Monday Mystery Backlist and a GIVEAWAY!

Ordinarily I probably would not include THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO by Stieg Larsson in the Monday Mystery Backlist yet. It's first publication in the United States was September 16, 2008 - not quite a full year yet. But it is a translation for the original that was published in Sweden and copyrighted 2005.

THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a book that has been waiting in my TBR pile for some time now. I tried to talk my book club into reading it a couple times. They aren't a mystery book club, so they weren't as enamored with the idea as I was. But this book has received rave reviews all over the world, and has of course received additional attention due to the untimely death of Stieg Larsson.

Harriet Vanger disappeared 40 years ago, and the mystery of her disappearance was never solved. Her great uncle Henrik Vanger wants to know what happened to Harriet before he dies. So, he hires disgraced journalist Mikael Blomkvist and super hacker Lisbeth Salander to research and investigate the disappearance. In their attempt to find the answers about Harriet, the duo finds much, much more about the Vanger family and it's many secrets.

Lee Child calls THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO "as vivid as bloodstains on snow." And Harlan Coben says it's "so much more than a thriller, THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO is a dazzling novel of big ideas."

THE GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO is available from Alfred A. Knopf in hardcover (978-0-307-26975-1) and from Vintage in trade paper (978-0307454546).

O.k., revisiting this is convincing me that I have got to force this book into my reading schedule far earlier than where it is presently. But, if you're one of the smart cookies who read this first book already, then you may be interested in the reason I chose it for this week's Monday Mystery Backlist title. The fine folks at Random House were ever so generous as to provide me with a brand spankin' new hardcover copy of the second book in Stieg Larsson's trilogy, THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE, so I could give it away to a lucky reader! I also have some dragon tattoos to go along with this book.

So, if you've already read THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO or you need some added motivation to move it up higher on your to be read list, send me an email with your snail mail address and I will enter you in the drawing for THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE. Emails can be sent to forbyone (at) yahoo (dot) com and must be received by midnight (Eastern Time) September 12, 2009. Please enter "Fire" in your subject line so your email doesn't fall into spam never to be seen again. I can only accept entries from those with a U.S. snail mail address.

Good luck!!

A Weekly Roundup - and Input Requested

Wow! Where in the world did August go? It seems to have just zoomed by. The days are getting shorter again, which means the cold weather is just around the corner. I saw some leaves turning colors, and I was stopped by the school bus twice this past week on the way to work. It wouldn't be bad if the stop was ONCE, but no, it's about 5 times in less than 50 yards. The bus usually has 20-30 cars lined up behind it before it turns off that main road. I didn't miss the school buses over summer. Going to have to leave about 5 or 10 minutes earlier again so I can have a better shot at beating the bus now.

In book news, however! This was a fun week with another great six-word memoir round-up and a guest post on "Madcap Noir." And this week the visitor counter topped 19,000. That's amazing to me. After year #1 of Jen's Book Thoughts it hadn't quite hit 5,000. So, yes, I'm doing the requisite little happy dance over here in Lorain, Ohio. But there's fun stuff going on elsewhere that I'd like to tell you about, too.

My friend Corey over at The Drowning Machine has announced a crime fiction short story contest called "The Watery Grave Invitational". And he's rustled up some big time judges for this contest, too. So, all you writers make sure you hustle over to Corey's blog and find out the details to enter your short stories!

I know it may seem like a long way off, but the blog for Bouchercon 2011 in St. Louis is live now. I, of course, am already making plans for this one since Robert Crais will be one of the guests of honor! The hosts include David Thompson and Jon Jordan; I have a feeling it will be a hoppin' time in St. Louis Sept. 15-18, 2011!

I've started to hear rumblings about panel assignments for Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis, so if you've been assigned a panel, let me know so I can start making out my plan. Since this is my first B'Con, I'm a little obsessive! ;)

Also don't forget that Tim Hallinan is going to be in Westerville at FOUL PLAY Bookstore on September 23rd. I hope you'll make plans to come out if you are in the vicinity. I'll look forward to seeing you there!

This week has also been full of Book Blogger Appreciation Week work. I will again be participating in the blogger interview exchange, so I'm getting to work on that. I'm working on one of the award panels and that's keeping me busy. I submitted my links for my own award nominations. That was a killer! I appreciate all the input people gave me on what posts they most enjoyed. It helped me a lot; I discovered that trying to pick your favorite posts is like trying to pick your favorite child! Again, I thank all of you who submitted nominations for me. I'm not really expecting the nominations to turn into me being on all the short lists - there are a lot of great blogs nominated. It's an honor just to receive a nomination. Thank you.

Thanks also to everyone who voted for Hershey and Nestle in the Dog Days of Summer photo contest. Hershey managed to snag 2nd place and Nestle got 3rd. The two of them together actually had 50% of the votes. Maybe I should have found a picture of them together, huh? Literate Housewife, Jennifer, did an awesome job on coordinating the theme week. And she planted some seeds in my little brain as well.

And finally on tap for today is a question for you all. I've been doing author interviews for about a year now. I enjoy doing the interviews and hope to keep highlighting fun crime fiction writers for you. So, I'd like to know what kinds of questions you enjoy hearing responses for. A lot of the questions I develop have to do with my own curiosity. But what types of things are you curious about? Are there questions I seem to have stopped asking that you'd like me to fit back in? Are their questions I ask that you couldn't care less about? What peaks your interest? You can leave your responses in the comments section or you can always feel free to email me.

And I think that's about all I have for today. Hope your weekend is a great one, and happy reading!!

Bouchercon countdown: 47 days!!

Madcap Noir

Guest blogging today I have the husband (Roy) and wife (Alice) writing team of Allyson Roy. They have written two books now in a series that centers around sex therapist/amateur sleuth Saylor Oz. The first book in the series is called APHRODISIAC, followed by BABYDOLL which was released this summer. Roy has worked in stand-up comedy and Alice as a professional dancer. Today they are going to talk about their unique genre blend that they call:

Madcap Noir

In music it’s called a fusion genre -- the blending of two or more genres and not fitting squarely into any. Having spent years crossing over several areas of the arts, we like the idea of inclusion, of not being bound to rigid ideas of what a particular kind of book has to be. Of course this creates the risk factor of not meeting the expectations of certain readers -- and the challenge of branding our series without a traditional label.

So in trying to come up with a way to define our Saylor Oz crime adventures, we chose to name our style Madcap Noir.

