Yesterday gave us perfect bookselling and book signing weather. Both "Secrets Can't Be Kept Forever" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Plague of Dracula" did quite well. I hope to be there next year.

Paul Vanotti

paulvanotti@gmail.com

This is one chapter of an unfinished novel set in San Francisco..

They’d planned to be out in four minutes, but the watch strapped over Nick Sotto’s black glove already read twenty seconds past the five minute-mark.  With his back to the wall facing the Grant Avenue door, he swung the short barrel of…

If you're going to be in in or near Woodstock, Vermont tomorrow, I'll be signing "Secrets Can't Be Kept Forever" and "Sherlock Holmes and the Plague of Dracula" from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

I have been using Facebook to let independent bookstores about my two current novels. A surprising number of them were pleased to hear from me, and especially my publisher's "indepdendent bookstores first" policy. 

Now let's hope the books aren't total train wrecks.

Prostitute Diana Andrews has a business problem, and his name is John Doe.

Available here.

What is the secret to good crime writing? No one better to ask than a group of Australia's leading crime writers. Their conclusions are fascinating, provocative, often surprising, and they are all drawn from the hard school of personal experience. What pieces of advice do the writers have in common? That there is no substitute for hard work! One tells us there is no such thing as writer's block - "just do it" is a common theme. There is a fun part though: research. The writers could not vary…

It is often difficult to find a new author and one whose novels you think you might enjoy but libraries are a great place for dipping your toe in the water, or rather for letting your fingers do the choosing and there is also a handy little book that can help with that. I came across this when I was appearing at Chichester Library recently with fellow crime…

I love to read two kinds of novels- crime thrillers, supernatural tales and espionage thrillers. But my favorite amongst these three are crime thrillers.Why? Not only because we have some of the best writers in these two categories- Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, James Patterson, Val McDermid, Stieg Larsson, Robert Ludlum, Michael Connolly, Thomas Harris....the list goes on.

But because the main attraction is the darkness in human beings explored in these gritty thrillers. And what…

I am absolutely fascinated with psychopaths, sociopaths, narcissists, and anti social personality disorders. Having recently experienced this in my last relationship and feeling grateful I’m OK and healing, I want to continue my studies on this cluster B personality type.  If I can help even ONE woman, I will do it selflessly.  Sandra L Brown is a pioneer in the forefront for victims of this personality type.  I’ve read both her books and subscribe to her newsletter.  She’s awesome!  And now…

The world of publishing is very much like playing craps in Vegas. No matter how hard a writer evaluates a publishing house or tries to predict its future success before signing on the dotted line, the industry itself is as consistent as a roll of the dice.

There are calculations you can make based on factors such as the length of time the house has been in business, the size of its stable of authors, the number of titles and presence on the Internet. But, getting information…

In case anyone here owns a bookstore, I would like you to know that my publisher, MX Publishing USA, values independent bookstores and has a policy of making its books available to them before the large chains and online retailers get them.

http://www.mxpublishing.com/index.html

 …

PH.D IN MURDER is a cozy mystery short by bestselling author @RBarriFlowers, now in eBook.

A doctoral student’s independent study reenactment of the well-known and still unsolved murder of Marilyn Sheppard ends with a modern day murder and killer on the loose.

Also includes a bonus mystery suspense short, “Kill and Say…

From R. Barri Flowers, award winning criminologist and internationally bestselling author of THE SEX SLAVE MURDERS, comes a riveting new true crime short, THE SEX SLAVE MURDERS 2: The Chilling Story of Serial Killers Fred and Rosemary West.

The gripping tale chronicles the lives of Britain’s most infamous serial killer couple. Over…

This is Stephen King at his best, which is a relief after the disappointing "Under the Dome."

The novel deals with the perils of time travel, and the consequences of interfering in history. The protagonist, Jake Epping, is given the opportunity to prevent the Kennedy assassination, but there is a catch: the portal's entry point is fixed in 1958, which means Jake has a lot of time to fill. He does this by creating two lives for himself: one in Dallas-Fort Worth to keep an eye…

Get ready to set sail on an adventure filled with swashbuckling pirates, true love, and a secret that could kill. Determined to discover his destiny, Percival Taylor leaves behind his sleepy hometown and sets out to become a legendary…

Over a hundred people turned out on a hot July afternoon to listen to me talking about murder, mystery and mayhem. I was honoured and delighted to entertain Hamble Valley U3A with a talk about crime writing and my crime novels.

The audience were very friendly and it was good to meet some DI Andy Horton fans and introduce my crime novels to some new readers.

U3As are self-help, self-managed lifelong learning co-operatives for older people no longer in full time…