the book has been dribbling out into the universe over the past … Continue reading →

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