Madcap because of the over-the-top comedy that dominates our storylines. For us it also conjures up images of reckless mishaps. And it seems to suit our protagonist, whose name, Oz, was chosen for its connection to the bizarre.

Yes we push the envelope. We like to. Our goal is to offer a fun ride, even if it means giving a little ground in the hard realism department. An exciting movie we really liked was Taken, starring Liam Neeson. Throughout, the hero always seemed to have just the right tools on hand at just the right time, no limit of funds, and within minutes he managed to single-handedly exterminate a building full of ruthless, Uzi-toting Albanian thugs without getting a scratch. And we loved it. Not that our female sleuth accomplishes anything that dynamic. In fact, she’s a warmhearted, game bumbler.

DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass), where our protagonist lives, has a beautiful noir atmosphere that makes it an ideal setting for a crime novel. Subway trains rumbling overhead along the underbelly of the bridge. The lights reflecting off the East River at night. The canyon-like feel of narrow, Belgian brick cobbled streets surrounded by giant, industrial-era warehouses. Yet this vintage waterfront setting is also a hybrid, where upscale art galleries and boutiques co-exist with one of the toughest boxing gyms in the world and housing projects only blocks away.

And what would a classic noir movie like Gilda be without the sexy elements? We mix a healthy dose of heat, hip characters and fun female perspective into the soup along with the darker ingredients of gritty, urban crime.

Fusion, hybrid, cross-genre, literary mutt . . . call it what you will. We like to call it Madcap Noir.

Thanks, Jen, for having us as guests today.

Alice & Roy / Allyson Roy

And thank you Alice and Roy for joining us today and taking the reigns here. There you have it folks, the birth of a hybrid genre - Madcap Noir.

You can read more about Alice and Roy - Allyson Roy at their website. You can also learn more about their virtual book tour at TLC Book Tours where they will be touring through September 10th. AND, Alice and Roy may just show up again here at Jen's Book Thoughts in the near future; you never can tell! ;)

Have a great weekend and Happy Reading!

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN - Garth Stein

Enzo is a special dog. He's insightful and observant and he's convinced that when he dies, his soul will be reborn as a man. But for the time being, Enzo is a dog; a character without opposable thumbs or a voice. He communicates with humans only through gestures. Enzo also happens to be the narrator of THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN.

As my friend Michael will tell you, Enzo adopted Denny Swift, an aspiring race-car driver; subsequently, he also adopted the family Denny built during Enzo's life: Denny's wife, Eve, and daughter, Zoe. Through the blessings and the tragedies of the Swift family's life, Enzo observes and he attempts to counsel and protect his family through his gestures.

My friends, family and regular readers of this blog know me to be a zealous dog-lover. I took to THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN immediately. While the logical part of my brain tells me this is fiction and Stein has projected human thought processes on Enzo, the passionate part of me wants to desperately clutch on to this charming notion of what dogs think. Since finishing the book, I even make more of an effort to interpret what my dogs try to tell me. Stein didn't have to convince me my dogs have souls; I believe that simply by looking in their eyes. And when I cried while reading this book, both dogs came over to reassure me and let me know everything was all right.

But Stein doesn't just have a lovable dog in this book. He intricately weaves in life lessons that parallel driving race cars. I'm not a fan of race car driving, but I found myself absolutely amazed at the parallels he developed throughout the plot. Enzo learns about cars and racing by watching the races on television and then he recognizes how the lessons to driving successfully apply to life as well. And many times those lessons make the reader laugh out loud.

Enzo is part lab, and like many dog breeds, the lab is known for its devotion to its family, its pack. Enzo exhibits that devotion as well. He's understanding and compassionate. The few times he is treated as anything less than royalty, he immediately forgives and moves on. While Eve is not consistently loving to Enzo, Enzo is at her side when she needs him most. And Enzo despises the forces that make any effort to act against his family. All of these qualities build Enzo as a dimensional character.

I mentioned that I cried while reading this book. I typically stay far away from any book I know will result in my crying. But the experience of reading this book was worth the painful part, and given the chance to go back, I'd still recommend it to my book club and I'd still read it with as much passion as the first time around. It was a reminder to me of how big a role man's best friend can play in our lives and us in theirs. I highly recommend THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN by Garth Stein.

My review of THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is part of The Literate Housewife's themed week "The Dog Days of Summer." You can check out her review of the book as well as find links to other reviews at her blog. Remember also that Hershey and Nestle (my Enzos) are still competing in her Dog Days of Summer photo contest. They can use your votes!

THE ART OF RACING IN THE RAIN is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0061537936) from HarperCollins and trade paper (ISBN: 978-0061537967) from Harper Paperbacks.

You Have the Right to Six Words - WEEK 14

Week Fourteen! Just when you thought I surely must be running out of interesting crime fiction writers to highlight, right? Well, do I have a treat for you! This week's group of writers take us all over the map in their books, their travels, their schooling, their homes. We cover England, France, Ireland, Australia and more. Let's visit the world, shall we?

When Cara Black's son started kindergarten, Cara started writing classes. The writing classes lead to a writing group and the writing group ultimately lead to her debut mystery novel, MURDER IN THE MARAIS, an Anthony Award nomination and a Macavity Award nomination. Having some extensive knowledge of France from attending schools in France, but not BEING French, Cara created Aimee Leduc, her heroine who is half French, half American. Cara also wanted to capture the "salt of the earth" people in France, the folks "you sit next to on the metro." And these characters have translated into nine successful novels. Cara's most recent Aimee Leduc novel, MURDER IN THE LATIN QUARTER, was released this year and book number 10 of the series, MURDER IN THE PALAIS ROYAL, is due in 2010. Like her heroine, Cara likes dogs and use to own a moped. She can also be found taking black and white photos when she isn't writing. Cara and her family call San Francisco home, but

Heaven - Paris at dawn, coffee, croissant.

Adrian McKinty was raised in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland and attended Oxford University before emigrating to the United States. Living in Harlem, he worked in bars, bookstores, building sites and the stacks of the Columbia University Medical School Library until 2000 when he moved to Denver and focused his energies on writing. His efforts paid off in spades when his first book DEAD I WELL MAY BE was shortlisted for an Ian Fleming Steel Daggar Award and was chosen as one of Booklists' 10 best crime novels of 2004.

Last year Adrian took his family on yet another journey. Lately they find themselves in the land down under. But Australia seems to be fairing equally well for the man Ken Bruen calls "a friggin genius" and Frank McCourt called "a cross between Mickey Spillane and Damon Runyan, the toughest, the best." This year Adrian released the novel FIFTY GRAND to much acclaim and is working on a young adult novel, tentatively titled DARK ENERGY.

