It's funny how a lot of people can't believe that someone they know is both capable of and willing to write a novel. For someone not that excited about reading one, writing a book seems a Herculean task, an incredible number of words piled together, beyond comprehending. I actually got the comment above from someone I know well. She could not believe, as she flipped through a book that she will never even attempt, that I knew that many words and could set them down in some logical…

'Just a little more eyeliner,' says the impossibly beautiful make up artist.

I'm at some TV studios in Old Street to promote Damaged Goods. I've done a lot of radio ( frankly I've got the face and arse for it ) but I've never before graced the screen.

I check my reflection. I'm wearing more make up than Boy George. My skin is so orange I look like a burnt satsuma.

'It won't look so heavy under the lights,' says the make up artist who I can't help noticing wears nothing…

'Just a little more eyeliner,' says the impossibly beautiful make up artist.

I'm at some TV studios in Old Street to promote Damaged Goods. I've done a lot of radio ( frankly I've got the face and arse for it ) but I've never before graced the screen.

I check my reflection. I'm wearing more make up than Boy George. My skin is so orange I look like a burnt satsuma.

'It won't look so heavy under the lights,' says the make up artist who I can't help noticing wears nothing…

This week's bad news is that we’ve had a computer meltdown at home, making it impossible for us to update my web site. This means that none of the real news can appear there. It's a good thing you read this blog.



The good news is that I had a good time and made some new friends at the Borders Express in Dulles Town Center. In fact, they were so pleased with the results that they invited me to return and do it…

Now that I've at last been published in the USA, I've had some intriguing reactions from readers but it was one recent one that provoked this blog. He wrote to say that he was halfway through and enjoying Material Evidence very much. I was flattered, wrote back and, in the course of the email, asked him 'OK, whodunnit, then?'

A couple of days later, I got another, 600 word email in reply. He was still just over halfway through the book but was confident that he knew who the…

After posting the first paragraph of this fabulous little book the other day on my own site, I've finished it and written up a review in more detail (the link below will take you there).

All I can say is that this book felt so "French" to me, that I found reading it an absolute joy. Okay - strange comment, one of the central characters does a line in depressed and pathetic that would make you want to slash your wrists

if you met him in a pub (or his, depending upon how much…

Mystery and thriller writers vary in age, sex, religion, political persuasion, hair color, as well as lack of hair, and in so many areas, I’d better stop here, but you get the point. So many differences, that it is amazing we are, more often than not, quiet-living, loving people, eager to help fellow writers, who are our competitors in a field that narrows almost daily.

While most of us sit down alone and face the cold, blank page on our computer, our characters also share a trait.…

Webb Sawyers Stilt House at Blue Heron Marsh, Nags Head, NC

This is the lead-in to an interview of Webb Sawyer by Douglas Quinn. Webb Sawyer is Douglas Quinn’s main character in his mystery novel Blue Heron Marsh. DQ thought this would be an interesting way to introduce readers to his book and characters. The full interview…

Posted by Sheila Connolly

I'm sitting here feeling guilty because I had planned/hoped/promised to go somewhere and do something this afternoon, and instead I'm sitting at my desk working. I'm doing research for my next book, which involves lovely things like poisons and symptoms of poisoning, and what these poisons are used for (when not to kill someone), and how quickly they act. Fun way to spend an afternoon, no?

The thing is, the event I'm not attending…

If you publish, you have to be ready to take criticism. It may come from an idiot in a crowd who wants to make himself look important, it may come from a well-meaning acquaintance who feels the need to point out an error that it's too late to change, or it may come from a clinical professional. However it arrives, criticism is like a needle under your skin, a short burst of pain and a lasting sting that is hard to ignore.

We want to be understood, and when people pick at our work, we…

When I began this blog I promised to make it personal and talk about what was going on in my writing life. I figure that will involve sharing the actual metrics – how many words written, events attended, submissions made – but that data will require some context. What kind of writer am I? Well actually, I’m all kinds.

I am a Print on Demand author. Two of my novels were first published by a POD publisher and…

I scheduled a book signing in Lafayette, In. The reason I am so delighted is very simple, it is in an art gallery called Artists’ Own.

My heroine is an artist, and I have been trying to do something different and creative. Book signings in art galleries fits…

Are you ready for Love is Murder?

If you are traveling, prepare for cold. Chicago + Jan/Feb = extreme cold. Possibly snow as an added treat.

Is this your first time? Prepare to have fun, but you may want to bring:

-notebook to jot down book titles, names, websites to check out at home

-business cards or a handout about your writing

-Printed out schedule marked with things you want to do. You'll get an updated version there, but be thinking ahead, as there are…

by Guest Blogger Serita Stevens

“We’re going to meet at Gino’s East on Wabash and Dearborn,” one character says to another.

What is wrong with that statement? If someone knows what you are saying is blatantly false the reader will close the book and probably never read your work again. Everyone makes mistakes but most research is easily done and correctable.

Anyone living in Chicago or having been to the Windy City will know the famous Pizzeria Gino’s East; they…

Hello all,



I realize that many of you are on my off-Crimespace mailing list, and have therefore received my latest newsletter. But the shocking fact is that a lot of you have not yet signed up for that mailing list!



So, I'll share that newsletter with you here. To view it, simply click here.



If you want to be sure to receive future newsletters directly, sign up for my mailing list by clicking…

Historical fiction author Jennifer Donnelly answers questions about her latest book and her work.

Click here for the full interview.