Ten Years of the Venetian Vase
Ten years ago this week Chris Routledge and I began the Venetian Vase blog. At the time we were working together on the book 100 American Crime Writers, and Chris thought we should set up a website to either directly promote the book or one that would look at crime fiction more broadly. I favoured the latter option as I thought it would give the site more longevity. Chris has since moved on to his own projects, but I remain eternally grateful to him for helping me set up this blog and, as a Raymond Chandler fanatic, coming up with the name.
It took some time, and a lot of hard work, but I think the Venetian Vase found its voice as a blog which publishes in-depth research on genre fiction. Oh, and if you enjoy the work of James Ellroy then this is the blog for you.
I owe a big debt of gratitude to everyone who has contributed to this blog – Diana Powell, David Hering, Chris Pak, Steve Hodel, Craig McDonald and, most recently, esteemed Ellrovian Jason Carter.
Thank you to all past, present and future readers, and a big thank you to the Demon Dog of American Crime Fiction.
Here’s to the next ten years.

When I interviewed Ellroy at his home in LA in 2009, the year I started the blog

Meeting Ellroy ten years later in Manchester 2019, while he was on tour promoting THIS STORM
Congratulations of ten years of blogging Steve. Keep up the good work.
Thanks Steve. Great to hear from you.