And I have to admit that ever since Adrian sent his memoir, I have been itching to share it with you. It is one of the most poignant of the entire series (in my opinion anyway):

stillness, iceberg,
crash,
listing, sinking, stillness

Doesn't that just send chills up your spine? I know you all are looking his books up on Amazon or the library now!

As a pediatric ER doctor, CJ Lyons has lived the life she writes about in her cutting edge suspense novels. She has assisted police and prosecutors with cases involving child abuse, rape, homicide and Munchausen by Proxy and has worked in numerous trauma centers, as a crisis counselor, victim advocate, as well as a flight physician for Life Flight. CJ credits her patients and their families for teaching her the art of medicine and giving her the courage to pursue her dream of becoming a novelist.

CJ calls her novels "thrillers with heart;" the first of which is titled LIFELINES. LIFELINES was released in 2008, became a National Bestseller and won a Reader's Choice Award for Best First Novel. Her second novel, WARNING SIGNS, was published in January of this year and the third, URGENT CARE, is scheduled for release this November. I look forward to Mondays when I can indulge in small snippets of writing from CJ as she blogs for 7 Criminal Minds each week.

When she isn't doctoring or writing or blogging, CJ enjoys traveling, hiking, white water rafting, outdoor photography...whew! And she holds an orange belt in Kempo. She's been all over the world including Kenya, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and the Caribbean; she's seen a world of experiences in the ER; it makes perfect sense for her to recognize:

Among us, everyday, heroes are born.

Our final author is this guy I'm sure none of you have ever heard of before. Really, he's almost virtually unknown around these parts. I'm sure he's going to be the one people are least interested in. He writes a series around an ex-Army Major named Jack Reacher. Wait! Wait-wait-wait! You've heard of this guy? You're telling me you know who Lee Child is? Of course you do! You can't exist in the crime fiction realm and not know that Jim Grant, known to all of us as Lee Child, is the author of 13 Jack Reacher novels and almost as many short stories. This award-winning crime fiction writer and President of the Mystery Writers of America spent the first half of his working career in television, and then just before his 40th birthday he was fired. And what a birthday present that turned out to be. After dealing with a little anger and disbelief, Lee bought himself some writing materials and produced KILLING FLOOR, which not only turned into his first Jack Reacher novel but also earned him a Barry and an Anthony award.

This year, in addition to publishing the 13th Jack Reacher novel, GONE TOMORROW, Lee funded 52 "Jack Reacher scholarships" at his alma mater, The University of Sheffield; received an honorary doctorate from that same university; and toured alongside his younger brother, Andrew, as Andrew made his debut in the world of crime fiction. This is a man I'd like our young people to look up to: his creativity, his work ethic, and his generosity make for an exemplary role model. At age 40, life gave Lee Child lemons and Lee Child made enough lemonade to share with everyone. Today he shares his six-word memoir with us:

Needed a job. Tried this one.

And I know an awful lot of Reacher Creatures who are so, so glad he did! I want to add a small little tidbit here that I thought was rather impressive. As part of Lee's book tour this year, he did an event at Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California. My sister works as a contractor there, which was why I initially took notice of it, but it's just one more example of Lee's generous nature.

I would like to thank all of our authors today for their generosity. Cara, Adrian, CJ, and Lee, your willingness to participate and share with us is so greatly appreciated! And of course we also appreciate your sweat and tears that go into the wonderful books you write for us to enjoy. Best of luck for continued success!

Well? Another good week? I think I'm rather partial to this week. But there's still a lot of big-time stuff still to come in this series. I hope you'll be back next week. Same time! Same place! See ya then!

Happy Reading.



Bouchercon countdown: 50 days!!

BABYDOLL - Allyson Roy

Saylor Oz is extremely content in her job as a sex therapist. But when her best friend/roommate's brother, Angel, is wrongly convicted of murdering three fashion models and it appears as though no one is going to look further into the case, Saylor decides to don not only an investigator's hat but also a fashion model's.

Saylor is familiar with "adult" videos through her day job, and she recalls one such video, Bad, Bad Babydoll, where the plot is eerily similar to Angel's case. Saylor takes her theory that someone is re-enacting this movie to the private investigator from Angel's original defense investigation. When he dismisses Saylor, Saylor and her roommate, Benita, begin plotting to investigate the lead on their own. But to do that, four-foot eleven Saylor finds herself on the model catwalk and other foreign environments.

BABYDOLL is the follow-up to the first Saylor Oz mystery, APHRODISIAC. Susan Elizabeth Phillips compares Saylor Oz to Stephanie Plum. I don't think I could make a better comparison than that one. Fans of Janet Evanovich's series will undoubtedly enjoy this series as well. Like Stephanie, Saylor bumbles her way through lead after lead that law enforcement has either overlooked or ignored. Along the way her roommate Benita, a former boxer; Eldridge, an on-again/off-again lover; Johnny Lavender, the PI from Angel's case; and Sydney Chen, a fashion clothing designer, help keep Saylor from the fatal danger she manages to wiggle her way into.

With Saylor being a sex therapist there is also a great deal of focus on...yes, sex. And the element of sex is most often approached with humor. There are quite a few elements of the romance genre intermingled into this book, so fans of romance may also be interested in this novel.

BABYDOLL requires the reader to accept a number of convenient situations to further the plot. So, readers looking for humor and entertainment will be in for a treat. Those looking for crime fiction a little closer to realism may not find BABYDOLL as intriguing.

The husband and wife writing team of Allyson Roy are presently on their virtual blog tour through TLC Blog Tours. You can learn more about Allyson Roy and their Saylor Oz series at their website. Find additional reviews at their other tour stops listed here at TLC Blog Tours. You can also stop back on Friday when they will be guest blogging here at Jen's Book Thoughts!

BABYDOLL (ISBN: 978-0-425-22550-9) is available now through Berkley Books.

Dog Days of Summer for Hershey and Nestle

Remember I told you Saturday that Hershey and Nestle would be part of the Dog Days of Summer contest? Well, their pictures are posted and you can vote for them now! Head on over to The Literate Housewife's blog and show the puppies some love, o.k?

And if you leave comments on The Literate Housewife's blog throughout the week, she'll enter you in her comment contest for cool Dog Days of Summer prizes!

