Right?





Well, that's what I used to think and it is what a lot of aspiring novelists think. And so, since I teach writing at the UCLA Extension School (yup, I'm in New England – I do it online), I blogged today on the UCLA Writers' Program blog about what it feels like when those boxes arrive – and what you can look forward to!…









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Hi folks,



I'm bursting. CRIES AND WHISKERS, the new Theda Krakow/Musetta mystery, is here! Well, my boxes have arrived, anyway. The advance press has been gratifying and the book should be appearing in stores (and Amazon, etc.) over the next few weeks. However, this is the gift giving season. So if you are interested and you'd like to make SURE you get your copy, or if you want an autographed and/or personalized copy for yourself or to give, please consider ordering from one of the… Continue

Now that I have your attention, let me state for the record: I would never shoot a cat in one of my books (and certainly never in real life). I may have multiple human victims in my mysteries, but all my cats have happy endings (and if I ruin some of the suspense for readers by saying that, so be it. I don't like reading books in which animals are harmed, and as a reader, I'd want to know that.)



But there's a case in Texas that has been on my mind, and those of animal lovers… Continue

Is Patricia Cornwell's forensic protagonist Kay Scarpetta too far gone? Has she been hounded, wounded, pushed beyond sympathy? That's a question I was mulling as I wrote this review of the new "Book of the Dead" for the Boston Globe.



I was a huge fan of Cornwell when she started, and I still think few do the forensics – the sheer science – of murder better. But, is it… Continue

Got this right after I dropped Deb Grabien off at the T. Deb was our guest while in town to promote two (count'em!) new books, New-Slain Knight and… Continue

A big THANK YOU to the Cheshire Cat Club of Edgewater, NJ. The friendly folks there had me speak at their cat show yesterday, and it was a blast. Despite getting lost in Fort Lee, we managed to make it to the show in time for the cat fashion show, which was frankly hilarious. None of the cats seemed to mind, maybe they… Continue