Lessons I've Learned...

...from books I've read so far in 2012. A little fun to kick off your week.

1. Don't look in the trunk! The next time I'm offered 50 grand to not look in the trunk, I'll not look in the trunk, no matter how much noise I hear. (Gutshot Straight by Lou Berney)

2. When planning your child's wedding, move mountains to get the first choice location. It may seem like an impossible task, but that second choice locale can really cause problems. (As the Crow Flies, Craig Johnson)

3. If someone writes to you saying you're their child, immediately burn the letter and move far away. Curiosity did, after all, kill the cat. (Playing Dead, Julia Heaberlin)


4. If a guy can't afford his own car and has to use yours, do NOT let him move in with you. In fact, don't date him at all. (Heartbroken, Lisa Unger)

5. When it comes to family, help hide the body. It is, after all, family.  (A Bad Day for Mercy, Sophie Littlefield)

6. Never spend the night in a backwoods small town. And most especially never do it if you are traveling with a teen who's been in trouble with the law before. (The Conviction, Robert Dugoni)

7. Reality TV is nothing but trouble. It can even affect people not directly involved in the show. It's bad, bad, bad! (Vanishing Point, Val McDermid)

8. Imaginary friends are real. A different kind of real, but real all the same. (Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Matthew Dicks)

9. A bag of donuts can buy you anything. No one can resist donuts, especially a P.I. who can't help but do the right thing. (Lullaby, Ace Atkins)

10. Fate despises suicide. You don't need to bother even trying. Fate will interfere and make you realize the life before trying suicide wasn't all THAT bad. (The Survivor, Gregg Hurwitz)

THE CONVICTION - Robert Dugoni

First line: "David Sloane stepped through the metal detector, grabbed his briefcase, and put on his coat while running toward a staircase, ignoring the elevators."

The Conviction is Robert Dugoni's fifth thriller featuring attorney David Sloane. In this series installment, Sloane's teenage stepson Jake is having problems dealing with the death of his mother. The problems have escalated to illegal activity. Fearing Jake's biological father cannot provide adequate supervision, the courts agree to turn over temporary custody to Sloane.

The separation of Sloane and Jake has created some tension between the two, so Sloane decides they need time away together. When Tom Molina, his detective buddy from West Virginia, offers the two a chance to join he and his son, TJ, on a hiking trip, Sloane cautiously agrees. His concern over subjecting Tom and his son to Jake is justified when Jake leads TJ right into trouble, trouble that takes them straight to court where a questionable small-town judge sentences them to a military camp before Sloane and Molina can even arrive at the courthouse.

The town's people fear the judge, so even though many similar situations have occurred in this court house, no one has ever challenged the judge or his methods. Sloane and Molina, however, have no intention of sitting back submissively and accepting these wrongs. But will their efforts to right the wrongs cost their sons too much? Will it cost Sloane and Molina too much?

While this is Dugoni's fifth novel in the series, this is my first experience with his work.  I had no problems following the plot or characters; Dugoni works in background information subtly and sufficiently to keep readers informed enough to enjoy the current book's events.

I listened to The Conviction audio, narrated by Dan John Miller.  While I'm not a fan of Miller's representation of female characters--he seems to try too hard at being female and not as hard at being that character--it wasn't a major factor in this novel. The number of female characters was limited, given the focus on a male military camp. On the flip side, I think Miller does an amazing job with male characters and has a great range for age, personality and tone.

Most parents would probably never even imagine their child would end up in a military camp, so I hesitate to say it's every parent's nightmare. But the scenario that Dugoni develops around a concept that is absolutely real--while not quite as popular as a few decades ago--will create those unimagined nightmares. The group mentality, the desire for power, the broken spirits, it's not much different than a nightmare the world faced in World War II. Miller narrates this scenario beautifully. He brings out the desperation in Sloane and Molina, the ego in the small-town judge, the blinding fear in TJ, an innocent boy who just wanted to make friends.

The character I am most impressed with from both the creation by Dugoni and the narration by Miller is Jake. His lack of years doesn't prevent him from having an array of layers. His feelings of desertion result in attempts to be independent. But he's still just a child with the same needs as any human being. Dugoni makes certain that shows in small flashes of compassion and kindness. His character is heart-breaking and all too real.

The plot is well crafted with several twists that keep readers on their toes. Miller keeps the intensity high without over-exaggerating, so nothing comes across as unrealistic or contrived.