Monday Mystery Backlist - The Wheelman

This week's Monday Mystery Backlist title is another one that is new to me and that was contributed by Corey Wilde over at The Drowning Machine. Many thanks to Corey for sharing with us THE WHEELMAN by Duane Swierczynski:

A darkly funny rocket-ride of a story about a mute, Irish getaway driver named Lennon whose gang of bank robbers hit a particularly bad patch one day. Lennon's money is stolen, he is betrayed and left for dead. Somebody should have made sure he was, because Lennon now lives for two things: Getting his money back, and getting even. Toss in a hired gun, a dirty cop, mobsters of various ethnic backgrounds, all of them moving at the speed of light and in opposing directions, well, hey. There's bound to be a collision - or several - along the way.

THE WHEELMAN was published by St. Martin's Minotaur in hardcover (978-0312343774) in 2005 and in trade paper (978-0312343781) in 2006.

There goes my TBR list again! And I really get in trouble when I visit Corey's blog. If you haven't been over there lately, you have to pay a visit. He's been catching up on reviews and I've been the one drowning in new books on my ever-growing TBR list! ;)

TRUST NO ONE - Gregg Hurwitz

Nick Horrigan went into hiding at age seventeen after the death of his step-father. Now he's trying to lead a semi-normal, quiet life. But his serenity is shattered the night a SWAT team breaks into his apartment and forces him to a terrorist stand-off where the terrorist is demanding to speak with only Nick.

The supposed terrorist is left with only enough time to provide Nick with a clue about the death of his step-father and the events that lead to his life of hiding. As Nick begins to investigate, he finds more than he bargained for, and suddenly everyone in his life is in danger again.

The future of the thriller novel is safe as long as Gregg Hurwitz continues to write at the level of TRUST NO ONE. The intensity of this novel starts in overdrive:

"I snapped awake at 2:18 A.M., the bloodshot numerals staring at me from the nightstand."

And it doesn't let up until your heart rate settles back down after hitting "The End." The plot is tightly written with exquisite twists and turns and even some loops. As the classic "doubting Thomas" a lesser writer would have me saying, "come on; could that really happen?" But what I've discovered with Gregg Hurwitz is just the opposite. I'm gripping the book for dear life because I'm convinced it could happen to ME! Not to mention, I don't have time for doubt because the plot plain and simply MOVES. Those are the signs of a great thriller.

But what takes Hurwitz's writing beyond "a great thriller" is the fact that plot does not dominate the book. It is integral and that's what makes it a thriller, but character is equally important. I believe that's the element that banishes my inner Doubting Thomas from existence. Because the reader can connect so fully with the characters, the events don't seem improbable at all. Instead what the reader finds is the materialization of his/her deepest fears in the plot. To illustrate this point is a statement that's made early in the book:

"A single bad decision can open a world of lamentable consequences."

How many people have never had that fear when making decisions? The world of psychology probably has a disorder name for someone who doesn't worry that a decision they make could have lasting negative consequences.

Another of the strong themes throughout the book is the idea of safety and security. Nick struggles throughout the pages to find his safety and security, and so does every other character. Every character deals with the struggle in his/her own unique way, but every character struggles. Readers can identify with that struggle. The constant changes of life leave most people at one time or another, and often many times, feeling alone and vulnerable. Hurwitz pulls in the reader because he/she wants to find the safety and security alongside Nick. If he can find it, surely I can find it as well, right? Thus, the reader connects with the characters. And the reader is invested. And the book is now far more than a "great thriller." It's plain and simply an extraordinary book.

I could end my review at this point because I've highlighted the major factors making TRUST NO ONE an extraordinary book, but I also think I need to mention an element that may be overlooked in thriller novels - writing style. Thrillers tend to move, move, move so we often overlook the finer points of the writing if they're there. And with Hurwitz they are most definitely there. He never skimps on word choice or imagery or detail. And humor peppers the pages at precisely the right moments.

TRUST NO ONE is one of my favorite reads of the summer; it is in contention for one of my top reads of 2009. I highly recommend it.

As an added little bonus to this review, I wanted to embed this interview of Gregg Hurwitz about TRUST NO ONE, conducted by Robert Crais, to whom the book was dedicated:

A Whirlwind Week

Whew! This week flew by. And that old adage holds true: time flies when you're having fun. It was a very good week for Jen's Book Thoughts. Not only did we have TWO fabulous guest posts and another great 6-Word Memoir week, BUT Jen's Book Thoughts ended up with FIVE Book Blogger Appreciation Week Award Nominations!

THANK YOU!

I am literally flabbergasted. I know I pestered you all to get over and get your votes in, but I honestly did not expect to receive five nominations. And bless whoever voted for Jen's Book Thoughts for Best Non-Fiction Blog, but since out of my 450 posts only 5 are related to non-fiction books, I declined the nomination so I wouldn't be wasting the committee's time. The five nominations that I received because of you all were:

Best Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Blog
Best General Review Blog
Best Series/Feature - for "You Have the Right to Six Words: Six-Word Memoirs from Crime Fiction's Best Writers."
Best Writing
Best Reviews

So what happens now is I've submitted five posts for each of these nominations. Those five posts will be given to the members of a committee (each category has its own committee), and a "short list" will be based on their ratings of all the nominees. So we wait now. I can tell you that I can not be short-listed for all five categories. For the niche categories, a blog can only be nominated in one category. So Best Mystery/Thriller/Suspense Blog and Best General Review Blog can't both result in short list nominations. That means at the most I could be short listed for four categories. In all honesty, I would be over the moon if I was short-listed in one. I am grateful beyond words just for these nominations; I am beyond flattered at the Best Writing and Best Reviews nominations. Truly folks, "thank you" doesn't even come close to expressing my gratitude.

Enough gushing. I am hoping to get a couple reviews up this weekend. I am now officially seven reviews behind. Yikes! September has a lot in store. I have some big giveaways coming up so be on the look out for those. Of course Book Blogger Appreciation Week will be coming up in September. I have a couple interviews, a couple guest spots, and hopefully a whole lot of fun.

My puppies are going to be in a blog contest next week. They - or rather their pictures - are being entered in the Dog Days of Summer contest at Literate Housewife's blog. I will also be reviewing one of the books for Jennifer's theme week, too. You know I can't resist anything having to do with dogs! I need to find someone who can make me a button for my blog that is dog-related. Anyone know how to do that?

The Shamus Award Nominations for 2009 have been announced. Bill Crider has them posted over at his blog, so I'll let you step over there and see the list. The winners will, of course be announced at a reception at Bouchercon.

That's enough for now because I'm hoping to post again later with a review. Until then...happy reading!



Countdown to Bouchercon: 54 days!

