All Blog Posts (12,730)

What people who don't read read

I've been building up my network of friends on MySpace for a couple of months now, trying to find potential readers beyond the usual mystery crowd. MySpace conveniently asks a lot of personal questions, which helps me play my hunches about who might like a book entitled Death Will Get You Sober. One of the more fascinating discoveries I've made exploring this giant cybercultural petrie dish is that there are a host of people out there who don't read at all. On the lists of interests and… Continue

Added by Elizabeth Zelvin on April 9, 2007 at 12:21am — 8 Comments

Great Googally-Moogally!

The Short Mystery Fiction Society presents the Derringer Award for several categories of short fiction - including Flash fiction of 500 words or less and Longer Short Stories of over 6,000 words. To indulge in a bit of horn tooting and back patting, I have been nominated. Quite exciting. Never been nominated for anything other than committee work at the different colleges I've worked at and the churches I've attended. It makes me feel like I've finally done something well enough to justify…

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Added by Steven Torres on April 8, 2007 at 11:50pm — 4 Comments

A-Z Killing Spree - Verses H-M

H is for Harold, who disliked Hankypanky

When his wife said `yes please', he replied `Oh, no thank `ee'

When shot with a Harpoon he died in the Hydrangeas

And his wife laid the blame on a party of strangers.

I is for Idris, travelling through Indonesia

When he started to suffer strange bouts of amnesia

And pains he assumed a bug of the Intestinal persuasion,

But which turned out to be Invading alien… Continue

Added by Donna Moore on April 8, 2007 at 5:30pm — 4 Comments

on growing old

You know it is a sad thing when you reach the stage where you have to parent your own parent. If you are lucky this is a person whom you have looked up to your whole life. Really for me my mom was my first real life hero. She was strong and independent in a time when moms, and women in general, were not. Yes she got married and had kids but that did not, in and of itself, define her. And when that marriage ended she taught me more about grit, determination and strength than anyone every…

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Added by Kat on April 8, 2007 at 1:56pm — 3 Comments

Happy Birthday, Jimbo

Congratulations are due actor James Garner (aka Jim Rockford of The Rockford Files) on his 79th birthday today!

Read more here: http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2007/04/happy-birthday-jimbo.html

Added by J. Kingston Pierce on April 8, 2007 at 11:13am — No Comments

Thanks to everyone for visiting my page. I obviously spent more time here setting up everything but I'm always looking for something a little different. I'd like to track my books here, so may only b…

Thanks to everyone for visiting my page. I obviously spent more time here setting up everything but I'm always looking for something a little different. I'd like to track my books here, so may only blog when I finish a book. Right now I am 2/3 of the way through Stealing the Dragon by Tim Maleeny and am enjoying it quite a bit. I like Cape Weathers (the PI) and look forward to future outings. Tim if you are reading this, send me a ARC of Beating the Babushka and I will definitely read and…

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Added by Gumshoe Carl on April 8, 2007 at 10:32am — No Comments

Holt, Victoria –KIRKLAND REVELS

KIRKLAND REVELS

(Gothic Suspense-England-1800s) – G+

Holt, Victoria

– 2^nd book

Fawcett Crest, 1962-US Paperback

First Sentence: I met Gabriel and Friday

on the same day, and, strangely enough I lost them together; so that

thereafter, I was never able to think of one without the other.

Catherine Corder marries Gabriel Rockwell more out of affection and to escape an unaffectionate… Continue

Added by LJ Roberts on April 8, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

Birds and antiques

Not feeling very well today, I have to say. Seems to be the same, strange sub-flu-ey thing I had a month or so ago. Aches, a deep weariness and something that's not quite a full-blown cold, which comes in waves. Still, at least it's familiar. Or maybe it's the onset of the menopause, and I should expect sweaty nights and long periods of fancying younger men (cue Lord H's cry: how will I tell the difference then?...)? The plot thickens.

Anyway, due to the above we decided to…

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Added by Anne Brooke on April 8, 2007 at 6:16am — No Comments

Luchalicous!

Keith Rainville, Raf Navarro and Dan Madigan are signing LUCHA NOIR

and MONDO LUCHA A GO-GO at Dark Delicacies today at 2pm. I’ll be… Continue

Added by Christa Faust on April 8, 2007 at 4:28am — No Comments

Reading Slump

I have been in a terrible reading slump for several weeks. I have had difficulty reading the authors that I usually enjoy. Hopefully this slump will pass soon.

Added by Lillian Porter on April 8, 2007 at 4:09am — 1 Comment

Where's Michael?

