Crime Writers Caught Recommending Crime - Day 23

Well, Chanukah is over and there's 15 days to Christmas. Kwanzaa and Boxing Day will follow that. Are you set? No? O.k., well here's another recommendation for you!

Meredith Cole, who released her second Lydia McKenzie novel this year, is offering up today's recommendation. She is rather fond of Laura Lippman's WHAT THE DEAD KNOW. Here's why she thinks WHAT THE DEAD KNOW would make a great holiday gift this year:

"I read Laura Lippman's series and enjoyed it, but her first standalone WHAT THE DEAD KNOW floored me. It's one of those books that you devour quickly, but can't stop thinking about afterwards. The book haunts you. It's a creepy story about two girls who disappeared one day in a shopping mall and were never seen again--until one day a woman shows up and claims to be one of the missing girls. It was inspired by a true story that happened near where my husband grew up. Lately I've found myself recommending the book to both men and women, some of them mystery readers, and everyone has had a similar reaction to my own. This book would make a wonderful gift."

An excellent choice from Meredith Cole. Thank you Meredith!

For my recommendation today, I'm choosing Michael Lister's DOUBLE EXPOSURE. This was one of my favorite reads of 2009. I have been enjoying Michael's John Jordan series for awhile now, but DOUBLE EXPOSURE was quite a departure from that series. He uses unique style, builds strong momentum and simply drives this suspense novel all the way to the final page.

That's it for this week, but I have some special tidbits to throw your way next week to wrap up the series and help you with any final gifts you might need to pick up.

And just as a little reminder, don't forget that this is supposed to be a season of love, a season of kindness and giving. Seems like in the rush and stress of everything, we forget that. Be kind to others. Do something nice for someone you don't know: hold the door, smile, say 'thank you.' Even those little gestures can mean a lot to people and they cost us nothing.

Happy Reading, Everyone!

A Few Odds and Ends

Just wanted to put up a quick post this morning. I'm behind, yet again, on my reviews - I'm sounding like a broken record. I have four that need finishing right now and another two books that I'm close to finishing. Having books in four different places is keeping me on my toes: print book, e-book, mp3 audio book, and the audio book in my car. Lucky for me they are all four outstanding books. I want to read them all simultaneously! I also have work to do on several interviews, and my year-end post is coming up. Wow, what a year it's been! And I was looking at the calendar; it's a couple weeks until Jen's Book Thoughts' second blogiversary! Double Wow on that one.

Tonight I'm headed out to Chagrin Falls for Steve Hockensmith's event at the library. If you're in the area, I highly recommend you stop by. If Steve is half as fun as he was at Bouchercon, all attendees are in for a wonderful evening. The event starts at 7. I may need to leave a little earlier than planned as we've been having snow for a couple days now. Is it spring yet?

I was over at Pop Culture Nerd's blog yesterday reading about her favorite things of 2009. And then Meredith Cole was talking about her favorite books and movies of 2009 at 7 Criminal Minds. And I became acutely aware of the fact that I didn't see hardly any movies this past year. So, I looked up a listing of all movies released in 2009. I went to the theater all of five times, no wait, one of the movies I saw on DVD, so that's four times in 2009. So, I decided to ask for suggestions of what was good in 2009 that I can request on DVD. I put in a request for PUBLIC ENEMIES from the library. I'm 800 something on the list, so it'll be awhile for that one to come in. While I'm waiting, offer up some suggestions in the comments section of movies you think I would like - they need to be available on DVD now, though. Nothing overly sappy, nothing overly gory, nothing overly stupid - and no vampires!

Stay warm and I'll be back soon to wrap up 2009 and recap Steve Hockensmith! Happy Reading!

Another Week of YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO SIX WORDS!

Here we are again! It's week SIXTEEN. Does it feel like it's been sixteen weeks to you? Gosh these just seem to be flying by. When we get to today's, we'll have shared 64 author memoirs and there are still quite a few more to go! But instead of looking forward or back, let's look at this week's wonderful line-up of author memoirists.

Starting off today's line-up I have another familiar face. James LePore stopped at Jen's Book Thoughts on his virtual book tour for his debut novel A WORLD I NEVER MADE. After practicing civil trial law in New Jersey for over 20 years, James left the courtroom to write and pursue his love of photography. His love of reading began around the age of 13 when he would read paperbacks his mother had around the house. Then he discovered he could purchase he own at the corner candy store. His first two purchases on the road to a literary career: Johnny Got his Gun and Hawaii. In A WORLD I NEVER MADE, James depicts an act of terrorism on the Iberian Peninsula. James is now working on his second book which will again look at terrorism, but this time on American soil, specifically in New York City. And James adequately sums up his journey to author with

Boy reads; man takes pictures, writes.

