You Have the Right to Six Words - Take 2!

It's Wednesday and time for more six-word memoirs from crime fiction's greatest writers. And you came to read the memoirs, not my rambling, so let's not waste any time.

Lisa Unger was my guest blogger yesterday for the release of her book DIE FOR YOU. In honor of that release, we'll start with recapping Lisa's six-word memoir from her July 2008 interview. Lisa is the best selling author of BEAUTIFUL LIES, SLIVER OF TRUTH, and BLACK OUT. Lisa's lived all over the world but now calls Florida home with her husband and daughter, Ocean. And all of her experiences lead her to this memoir:

Better than I could have imagined.

I'm still in awe of the fact that in August I interviewed the Scientific Director of the Department of Defense Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, Dr. Thomas Holland. Tom is also the author of the Kel McKelvey novels. Kel is the the Scientific Director of the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory, Hawaii (CILHI). He helps in identifying the remains of Americans from foreign wars. Both ONE DROP OF BLOOD and K.I.A. were on my list of top reads of 2008 for their dynamic characters, engaging plots and plot twists, and especially for their humor. Tom's sense of humor makes his memoir very fitting:

There should've been a goon squad.

As I type, remembering these two interviews, I have a smile on my face. What fun I had with these writers. If you didn't have a chance to see their interviews, I encourage you to take a gander back. In the mean time, let's add some more fun with two new memoirs.

John Lescroart (pronounced "less-kwah") is the best-selling author of the Dismas Hardy legal thriller series. His books have been translated into 16 languages in 75 countries. John waited fourteen years to submit his first manuscript, and then he did so at the urging of his wife. Within six weeks, he had two publishing offers for SUNBURN. While holding down a job as a word processing supervisor at a California law firm, John continued to write until he had a life-threatening scare of spinal meningitis that convinced him to quit his day job and work at writing full time. John Lescroart has published 19 novels with number 20, A PLAGUE OF SECRETS, set to release June 30th. With a life full of experiences like this, it's no wonder his six-word memoir is:

Married well. Loved my kids. Wrote.

Recently I had the pleasure of meeting the fourth author of today's six-word memoirs. Craig McDonald is the author of HEAD GAMES, which was nominated for both a Gumshoe and an Edgar Award in the category of Best First Novel AND was a Anthony Award finalist AND was short listed for a Crimespree Magazine Best First Novel award. But that simply isn't enough for Craig. He's also an award-winning journalist and written some non-fiction in addition to his most recently published novel, TOROS AND TORSOS. It's a no wonder that Laura Lippman says Craig is "wily, talented and—rarest of the rare—a true original." It's also no wonder that Craig's six-word memoir is

Born to write; writing to live.

Wow! Four more amazing crime fiction writers. I think I'm making it hard to keep up the quality...naaaaaaaaaaaa! We still have more amazing writers to hear from, so I'll see you back here. Same time, same place! You can come back before then, but we'll talk memoirs again next Wednesday. So glad you stopped today!

Happy Reading!