My friend Essie from Nashville isn't your typical L.A. tourist. No, she doesn't want to do Hollywood or the Getty. She wants to see the Watts Towers and the Virgen de Guadalupe murals outside liquor stores in Boyle Heights (East Los Angeles). Good thing my husband is from Boyle Heights; he's the perfect tour guide.

I like Essie because she makes me see things in a new way. She really believes long…

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She was one of my favorite writers in high school. In fact, my AP English essay was on one of her novels, SUMMER BEFORE THE DARK. I think that I may even have unconsciously named my first mystery after that book!

Poor children's book author Lisa Yee. Her computer broke down, taking with it her latest manuscript. She bruised her face after sustaining a fall. And at a book festival this weekend, the bookseller made a mistake and ordered piles of books by Lisa See, the bestselling novelist for grownups.

Instead of being defeated, she directs her blog readers to a Wall Street Journal online piece about these "last lecture" series in which invited professors deliver a lecture as if it is their…

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BookWorld, headquartered in Florida, has shuttered its doors, reports Publishers Weekly. I'm not sure what publishers used BookWorld, but it's getting clearer that small presses either need to handle direct distribution themselves or get large enough so that Ingrams or Baker and Taylor will be willing to work with them.

Publishers Weekly reports this morning that PMA, the independent book publishers group, is taking a strong stance against the online sale of galleys. It is encouraging its members to no longer do business with Internet outlets who sell galleys and is revoking an abebooks.com fee discount from its membership benefits. The story reports that 200,000 galleys are listed for sale just on abebooks.com! Ouch.