Jeff Abbott's Open Doors

With the release of his new thriller TRUST ME, I invited Jeff to stop by and visit. Bless his heart first for agreeing to visit and second for his topic. I always give free reign to guest bloggers and Jeff chose to write about his six-word (or rather five-word - thanks to good editing) memoir. I swear, it was all his idea! No money exchanged hands! In all seriousness, let me quit blabbing and hand those free reigns over to the man who gets paid to write. Friends, please welcome award-winning crime fiction writer, Jeff Abbott!

Writing Opens a Thousand Doors by Jeff Abbott

That was my six-word (actually five) memoir for Jen’s blog, and I thought today I’d expand on what I meant about my thousand doors.

When I started writing, a well-intentioned friend said, “You’re spending all this time alone. You’re shut up in that room by yourself. You’re not living life.”

He could not have been more wrong. Writing forces you to look at life through new glasses: not merely as a flow of events that is happening to you and around you, but as part of a pattern. All fiction—whether a thriller, a mainstream novel, a romance, or a mystery—is sorting life into a pattern that holds meaning and gives a sense of heightened drama.

So, the first door writing opened for me made me a sorter of life. (I should be a magical hat.) I began to look at every aspect of life as a part in a bigger drama. What did my choices really mean for me and the people I care about? How did I spend my time meaningfully—was I taking steps toward a better command of craft or was I wasting time? With my friends and family, did I minimize conflict or did I needlessly amp it up? I felt like a reality show contestant who becomes hyper-aware of the cameras (even if the lenses were of my own making.) At the same time, I think I became quieter and more reflective. I simply thought more: about people, about pain and pleasure, about the values that are worth fighting for in a life. My notebook began to explode with ideas, phrases, thoughts about people I wanted to include in my stories and my books.

Remember that my goal was to write commercial crime fiction, not the next War and Peace. But I believe all fiction, at some level, concerns the human condition. I started to process all the raw fuel of life.

The second door was discipline. As I got more serious about my writing, I had to fit writing in as a greater priority. I could give up all the rest of my life (I had already given up weekends, and I was a guy in my 20s living in one of the most fun and social cities in America) but I decided to sacrifice sleep instead. I got up at 4 AM and wrote for three hours every morning before going to work. That way, the most important task of the day was already done. I didn’t have to work when I got home, tired and stressed and frazzled from slaying the day’s dragons. I got more disciplined about other demands in my life (um, except for grocery shopping). I kept thinking: I don’t have an endless succession of tomorrows for writing. I need to do it today. Now. And so I ordered my life as such.

The final door was acceptance. I could write thousands of pages that might never find a reader. And I didn’t care. This will sound strange or even contradictory, but the need to write was like a calm fire. The obsession was there, I had to write, but the need wasn’t insane or destructive. Writing was positive, even if the words were junk and I tossed them at the end of the session. I would keep writing even if no one ever read my words. It was a jarring realization, that it was okay to write solely for myself.
I sold my first novel before I was thirty. That has brought me a great and rewarding stream of professional opportunities (and a few disappointing setbacks), it has brought me relationships to last a lifetime, it has brought me the great privilege of being allowed to entertain others—to help them forget a lousy day at work, or the pain of hospitalization, or to make a dull flight pass faster.

Every day, ever since, has been a new door to open.

Thank you so much, Jeff. I hope that when you are in your times of reflection and thinking about people you realize that you open doors for us, your fans, with your writing. We are very grateful that you have made sacrifices and worked hard to walk through those doors writing has opened for you.

Jeff's new book is called TRUST ME. It centers around Luke Dantry who works tracking extremists online. Dantry believes the majority of the people he encounters online are simply all talk. That is until the day he is kidnapped and left for dead. TRUST ME was released in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-525-95121-6) by Dutton this summer, and you can read more about it on Jeff's website here or in this review I found very helpful.

Happy Friday everyone and Happy Reading!

Tim's Ten Reasons Why...

I'm so very excited about my guest blogger today. Tim Hallinan truly ranks among my all-time favorite crime fiction writers. And you all know that because I've gushed about both THE FOURTH WATCHER and most recently BREATHING WATER. His voice, his style, his characters...themes, plot, just the whole package. The lesson I learned when reading a book by Tim is that I can NOT open the cover until I'm ready to read the whole book. If I get curious and read page one, I'm not going to be able to stop. It's like the Sirens just pull you in. Tim is an extremely talented writer, and he humbles me when he asks me to read his work. And it is my great honor that he made time to hang out here on my blog today. So, let me hand the reigns over Mr. Timothy Hallinan:

TEN REASONS WHY . . .

MYSTERIES ROCK


When I told my writer friends I was going to be doing guest blogs and asked for advice on topics, I got one suggestion over and over again: do lists. Everybody loves lists, my friends said. So here's a list, and if you don't like it, tell my friends, whose e-mail addresses I will happily pass along.

Okay, to qualify: I've been reading mysteries and thrillers since I discovered The Hardy Boys when I was six, and I've been writing them for more years than I care to share with you. (A friend of mine recently said to me, “I can't remember whether you're my oldest friend or just my oldest-looking friend.”) At any rate, BREATHING WATER, which Morrow will loose on an innocent world on August 18, is the ninth mystery published under my own name, and maybe my twelfth under a variety of shady aliases.

So I've thought about mysteries (and thrillers) a lot, and here's my list, in approximate reverse order, of reasons they rock.

10. There's a sub-genre for every taste, from ultimate cozies with cognitive cats and English country houses shrouded in fog, to serial killers who aspire to be the Julia Child of body parts. And everything in between. Do you like your murder raw or
well-done?

9. Murder local, think global. Great mysteries have been written in practically every language and in and/or about practically every country on earth. All fifty states, all major continents, both hemispheres, the stratosphere, and the bottom of the sea. Fly a mystery to Bangor or Bangkok. The phrase, “magical mystery tour” has a whole new meaning.

8. Mysteries are classless. I realize that's a straight line, but what I mean is that the mystery genre (and, for that matter, the detective) can engage with all classes of society, from highest to lowest and back again. The action of BREATHING
WATER involves everyone from beggars and stolen babies to the cream of the Thai
elite. Works for me.

7. They're not passive reading. Mysteries and thrillers require the reader (well,
most readers) to try to stay ahead of either story developments or the detective's deductive processes, while the writer is trying desperately to prevent it. It's like a chess match in which White is a game played by a master in the past and which is revealed only one move at a time.

