I finally finished the third of my Al Pennyback mystery series. I've been working on this particular series for over eight years and have about ten rough drafts stored away. Every now and then, I get a call from the muse, and I take one out and begin to cut, slash, rewrite and agonize to get it into readable form. I think number three is better than the first two - "Memorial to the Dead" starts with a corpse in front of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC and starts our hero…

Back On Murder novelist J. Mark Bertrand interviewed on Hook’em & Book’em about his soon-to-b released murder mystery. Join us as the author tells about murder, suspense and a detective trying hard to get his police career Back On Murder.…

I hope I will see some of you at the Deadly Ink conference in Parsippany, NJ, June 25-27. Conference organizer Debby Buchanan has asked me to sit on two panels, one of short story writers, and the other called "Writing the Opposite Sex."

www.deadlyink.com

At my most recent book signing people asked me who I'd want to play Hannibal Jones on the screen (Duh! Shemar Moore.) But talking about whether my books should go to the big screen or become a drama series raised one of those odd grammar questions that keep me puzzled about our language.…

No, not weapons of mass destruction. WIP is Work in Progress and for me, that WIP just became a Work Maybe Done. "Maybe" is there because I can always find things I want to fix.

My WIP became a WMD last night, but already I'm thinking that I could tweak a couple of characters a bit so they're more understandable. And the part where the bad guy chases them through the house...maybe a bit more action? I'd better read it again.

Maybe for me there's no such thing as Done. Maybe I…

This month's meeting of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of Mystery Writers of America will feature the launch of "Bad Cop, No Donut," a collection of tales of cops behaving badly. I am one of the 15 crime writers represented in the anthology, and one of the four who will be at the meeting. After the reception at…

On 8 June at 7pm you can listen to my interview with Rob Richardson at Express FM talking about my crime novels. It is broadcast on 93.7 or you can listen live via the Express FM web site. The interview was recorded last Wednesday and I can't recall exactly what I said now but I do remember the music I chose, which might put you off, or not as the case might be.



For those who won't be listening to the interview or who are reading this after it has been broadcast I…

My book signing at the Borders Books in Warrenton, VA was a pleasant surprise. Traffic was worse than expected so I arrived late. But the staff members were especially supportive. The store had few visitors that evening but I still sold out of books in three hours. I was not quite as successful at Borders in White Marsh Mall, but I did…