Nadia Gordan is author of four Sunny McCoskey Napa Valley mystery books, including the most recent that was released this past spring, LETHAL VINTAGE. The Chicago Tribune called Nadia's series "jolly high-calorie pleasure." When not writing the Sunny McCoskey Napa Valley series, she might be found writing under her real name, Julianne Balmain, where she's published books on a variety of different topics. A national board member for Sister's In Crime, Nadia has also served as a judge for the Edgar Award Best Mystery Novel category. So how does Nadia capture her career to date?

Founder of the slow writing movement.

I think I joined that movement the day I learned how to write. Probably a good thing I don't do it for a living now!

Third up this week we have another debut author from 2009. Meredith Cole is the author of POSED FOR MURDER, the winner of St. Martins/Malice Domestic's Best Traditional First Mystery contest. Her debut as a novelist comes after an extensive career in screenwriting. She earned her Master's degree from American University in Film and Video Production and went on to be named a Playwriting/Screenwriting fellow by the New York Foundation for the arts in 2004. We're thrilled that Meredith took the leap from screenwriting to novel writing and even more excited that she is working on book number two that is due out in 2010 and tentatively titled DEAD IN THE WATER. So for Meredith this has all been

Not what I expected. Mostly better.

Since we had two debut novelists in this week's list of memoirist, I thought it fitting that we wrap up with one of crime fiction's legends. David Morrell was inspired to become a writer at the age of seventeen as he watched the classic television series ROUTE 66. The scripts for that show would be the catalyst for Morrell's writing career. Further fueling his desire to write was Hemingway scholar Philip Young who motivated David to leave his home in Canada and come study under Young in the United States. After completing his Master's and Ph.D. in American Literature at Penn State, David worked as a professor in the English department at the University of Iowa. It was here that David published FIRST BLOOD, the book that would go on to forever change the face of the modern American action novel. And David hasn't stopped writing since. This year he published THE SHIMMER. In addition to his 27 novels, short stories and non-fiction works, David wrote a comic book series: CAPTAIN AMERICAN: THE CHOSEN. His works have been translated into 26 different languages, and David is one of the co-founders of International Thriller Writers, Inc.

His years of research have enabled David some prestigious accomplishments, such as being a graduate of both the National Outdoor Leadership School for wilderness survival and the G. Gordon Liddy Academy of Corporate Security. He is an honorary lifetime member of the Special Operations Association and the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. And he's been trained in firearms, hostage negotiation, assuming identities, executive protection, and anti-terrorist driving, among numerous other action skills that he describes in his novels. With all of this life experience, is it any wonder that David says

It's the journey, not the destination.

And he's still on that journey, tweeting about it even! You can follow his journey on Twitter at @DavidMorrell.

This week truly epitomizes what Jen's Book Thoughts, and this six-word memoir project, is all about. From the debut writers to the seasoned veterans and everyone in between. They are all what make crime fiction such a rich, dynamic, down-right amazing genre of fiction. I am tickled pink that all the authors have let me share a small part of it and in turn share it with you. James, Nadia/Julianne, Meredith, David, thank you so much for being such great sports and participating. Your generosity humbles me. Best of luck to all of you.

Some other quick notes before I wrap things up here. Next week is Book Blogger Appreciation Week. I'll still be posting a six-word memoir post but it'll be a tad bit different in honor of the BBAW. Also don't forget to get over and vote for your favorite blogs. You have until midnight Eastern time on Saturday to get your votes in.

You also have until midnight Eastern time Saturday to get your entries in for my THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE drawing. Details for that are here.

And I neglected to mention that I added a feature over in the side bar that will allow you sign up for email updates. That just sends you an email of my posts when they go up on the blog. So if you want the posts to just go directly to your email box, you can sign up for that. I won't be sending you anything personally.

Tomorrow I'm headed out in the evening to meet Lisa Black. I'll be recapping her event for you, but it may be quiet around these here parts for the next couple days while I regroup and try to catch up on reviews and planned posts and whatnot. So if you don't hear anything for a couple days, don't panic. I haven't vanished!

Bouchercon countdown: 36 days! I can't wait! Happy Reading!!