Always happy to share. Thanks for the friend request. If I had time now, I would send you the amusing sentence from The Maltese Falcon where Hammitt artfully avoided using the MF phrase (I think it was), because such things weren't done then. It really stood out when I read the book recently. I may have posted it around here once during some previous heated exchange.

Reading through it I see there's a lot of stuff on there that I wouldn't consider a "favorite" of mine. lol I just transferred over the films from my facebook account, and apparently anything that I "like" on there is automatically added to the list. That's good to know. That'll teach me not to copy paste stuff. I've scaled it down some.

lmao! Yeah I like a lot of movies, but that's not even close to how many I've actually seen.

thank you Jack...

Jack-
Thanks so much. High praise from you. I was glad for us, but mostly for David Thompson's memory. I cried in front of 1000 people. Very liberating experience. See you in Philly.

Thanks for your comments and encouragement, Jack! We're "Jungle Red Writers"! And they're a bunch of pretty independent women...

excellent points about John D. Definitely a heavy dose of macho. (I believe I did that friend approval but I will doublecheck; still getting used to CS software)
JohnW

Jack,
thanks for the invite! Must confess that Cussler also lost me after his first efforts.

But don't get me started on John D MacDonald. I re-read him regularly.

best regards
John

Hey, Jack! I'm still getting the hang of this place...

Easily, if you see the trouble I've made here already.

Thanks for the welcome Jack. :)

As for Rendell---for me, she does have staying power, and I think that's because of her "humanity." She allows her characters to grow, to change, to admit their weaknesses---esp. her detective, Wexford. Even her criminals are never just stereotypes of evil, but complex individuals. Naturally I enjoy many other writers as well, but It's almost as though Rendell was the first mystery writer I discovered once I "outgrew" Agatha Christie, and read all the classic Dorothy Sayers and Josephine Tey---my other favorite, who didn't write nearly enough to satistfy me! I don't know how many people still read her, but she was another "master" of human psychology, and a wonderful writer. I remember enjoying Chandler too---something mesmerizing about those stories---or maybe it was the climate! :)

Thanks, Jack! I'm enjoying this forum so much, as a reader among all you writers. I hope I'm learning something too---it's quite stimulating!

Jack, I really appreciate your accepting me as a friend. I hope to learn much from your site.

For the time being,this is functionally my website. Although I still own JackBludis.com , I haven't redesigned it or transferred it, although I am hooked up with GoDaddy.

hey Jack - so glad to meet up here on CS -- and thanks for leaving cogent words on my discussion of coincidence betw life and art.
And yeah I am finishing up the Titanic 2012 book this month and publsihing it as a Kindle Original next month. Timeliness is of great importance and can't wait on traditional publishers to get on board in a timely manner so have turned to Kindle for my last several novels.

My website JackBludis.com is finicky. It's working now ... needs to be updated though.

Thanks, Jack. I'm planning to read your book, "Shadow of the Dahlia." I have a great interest in Los Angeles crime and that particular case.

Do you plan to go to Noircon next Nov? I have a book of short stories coming out in May, Florida Gothic Stories, so it's good timing for me to bring it. Also, I've forgotten about Rara Avis lately. Am I missing out on good stuff?
Vicki