6. There are a zillion of them. I know, this sounds like it should be down at number nine or ten, but I'm an addict. I currently have more than 250 books on my TBR shelf. They're mostly mysteries or thrillers. I get, um, nervous when the
number drops below a hundred. The mystery reader's great comfort is that he/she is addicted to something that's all over the place, while others are gnawing their nails and waiting six years between Thomas Pynchons. Oh, and then Pynchon writes a mystery.

5. The form is perfect. A universe is introduced, with people in it. It's broken or out of balance somehow. The book's progress is the restoration of order. This was Shakespeare's great theme. It's a theme we instinctively buy into. It lends itself to a natural, and potentially perfect, story structure.

4. The form is perfect (2). Whodunnit? How do you get out of this? Those are the questions posed in, respectively, mysteries and thrillers. Ask the question, answer the question. Make sure it all happens to plausible characters. It works.

3. Whofindsout whodunnit, Holmes and Watson, Philip Marlow, Kurt Wallender, Linda Wallender, Sam Spade, Bernie Gunther, Kinsey Millhone, Jack Reacher, Miss
Marple, Spenser, John Ray Horn, Lucas Davenport, Lisbeth Salander, Lew Archer, John Rain, Sano Ichiro and Reiko, Nero Wolfe/Archie Goodman, Valentin St. Cyr, Harry Bosch, Thomas and Charlotte Pitt, Jack Taylor, Dr. Siri Paboun, Harpur and Iles, Charlie Resnick, Jane Whitefield – oh, this could go on forever and I'd still leave out hundreds I love. Great characters, great companions.

2. They're an antidote to life. Mysteries and Shakespeare, in that order, have gotten me through more long dark nights of the soul than booze, Prozac, therapy, and chocolate combined. Buy a dozen of them and you've got an instant twelve-step
program.

1. They're fun to write. What would I do with my life if I didn't write these things? Read them, clearly, but that wouldn't be enough. How much fun it is to
write them (when they're going well, of course) is a secret we should keep from
our publishers, unless we want advances to disappear entirely.

So, there it is: a list. Add a point or ten of your own.

O.k., so let's go. What other reasons can we add to Tim's list? My personal favorite is number seven. You know; on the books I like the most, I almost always say, "it made me think." That's a touchstone of a great book for me.

My many thanks to Tim for this fun and enlightening post. He agreed to come even though I'm always pestering about when the next book is coming! And I want to mention again for my friends in the area that Tim is going to be at Foul Play bookstore in Westerville (which is right outside Columbus) on September 23rd - YES!! I already have my plans to go, and I hope to see some other friends there as well. If you aren't in the Ohio area, check and see if Tim will be at a bookstore near you. Here's the link to the beginning of his tour. He also mentions some additional events later in the tour down in the comments section.

You Have the Right to Six Words - Lucky Number 13

I do hope being part of week number 13 is a good thing for our authors today and no kind of curse. Maybe I should have said this is 14 not 13; you know, like they do in hotel buildings. I still don't understand that concept. Just because you name it 14, does that make it 14? Well, I digress (surprise, surprise). We have recapped all the memoirs from interviews, so from this point forward we have all new memoirs. We have some new memoirs from people who joined us for interviews but I held their memoirs back. The first author is one of those people.

Jeff Cohen is the author of both the Aaron Tucker Mystery series and the Double Feature Mystery series. He came to writing novels through a wide array of writing positions: newspaper journalist, municipal reporter, public relations, trade journalist, freelance reporter. Jeff has also worked on script writing and had some of his work developed by Jim Henson Productions, CBS, Gross-Weston Productions, and Ken Walz Productions. Jeff's first novel, FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS, actually started out as a screenplay. It wasn't working out quite the way he wanted, so he decided to write a bit as though it would be a novel. He hoped this would provide him an outline for the screenplay. Instead, that bit turned into a full-blown novel and the Aaron Tucker Mystery series was born. Jeff's love of comedic movies lead to the character of Elliot Freed and his all-comedy movie theater in the Double Feature Mystery series. This year saw the publication of the third book in that series, A NIGHT AT THE OPERATION. Sadly, this may be the last book of the series as well. Jeff is, however, hard at work on another project, but Elliot will be sorely missed. But you never can tell what the future may bring. The present brings us Jeff's memoir:

Got married.
Had kids.
Wrote books.

It doesn't get much more succinct than that! My rest of our authors today are brand new to Jen's Book Thoughts, so please give them a warm welcome.

Louise Ure has consistently set her books in the Southwest, but she's traveled the world. She attended college in Tucson, Dijon France, and Glendale, Arizona. Her 25 years in the advertising and marketing world took her to three different continents, and she now lives in San Francisco, California. It's a fascination with the magic, mystery and legends that pull her back to the Southwest when she writes, though. In 2002 she set to work on a life-long dream of writing fiction. In 2005 she published her first novel, FORCING AMARYLLIS, and earned herself a Shamus Award for Best First Novel. LIAR'S ANONYMOUS was released this past April and marks Louise's third successful novel. And of course you know I cannot possibly leave off this detail from Louise's bio: "Louise currently lives in San Francisco with her husband and whichever senior golden retriever rescue dog has most recently captured her heart." And her own summation:

Arizona girl happy in Fog City.

Jason Pinter is the best-selling author of the Henry Parker thriller series, which has been nominated for the Barry Award, the Strand Critics Award, the Romantic Times Booklovers Reviewers Choice Award (say that one three times fast), and the Crimespree Award. This young writer started out as a book editor and acclaimed blogger before earning his first book deal with MIRA Books. He's now been published in over 12 different countries, and was one of the authors included in the short story collection KILLER YEAR. This year he has two new books being published in the Henry Parker series. First he will release THE FURY at the end of September and then at the beginning of December he will release THE DARKNESS. He's a pop culture connoisseur and a budding golfer. Whether writing novels, short stories or blog posts, Jason

Loved telling stories worth being told.

Last but not least this week I welcome a household name in crime fiction these days. The list of award nominations is rarely read without the name Sean Chercover somewhere on it. And the number of times he takes home the prize just keeps increasing. What makes this even more astounding is the fact that Sean has accumulated all these kudos in the course of his first two books: BIG CITY BAD BLOOD and TRIGGER CITY. O.k., wait, I'll correct myself. He also claims awards and nominations for short stories he wrote including "A Sleep Not Unlike Death" and "One Serving of Bad Luck."

