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Ted and Gloria

 

Ted and Gloria Feit

Gloria and Ted Feit are a husband and wife team of reviewers and they decided to be interviewed together. If you recognize their names, I’m not surprised because their reviews turn up all over the place. Spinetingler, I Love A Mystery, Dorothy L, Amazon and others feature their mystery reviews.

On their first blind date, Ted showed up with a Dick Francis under his arm and that was about all it took for Gloria. Engaged in a month and married within six, this husband and wife will never run out of things to talk about as long as there are books.

And for that we can all be grateful.

What really gets you interested in a mystery?

Characters who you can believe [or want to believe] exist, with realistic

dialogue, good plotting, good pacing that keeps you turning the pages. In other

words, a well-told story that keeps moving forward without delay, but with

enough diversions to keep your mind engaged.

What bores the hell out of you?

Wooden characters whose dialogue would never take place in real

life, unrealistic plotting. Badly written novels, with outlandish situations and

characters.

What clichés would you really like to see go away?

Copycat plots, characters and situations that have been done thousands of

times.

What topics, themes, etc. would you like to see moreof in mysteries?

Most are currently being done well, but the Scandinavians certainly have

come up with a lot of twists.

What mistakes do you think authors make?

Take the reader for a nincompoop, giving no credit for any intelligence.

Do you write? Would you like to?

Neither of us has aspirations as a writer. Gloria’s only writing in the past

has been in the nature of legal correspondence and briefs. Ted has had a great

deal of experience writing, but not fiction, essentially business reports, press

releases and the like, having been an editor of daily, weekly and monthly

publications, as well as a public relations professional.

Who are your favorites?

This is a long list there are so many! For one or the other, but most often

both, of us: Michael Connelly;John Connolly; Henning Mankell; S. J. Rozan;

Steve Hamilton; Val McDermid; JoNesbo; Ian Rankin; Gayle Lynds; Peter Robinson;

the aforementioned Dick Francis; Alafair Burke; James Lee Burke; Peter James;

Stephen White; Julia Spencer-Fleming; Mark Billingham; G. M. Ford; Robert B.

Parker; Asa Larsson;George Pelecanos; John Harvey; Linda Fairstein; Denise Mina;

James Sallis;Frank Tallis; Wm. Kent Krueger; Stuart MacBride; Barry Eisler; Lee

Child;Arnaldue Indridason; Barbara Seranella; Laura Lippman; Robert Crais;

CynthiaHarrod-Eagles; and others I’m sure we’ve left out, of equal talent and

ability, whose work we love.

Why did you become reviewers?

Kind of a natural progression after Gloria became a DorothyL list member,

and it sort of took on a life of its own after a short while. If either of us

really hates a book, but can find something good to say about it, we will review

and point out the negatives and the positives. If there are none of the latter, we

feel we’re not doing anyone a favor by writing a review if by somewhere between pages

50 and 100 we just can’t find any redeeming features.

For more Reviewing the Reviewers click here.