A Title Can Be a Clue, an Omen, and a Confession

A title can be a clue, an omen, and a confession.

"A Murder of Crows" had to carry all three.

First, "murder" is the collective noun for crows: a curious phrase with the weight of a folk tale. Then there is the bird itself: watchful, intelligent, and steeped in Southern folklore as a sign of death, memory, and what refuses to remain buried.

And finally, there is the crime.

In the novel, a grieving killer stages murders like stolen works of art, turning each scene into an act of vengeance for an erased Black artist. The title gathers those threads into one dark knot: the flock, the omen, and the murders at the heart of the investigation.

Some titles describe a story. The right title casts a shadow over it.

When you read a crime novel, do you look for meaning in the title before the first chapter — or only after the final page?