The Conviction was a great audio experience, and I'm certain it is a great print experience as well. While I can't speak to Dugoni's previous work or make any comparisons, I can say that The Conviction hooked me and I'll definitely read more.

The Conviction is available on audio (ISBN: 978-1611063837) from Brilliance Audio and in hardcover print (ISBN: 978-1451606720) from Touchstone books.

You Have the Right to Six Words - We Now Return to Our Regular Schedule

O.k., we had a couple weeks of "special" editions of You Have The Right To Six Words. And while we have more special folks to highlight, we're back on our regular format for Week 19. I decided to make this edition of "You Have the Right to Six Words" brought to you by the letter "R". You will notice that we have a lot of "R" names today, actually everyone has an "R" name. I didn't do that on purpose or else I would have scheduled it last week so that the "R" week could be on Week 18, because "R" is the 18th letter of the alphabet. But, I digress so let's get started before I get off track again.

We'll start off this week with a clinical psychologist from New Jersey. Roberta Isleib is the author of the Golf Lover's Mysteries and the Advice Column Mysteries. She originally took up writing to justify all the time she was spending on the golf course - because it was research, you know! Her Golf Lover's Mysteries earned her nominations for both Agatha and Anthony awards. Then in 2007 she began the Advice Column Mysteries. Roberta has been active in the International Sisters in Crime organization as well as the New England chapter of SIC. According to Roberta, "the work of the detective in a mystery has quite a bit in common with long-term psychotherapy: Start with a problem, follow the threads looking for clues, and gradually fill in the big picture." She lives in Connecticut with her family and says:

My heaven: Eating, reading, writing,
friends.

Our next memoirist this week is originally from Johannesburg, South Africa, and now lives in Cape Town. Roger Smith is the author of a highly successful debut thriller novel titled MIXED BLOOD that is slated to be adapted for a film with Samuel L. Jackson. MIXED BLOOD is Roger's first novel, but he's no stranger to writing as he has written, directed and produced for both film and television. His second thriller is due out in February of 2010 and is titled WAKE UP DEAD. When Roger describes how his experiences in Johannesburg and then in Cape Town combined with a news story and his wondering "what if" gave voice to MIXED BLOOD, it's obvious how his memoir would be:

Came to me in a dream.

In April I had the pleasure of attending a panel at the L.A. Times Book Festival with our next author. Critics have compared New York Times bestselling author Robert "Bob" Dugoni's writing to that of both John Grisham and David Baldacci. But he didn't come to the crime fiction world right away. After graduating from Stanford with degrees in communications/journalism and creative writing, Bob spent a short time working as a reporter before he went back to law school. Armed with a law degree from UCLA, Bob began practicing law in San Francisco and on the side he did some acting with the American Conservatory Theater. That same little voice inside him that drove his undergraduate degree choice continued to nag at Bob and one day he confronted his wife to say he didn't want to practice law anymore, he wanted to be a writer. And the crime fiction community is lucky that his wife was supportive of him following his dream. Bob and family moved to Seattle where he began to write and write and write. Since then Bob has published three legal thriller novels and a non-fiction work, THE CYANIDE CANARY. His most recent novel, WRONGFUL DEATH, was published in April of this year and brings back his protagonist, David Sloane, from Bob's debut novel, THE JURY MASTER.

Bob put everything on the line to follow his passion for writing and it has paid off in spades. Is it any wonder his memoir is

Follow DREAMS. The money will come.

Anchoring the memoirs today is a woman who started her career as an architect. Yes indeed, S. J. Rozan was an architect in a firm that specialized in police stations, fire houses and...zoos? But her life's calling simply wasn't there. She went to work as an architect because she believed that writing was a career that the average person just didn't do. But when the urge to write continued to rattle inside her, she decided to give it a shot. Now eleven novels and many short stories later, writing is something she just does! And she does it well. She has earned the Edgar, Anthony, Nero and Macavity awards for doing what she does best. Most recently she has released SHANGHAI MOON, which is the ninth book in her popular Lydia Chin/Bill Smith P.I. series.

Being a Buckeye, and a Northeast Ohio Buckeye at that, I must mention that S.J. Rozan is a graduate of Oberlin College. She earned her Masters in Architecture from SUNY Buffalo. S.J. has served on the national boards of both Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She also served as president of the Private Eye Writers of America. But S.J. Rozan has just one question:

I'm old enough for memoirs already?