A Canadian native, Sean found his way to Chicago via South Carolina and attended the American Security Training Institute to qualify to work as a Private Detective, Security Consultant, and Bodyguard. After working as a PI in Chicago and later New Orleans, Sean returned to Canada to work as a writer and video editor in the television industry. In addition to the television and PI industries, Sean has had a go as a screenwriter, truck driver, waiter, nightclub magician, car jockey, and encyclopedia salesman. These days, in addition to his work writing novels, he can also be found writing, with previous memoirists Libby Fischer Hellmann and Marcus Sakey, on The Outfit blog. And so that would explain a memoir of

Did a bunch of stuff; wrote.

Yes he did! And he wrote well!

Another awesome week! Thank you to Jeff, Louise, Jason and Sean. I'm so thrilled to have you all join us in the six-word memoir fun. If you could see me as I put these posts together you would think I was a little kid at Christmas. They all make me smile and feel giddy. It's so much fun. So much fun in fact, I think I'll be back next week to do it again. Same time, same place...meet ya here. Because I still have more exciting authors to share with you.

Happy Reading! And the Bouchercon countdown is now...57 DAYS?? Woo hoo! Indy here I come!

BREATHING WATER - Tim Hallinan

In the third installment of Tim Hallinan's Poke Rafferty series, BREATHING WATER finds Poke in a rather peculiar predicament. In a poker game, he wins the right to author Khun Pan's biography. People have clamored for this biography since Khun Pan did what virtually no one else has in Thailand, rose from the ranks of dirt poor to grotesquely wealthy. Pan takes pride in offending the other members of the wealthy class, and there are rumors he will run for office. This obviously is not a good combination. So, when word gets out that Poke is going to write his biography, Poke is threatened. If he writes the biography, one side has threatened to kill his family. If he doesn't write the biography, another side has threatened to kill his family. And everyone is watching him to see that he's doing exactly what they want. He's literally stuck in a "damned if you do; damned if you don't" situation. Poke needs to hold off both sides until he can figure out just exactly what it is he WILL do because:

"Both directions are wrong, but one must be less wrong than the other"

BREATHING WATER is the quintessential story of the haves versus the have nots. The most obvious level of this theme is found in the rich versus the poor. But Hallinan takes the theme to another level with Poke's family and Arthit's family, illustrating to the reader that money is not the only factor that creates divisions of haves and have nots.

Hallinan never fails to deliver a plot with plenty of twists and turns; BREATHING WATER is no exception. As is Hallinan's style, one of his strongest plot building devices is unquestionably character development. He builds strong, rich characters whose depth and interactions with each other work to intensify the plot. As a fly on the Rafferty apartment wall, I can't help but connect with Poke as he flounders through his "daddy growing pains." Hallinan's use of humor in many of these situations drives home Poke's feelings of ignorance and helplessness:

" 'I don't know,' Rafferty says, 'This seems like mother territory to me.'

'No problem. I'm just being polite, sharing the problem with you. I've already decided how to deal with it.'

'Yeah? How?'

'I'm going to dye her hair and buy her some whitening cream.'

'The hell you are.'

'As you said, it's mother territory.'

'Well,' he says. Nothing authoritative comes to him. Then he says, 'What are you going to call her?'

'Whatever she wants.'

'Not Harold,' Rafferty says. 'I draw the line at Harold.'

Rose says, 'Children need an authoritative father.'

'So I've done my part?'

'You're everyone's dream father.' "

This small exchange not only builds the three characters concerned, it also functions to build the plot by driving home the relationship between Rafferty and his family. And this exchange emphasizes the book's theme and how it relates to Miaow, Rose, even comically Rafferty himself - as he obviously is in the "have not" classification with authority in this exchange!

But it isn't just Hallinan's protagonist who is so well developed. Khun Pan has gone from "have not" to "have" in terms of money and power. He delights in making the "haves" now feel like the "have nots" whenever he can. Hallinan emphasizes this with rich symbolism throughout the novel. One of my favorite examples of this symbolism is when, just prior to a large fundraiser, Rafferty is leaving Pan's property which has been designed to replicate The Garden of Eden:

"Passing the ramshackle village, he sees the enormous fans that have been placed behind the pen, wafting the scent of merde de cochon toward the Garden of Eden."

Hallinan makes use of every word, every sentence, every paragraph. BREATHING WATER is definitely a tight plot with no fluff and plenty of substance. He doesn't short change the reader in any element of the novel.

As with the previous Poke Rafferty novels, Hallinan also delivers an amazing look at Bangkok. His depiction of the environment and its peoples is breath-taking...even if you are "breathing water!" The streets of Bangkok play an important role in this novel for the young people who live on them. And the reader is pulled onto those streets right along with the homeless children:

"The noise of the street is deafening.

"Everything is in motion, but nothing seems to change: The people flow past, the cars glint cruelly, the sun slams down, the noise hammers her ears. How can the world be this noisy? How can the air smell like this? How can the people who live here endure it?"

If you have not yet discovered the Poke Rafferty/Bangkok Thriller series, it's time to put on a wet suit and start BREATHING WATER. Timothy Hallinan writes a multi-layered, rich, intelligent thriller series that will tickle you to laugh, challenge you to think and buckle you in for an adventurous ride through the darkness of Bangkok.

BREATHING WATER is available in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0061672231) today from William Morrow.

Monday Mystery Backlist - DEADLY APPRAISAL

We've had a long run of male writers on the Monday Mystery Backlist post, so I wanted to shake things up a bit and get one of the fine ladies of the genre in. There are so many greats that we haven't highlighted here yet, and today we're going to take a look at Jane Cleland and the second book from her Josie Prescott Antiques Mystery series, DEADLY APPRAISAL.

Josie Prescott moved to small town New Hampshire from the hustle and bustle of New York City. Now she's the owner of Prescott's Antiques and is beginning to establish a place in her new world. Prescott's is hosting the Portsmouth Women's Guild's Annual Black and Gold Gala when a Guild representative is poisoned by the wine. The police begin to investigate who had access to the wine and Josie is one of those people. But as the investigation digs deeper, is Josie a suspect or was she the intended target?

This is a series that you've heard me rave about on here. The characters are so well created and developed that you expect them to walk off the pages and right into your living room. You don't have the bumbling amateur who solves case after case, out-smarting the police, on accident. Instead you have an intelligent, compassionate woman who does what she does best and that sometimes contributes to the law enforcement investigations. The element of the antiques in this series is as much a draw as anything else. The little tidbits that are thrown into each novel enhance the plot and add depth to the storyline. This is just a fun series. I have loved the time I've spent curled up with each book included in it, and DEADLY APPRAISAL is no exception.