Packing to move. Thirty boxes of books and no end in sight! I close on a fine new house Wednesday and I am trying to be all ready to exit the current one, ASAP so that it can get a quick paint job and clean up. I need it to sell fast.

Consequently, I'm not being very active on line.

I was very impressed with Janet Maslin's review of "What the Dead Know" by Laura Lippman and I am looking forward to reading it, but I'm sure as hell not buying any more books… Continue

Added by Michael C. Jacobs on April 8, 2007 at 3:34am — No Comments

The Best Private Eyes of the Last Twenty Years or So...

I know they're out there, but who are they? There are the obvious ones, the usual suspects that anyone rumbling through this Crimespace scene could pick put of any lineup.

But what about those private gumshoes that rocked our world but never quite made the big time? Or made it, and then quietly slipped away? What about the coulda-been and the shoulda-been contenders? The one-shot wonders?

I'm doing an article, and it isn't so much who I include that I worry about; it's… Continue

Added by Kevin Burton Smith on April 8, 2007 at 2:15am — 5 Comments

Mystery Conference in Omaha

I hope everyone will take a moment and visit the Mayhem in the Midlands Conference website. http://www.omahapubliclibrary.org/mayhem/index.html

If you get a chance to attend, it is highly recommended.

Added by Ben Brick on April 8, 2007 at 12:58am — No Comments

Dan J. Marlowe

Hi, I'm doing a lot of research on Dan J. Marlowe, the hard-boiled writer who wrote THE NAME OF THE GAME IS DEATH. I'm always looking for new sources of information about him, so if you know anybody who can help me out, please put me in touch. Thanks.

Added by Charles Kelly on April 8, 2007 at 12:26am — 1 Comment

The Great Girl Scout Cookie Mystery

Ya know what has become quite a mystery to me over the last five years? Girl Scout cookies--more specifically, why people order them and then refuse to pay for them? Over the last five years the kid unit has been with the Girl Scout organization, we have steadily decreased the number of people we ask to order cookies each year. And each year, there are new folks to add to the list of 'Those We Won't Ask Next Year Because They Didn't Pay This Year." It's strange to me!

One thing I…

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Added by Laine on April 7, 2007 at 11:21pm — 1 Comment

A Pattern?

Okay, I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here. I've had

several rejections lately (which proves I've been submitting), and of

course I'm bummed. But I think they also tend to prevent me from

writing the day I receive them.

Today we drove into Corpus Christi so I could have my ear checked which

had an infection--it's all better. But that broke my routine of

writing in the morning. Yesterday I did my 1,000 words, but

didn't submit anything. Today… Continue

Added by Jan Christensen on April 7, 2007 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Johnson, Craig – KINDNESS GOES UNPUNISHED

KINDNESS GOES

UNPUNISHED (Police Procedural-NYC-Cont) – VG

Johnson, Craig – 3^rd in series

Viking, 2007- US Hardcover – ISBN:

978-670031573

First Sentence: I didn’t wear my gun.

Wyoming Sheriff Walt Longmire joins his friend Henry Standing Bear on a trip to Philadelphia for Henry’s photographic exhibit

at the museum and for Walt to visit his daughter, Cady, and meet… Continue

Added by LJ Roberts on April 7, 2007 at 9:00am — No Comments

Day with Mother, and murderous locals

Argghhh!! Oh, sorry, that just slipped out. Apologies ... But, hey, I've done my Easter mother visit, so I can be Good Daughter for a while. It wasn't so bad actually, bearing in mind that she seemed unable to stop talking even when I was virtually asleep on the sofa and she was promising to be quiet for five minutes. Which gave Lord H the giggles, I must say. Still, I suppose my stepfather is not big on conversation, so I imagine Mother probably has to get all the words out at once.…

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Added by Anne Brooke on April 7, 2007 at 7:01am — No Comments

Rob Walker's Blog Today

Hi Folks,

You may want to check out Rob Walker's blog today about breaking writing rules successfully It's located at our group blog at:

acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com

Morgan Mandel

Added by Morgan Mandel on April 7, 2007 at 6:18am — No Comments

Keeping someone up all night

Is there anything nicer for a writer than being told you're responsible for keeping someone up all night to finish your book? I don't think so. I just found out about a great advance review of Glitter of Diamonds on Armchair Interviews.

That reminds me. When my first mystery, Shaded Light, came out, my daughter-in-law had a six-week old baby. She ended up reading SL far into… Continue

Added by N. J. Lindquist on April 7, 2007 at 6:16am — No Comments