Taking his turn: Kevin Burton Smith

If you’re at all a fan of PI fiction and didn’t suddenly crawl under a rock in the last few years, it’s a very good bet you know of Kevin Burton Smith. His love of all things PI first found at home at Thrilling Detective, still going strong over several years later. It later spread to a contributing editor gig at January Magazine and an ongoing column with Mystery Scene, but he’s not a one-note guy by any means. Over at Crime Spree he combines crime fiction with his other love, music, in his “Reel on .45” column that he’s just begun. And chances are you’ve probably found him on a mailing list or few – sometimes genial, often thought-provoking and never boring.

Oh, and he’s a fellow Canadian expat, too, though our views of Montreal don’t overlap completely, considering I was only there to be a student type and he was, well, born and raised there.

Truth is, he really should have been blogging ages ago, but I’m glad to give him the opportunity to do so today.