By Guest Blogger Jacquelyn Mitchard, author of The Deep End of the Ocean and Still Summer

There are these phrases that spring from the pens of pundits and spread outward through the culture.

"Yuppie" (the derivation of which scarcely anyone considers anymore, but which was supposed coined by erstwhile essayist Bob Greene to mean Young Upwardly Mobile Person) is a good example. There are scads of other such phrases: Both Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton were called "Teflon…

BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE (Unlicensed Investigator, Jack Reacher, Los Angeles, Cont) – G+

Child, Lee - 11th in series

Bantam Press, 2007, US Hardcover – ISBN:

9780593057018

First Sentence: The man was called Calvin Franz and the helicopter was a Bell

222.

Former…

Was working through the personal strength questions in my "Authentic Happiness" book this morning whilst on the exercise bike (and, yes, I was peddling ...) and have found out that my humility score is excessively low (no surprises there then) but my appreciation of beauty & excellence score is rather high, thank you very much. Pause for bowing and self-congratulatory applause ... Lord H attempted to cheer me up about my appalling lack of humility by suggesting that perhaps…

"Jeff Markowitz approaches the mystery genre with a rare and refreshing sense of humor, bringing his readers on a journey through an entertaining world where his characters are intelligent, fun and wonderfully lovable."

Thank you.

Murder, He Wrote - An Interview with Jeff Markowitz

You didn't know this but all of you were with us at the Malice Domestic conference this past weekend. As Sisters in Crime celebrated their 20th Anniversary all weekend the energy from members was incredible. We thank all of you for your participation in Sisters in Crime.

SinC did have their traditional breakfast kicked off by Parnell Hall with the short version of the Sisters in Crime song. To view lyrics go to…

Posted by Leann Sweeney

This is a continuation from last week's post, mainly because I am currently working through the editorial stages a writer experiences before publication. I never heard a thing about this process before I signed my first contract. No one told me. No one talked about it. The "writer's mistake" I spoke of last week gives me great insight into how my brain works, but my editor seems to have far greater insight. Don't know if that's a good thing. Kind of scary,…

Whenever Laura Lippman takes a break from her witty, well-written series featuring PI Tess Monaghan, the results are stand-alone novels noticeably more smober in tone and perhaps more personal in their topics. But these works have also quietly expanded the definitions of a "crime novel" (especially with THE POWER OF THREE) and rank Lippman among the finest authors working today. And this is certainly the case with her latest work, WHAT THE DEAD KNOW.

The book opens with a woman…

Enjoyed the opera last night, but have to say it wasn’t the best production I’ve seen, and I was very tired, so found it hard to concentrate at all. The sets were nice and the singers were good – but I wasn’t convinced by the band. Not that I’m musical at all (heck, I can’t even read the stuff) but it just sounded off-key here and there to me. I was also a bit disappointed with the spectacle side of it – Ellen Kent operas usually have something exciting happening – eg real golden eagles,…

Posted by Jeanne Munn Bracken

I have been a member of DorothyL, the online mystery community, for well over ten years. Early on, I noticed that some very famous people were "on" DL--or were they? Harriet Vane, Lord Peter Wimsey...oh, wait, they're not real.

It turned out that DL listmembers often chose what they called "noms de clavier" for their online names. Huh? I knew about Bach's "Well Tempered Clavier", which was an organ or maybe a harpsichord. Eventually I…

Anyone familiar with the PI Elvis Cole novels of Robert Crais knows that Joe Pike, Cole's shadowy partner, is one of those fictional "Competent Men." You know tha type -- exhaustively trained, intensely experienced, and in any and all situations...competent (like Ian Fleming's James Bond or, more currently, Lee Child's Jack Reacher). So we know that a man like Joe Pike, ex-Marine, ex-L.A. police officer, ex-mercenary, is more than capable of getting out of any trouble he finds himself in.…

Managed to squeeze in the first pass through my HagsHarlotsHeroines (http://www.hagsharlotsheroines.co.uk) interview today, as well as having a good look through later on and sending it to Laura (http://www.myspace.com/lauracwilkinson) for comment. I hope she likes it – or most of it – I’ve tried to be as honest as possible, but am…