DEADLY APPRAISAL was published in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0-312-34366-8) by St. Martin's Minotaur in April 2007, and the softcover (ISBN: 978-0312373337) in April of 2008.

Not One but TWO Evenings of Michael Koryta

As you know, because I've been broadcasting it for awhile now, we here in Northeast Ohio were fortunate to have not one but THREE book events from Michael Koryta this year. On Tuesday of this past week, Michael spoke at the Fairview Park Public Library. On Wednesday he visited the Rocky River Community Center for an event sponsored by the Rocky River Public Library. Then on Thursday he wrapped up this leg of his book tour with an event at Bay Village Public Library. This is huge not only because he was here for three days but because he passed up seeing the advance screening of SHUTTER ISLAND with Dennis Lehane, Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio!

My plan had been to attend the event on Wednesday at Rocky River. Of course I would have been thrilled to see all three, but I don't need a public record of stalking. However, my friend from forever, George Lichman, gave me a hard time when I showed up on Wednesday. He wanted to know "what kind of fan" I was for not being at Fairview Park. So I went through my whole spiel about not wanting to be known as a stalker, and when Michael assured me there would be no restraining orders issued, I decided to attend Bay Village's event as well. Both were wonderful evenings so I'm excited to share some highlights with you today.

My friend, George - mentioned above, is a police officer in Rocky River and is not only a friend but a resource of Michael's. So George offered a very nice introduction for Michael at the Rocky River Civic Center.

At both events, Michael opened by reading from two of his works. In Rocky River he read from SORROW'S ANTHEM, still my personal favorite, and the first chapter of his new novel, THE SILENT HOUR. In Bay Village he opted to read from TONIGHT I SAID GOODBYE and THE SILENT HOUR. If you've read the first chapter of THE SILENT HOUR, you know it has a bit of a suspenseful end and both audiences groaned slightly as he closed the book, hoping he would have continued. Of course, Michael's hoping they will each pick up a copy and continue reading themselves.

An element that came up for discussion was the idea of the hero being alone in most of crime fiction; Michael sited Robert B. Parker's belief that much of this goes back to the idea of the knight in the Middle Ages, off fighting for good but doing so alone. And this need for the hero to walk down the mean streets alone shapes character development. Michael gauges the quality of a series by how well an author honors the events of the previous books in the series. And the best fiction should replicate the reality of the human struggle. The best authors will remember what they have put their characters through and reflect how those struggles have changed and shaped the characters. Michael takes this belief into consideration as he writes THE SILENT HOUR. Lincoln Perry had significant struggles in SORROW'S ANTHEM and A WELCOME GRAVE. Michael wanted to make sure that Lincoln didn't appear in THE SILENT HOUR to be moving on in life unaffected by the events of the previous two books. And thus, THE SILENT HOUR is Lincoln's crisis of conscience. It is also a character study of detectives; Michael wanted to look at how one case can affect people, specifically the detectives, differently.

The idea for the berm house in THE SILENT HOUR comes from a house that was built in Indiana by an heiress to Eli Lily and was subsequently left to ruin when it was lost to foreclosure. It is also a "tip of the hat" to Michael's favorite book, THE GREAT GATSBY. Gatsby's house is the means to his real dream, Daisy. The house itself means nothing to Gatsby. So, Michael does the same thing with the house in THE SILENT HOUR; it is a means to another dream, it is not THE dream. Instead, the dream in TSH is the idea of "rehabilitation."

Michael does not outline when he writes; instead he rewrites "relentlessly." On average he probably cuts about 60% of what he writes. He spoke to the cliche of "murder your darlings." Michael says he "lines up [his] darlings and mows them down with machine guns." Well, I guess I can take solace in that I was at one time one of those darlings. I mentioned that the cat was let out of the bag in Columbus and Michael again mentioned to the audience in Rocky River that I was a character in THE SILENT HOUR at one time, but I was murdered. Left on the cutting room floor. What Michael did do, however, was supply me with my scene and permission to share with you all. I will tell you that it is a spoiler if you have not already read the book. Therefore, I am simply going to provide you a link to where you can go to read it. So, if you'd like to read how I was (for the only time in my life) an attractive, tall, blond-hair, blue-eyed parole officer, click this link.

Each book is different in the total time it takes to complete it. According to Michael, it all depends on how quickly the plot shows itself to him. Stories often show themselves to Michael during long walks, long hikes, or in the shower (not real sure what all the connection is between those three, but...). Michael has a hard time thinking through road blocks sitting still, so he gets up and walks.

As a writer, Michael is obsessed with titles and leads. His favorite title is SORROW'S ANTHEM and he didn't have trouble with any of his titles until ENVY THE NIGHT, which was the only title he didn't have before he started writing. His obsession with leads goes back to his newspaper days and he credits a colleague, Laura Lane, with hammering leads into his psyche when he was first starting at the newspaper.

A member of the audience at Bay asked if this would be Lincoln's last book. And Michael explained it by saying he feels the last line of THE SILENT HOUR sums up his attitude about writing another Lincoln Perry novel. So, when you read THE SILENT HOUR, you'll have a better notion of whether or not this is the last book. The next two books are stand alones, both written in third person.

If you are familiar with the Cleveland area, Michael located Lincoln and Joe's office in an old bank building at Kamm's Corners. When Michael visited inside the building as a young boy and saw the fogged glass doors of the offices inside, he immediately thought of Spade and Archer and knew he would one day set his Cleveland-based story in that building. I'm going to try to go there in the near future and take a picture of the building for those of you who aren't native or don't know this area but know the Lincoln Perry novels.

Michael has always wanted to be a writer. He participated in Bloomington's Young Author's Conference (ahem, sound familiar?) and has always been fascinated by story in any form. Michael loves what he does, and his biggest fear is that one day he'll get a call from the IRS saying, "sir, we just discovered that you enjoy what you do." He is now a full-time writer, but if you'll recall, up until last December, he also worked as a private detective. One element that he says he misses (I'm not so worried about being a stalker now), he misses following people in a car. Another interesting little tidbit that I had not heard before was that Michael had a "passing fancy" at one time to attend law school. However, looking back now he's not really sure why. It calls for a large investment of time in schooling, and Michael has been willing to invest a lot of time in many things, but school was never one of them.

Both events were absolutely wonderful, and this recap does not do either justice. If you ever have the opportunity to hear this young man speak about his writing, snatch it. You will leave knowing that there wasn't anything else you could have been doing that would have been more enjoyable. O.k., well, almost nothing else. ;)