You Have the Right to Six Words - Part VIII

Alright! Week 8 of "You Have the Right to Six Words"! This week we have another diverse group of power house crime fiction writers sharing their six-word memoirs with us. And this group reminds me of how many sub-sets of this genre exist. There is really something for everyone.

So let's start out with our interview recap. Diane A.S. Stuckart writes a historical crime fiction series with her Leonardo Da Vinci series, which includes THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT and PORTRAIT OF A LADY. PORTRAIT OF A LADY was released early this year and a third installment of the Leonardo Da Vinci series should be forthcoming in 2010. Diane is a born and bred Texan who was recently transplanted to Florida. Before writing historical mysteries, she wrote historical romance. This lady knows her history. She also knows ghosts. She is a founding member of the Gold Coast Paranormal Society that searches for ghosts in the South Florida area. Like me, Diane is a pet person. She has four dogs and two cats. And now that she's in Florida, she has to keep an eye on those gators. Diane is juggling an awful lot of balls in the air at any one time, so it should come as no surprise that her memoir is:

I've always wanted to try that.

We'll go from historical mystery to traditional mystery...well, sort of traditional. I don't know how traditional we can consider a tattoo artist. Karen Olson began her crime fiction writing career with the Annie Seymour Mysteries. SACRED COWS, the first book in this series centered around a police reporter, was nominated for a Gumshoe Award and won the Sarah Ann Freed Memorial Award. Last week, Karen released the first book in her new series, THE MISSING INK. With this book Karen has moved from police reporter in New Haven, Connecticut, to tattoo artist in Las Vegas, Nevada. As I said, I don't know if "traditional" fits Karen Olson! Karen started her career in advertising then moved on to writing policies and procedures for a securities and investigations company. These positions both preceded 20 years in journalism. While working a night-shift copy editor position, Karen started writing fiction. As easy as Karen makes it seem, she'll be the first to tell you that it's:

Not as easy as it seems.

From traditional mystery we can move on to the legal thriller. Ken Isaacson is a lawyer who completed his undergraduate degree at MIT, his law degree at Columbia, worked as an attorney on Wall Street and now is still practicing law as an in-house general counsel to an international transportation company - WHILE writing legal thrillers! And as if that wasn't enough to keep him busy, he's very active with the Mystery Writers of America, where he received the Silver Noose Award. His first book, SILENT COUNSEL, was released in 2007 to great reviews. And he's hard at work on book number two where he'll deviate from Scott Heller, his SILENT COUNSEL protagonist, to work with a young lawyer just out of law school. His second novel does not have a release date as of yet, but stay tuned! I'll keep you apprised. Ken is also an animal lover. He and his wife have a dog, Oakley, and four cats. Ken is also a proud father, step-father, and while I find this hard to believe, he's also a grandfather. Family is an important part of his life...and his memoir:

Son, brother, husband, father. Enjoying journey.

Today I'm going to wrap up the memoirs with one of the most recent Edgar award winners and an author of police procedurals, sort of. C.J. Box is the author of the award-winning Joe Pickett series. Joe isn't a police officer per se, but he is a trained, armed law enforcement official...a Wyoming game warden. C.J. is also the author of two stand-alone novels: BLUE HEAVEN, for which he won the 2008 Edgar award for best novel, and THREE WEEKS TO SAY GOODBYE. His most recent release, BELOW ZERO, continues the Joe Pickett series and was released in June of this year. Like his protagonist, C.J. also lives in Wyoming and is quite the outdoorsman. He's worked as a ranch hand, a surveyor, a fishing guide; he found his start in writing as a small town newspaper reporter and editor. Even his hobbies revolve around Wyoming's great out doors. He hunts, fishes, hikes and skis. When I asked C.J. for his six-word memoir, his response was:

He hoped he got it right.

Well, if he hasn't gotten it right, the man is pretty darned close! My most sincere thanks to all my special guests today: Diane A.S. Stuckart, Karen Olson, Ken Isaacson, and C.J. Box. It means a lot to me, and to everyone reading, that you took the time to share in the fun with us.

Each week I finish up this post and sit back in awe. I really am humbled that so many wonderfully talented writers have contributed to this project. It has turned out greater than my wildest dreams because of everyone's contribution, and especially all the folks who turn out to read it each week and make it the most popular element of this blog! Thank you everyone. And I'm not done! I still have plenty more to share with you. I hope you'll come back next week for Week 9 and see who hangs out with us then!

Happy Reading!