Well, I suppose if Mylie Cyrus or Serena Williams can write a memoir, so can S.J. Rozan but we're counting on her being around in the crime fiction world for awhile to come! My sincerest thanks to all of our memoirists this week: Roberta, Roger, Bob and S.J. I'm so honored to have you join the project!

I hope everyone has enjoyed these wonderful contributions this week. After 19 weeks, we haven't had a boring or bad week yet. And there's still more fun to come. So definitely check in next week: same time, same place...more fun!

On the Bouchercon front, I have an exciting announcement to make. Well, exciting for me anyway. If you haven't already heard my obnoxious outbursts on Twitter or Facebook, I won a "Hot Ticket" to spend an hour in a small group with Michael Connelly! By small group, I mean 10 people! I am incredibly psyched about this opportunity and it's just one more reason to be elated about 15 days to Bouchercon!!

The L.A. Times Festival of Books - Saturday

Well, I planned and I plotted and I made it to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I attended the festival on Saturday and it was simply amazing.



I have to start off thanking my friend Michael Alatorre because he secured my panel tickets. He sent me an e-mail earlier saying "good news and bad news." The first two panels I wanted to attend he easily got the tickets for, but the panel with Robert Crais sold out immediately. However, he said, I'm not giving up. There are still some chances that we could get in. Well, Michael got us in! He went to the festival first thing Saturday morning and snagged some of the tickets that they hold back from Ticket Master. So as my sister was driving us from Oceanside to L.A., he called to give me the good news. I literally squealed into the phone. Very unbecoming, I know, but I was excited!! Robert Crais is who ignited this who trip for me in the first place. I wanted to see him!! But here is the man who made it all happen, my friend Michael:




So, we arrived on the UCLA campus and parked. Then we headed to Dodd Hall where all three of my panels would take place throughout the day. The very first panel was at 10:30 and it was titled "A Dark and Stormy Night." The moderator was Lee Goldberg (who writes the Monk books based on the TV series) and the panelists were Jan Burke, Stephen J. Cannell, Robert Dugoni and yes, it is so, Craig Johnson! Here are a few pics, but the light wasn't conducive to pictures, so they aren't a great quality:






The panel started by talking about developing a series. All the panelists have series and none of them set out with the idea to create a series. Stephen Cannell had experience with series having written for several television series before starting to write crime novels. Craig Johnson offered up the advice that Tony Hillerman offered him, "don't forget, it's about the characters. That's the A-number-one rule." Robert Dugoni's advice was "every book needs to surprise the reader."

Lee pointed out that Craig Johnson's considered not just a crime fiction writer but also a literary writer. Craig responded by saying he feels that the readers are at a high level and expect a great deal from the books they are reading. One of the elements he values (surprise, surprise) is humor! He shared another tidbit of advice, a tidbit he received from his training officer when he was a police patrolman, "You can lose your badge; you can even lose your gun; as long as you don't lose your sense of humor, you'll be alright." I think he's doing pretty dandy in that arena. Craig said that when he starts a book, he looks for a social issue he wants to address through the novel.

When asked if they felt a need to "break out" or chance losing their jobs in writing, Robert Dugoni pointed out that people in the publishing industry need to remember they aren't competing with each other but rather they're on the same team. As he pointed out, "there are enough great books to go around." And ultimately, you have "write honestly." Stephen reinforced this point by saying it's about the quality of the books. If the quality is there, the rest will take care of itself.

When Lee asked the panel to address the issue of "the audience has seen it all," Craig started to describe the readers as "cheap dates" and then decided, "I think that's all I'm going to say about that." The entire audience was laughing. It was truly a fun panel.

Lee Goldberg did an excellent job as moderator, and the audience enjoyed many laughs throughout the hour.

After this panel, we had a little time to roam and check out the various booths. Of course there were many booths and we didn't see all of them, but I made sure to see the important ones: Mysterious Galaxy Books, Los Angeles Sisters in Crime, and the Mystery Bookstore's booth. The Mystery Bookstore piggy-backed with SoCal's MWA organization, where I bought a GREAT t-shirt. I'm going to have to check and see if more MWA chapters have great t-shirts like this. I say this as though I actually need more t-shirts!






I also especially liked this booth. A better message couldn't be expressed!


I'll finish up the second half of the day with tomorrow's post. Hope you'll check back to hear about my panel with Michael Koryta and of course the final panel with Robert Crais!

Happy Reading!