Jackie Houchin

, Female

Profile Information:

Hometown:
Sun Valley, California
About Me:
I'm a photo-journalist, writing human interest stories, book and theater reviews, and the occasional investigative report for a local, weekly newspaper. I've written a children's mystery book and a children's fairy tale (think Princess Bride), and "Kinko" published them for my granddaughters. I have one yet to go. I've also written three serialized children stories. I'm a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, California Writers Club and Alameda Writers Group. I regularly post on Valleynews.com. I'm a reviewer for Mystery Scene Magazine, Crimespree and The Strand.
I Am A:
Reader, Writer
Books And Authors I Like:
I enjoy mysteries by Sue Grafton, Laura Childs, Earline Fowler, Lisa Scottoline, Michael Connelly, Stephen White, Jonathon Kellerman and Aaron Elkins (and a bunch more), and children's mystery writers Wendelin Van Draanen and Peter Abrahams.
Movies And TV Shows I Like:
LOST!! Monk, Psych, House, Bones, Survivor, Law & Order on TV, and The Chronicles of Narnia and the old, American Dreamer films. As you can see, I don't go to movies much.

Comment Wall:

  • Eric Stone

    Hi Jackie, good to see you here. I think this site has a lot of potential.

    Jul 29, 2007

  • Jackie Houchin

    Wow, Eric, that was quick. I barely stopped typing!

    Jul 29, 2007

  • Sheila Connolly

    Welcome! I lived in California for ten years, in another lifetime, within sight of the Golden Gate Bridge (if you stood on my roof).

    Sheila

    Jul 29, 2007

  • Julie Morrigan

    Great photos, Jackie. nice to meet you! Jools

    Jul 29, 2007

  • Julie Morrigan

    They're all good pix, but I must confess it was the cats that caught my eye. Your man looks good in the gangster gear, mind. Did you dress up, too?

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Jackie Houchin

    No costume for me. T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops are my favorite attire...preferably on a beach somewhere.

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Sheila Connolly

    I'm not sure I didn't--worked in the BofA building for six years, and had to keep pinching myself. That really was the Pacific Ocean out the window! (I grew up on the "other" coast.)

    Sheila

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Gayle Bartos-Pool

    Jackie, It's great to see the cat's pictures on your site. And thanks for getting the paper to put back some of the catroons we liked. Power to the People.

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Penny Rudolph

    Hey Jackie, Nice to hear from you and thanks so much for your comments and for the Mystery Scene review, which I haven't yet seen, but look forward to. I used to live in La Crescenta so maybe we were sorta neighbors once upon a time. I've been gone from the LA area for a while but I still miss it. The first Rachel novel was about the California water wars. I used to work for the water district, so it was resistable. It goes into trade paperback next month. Are you considering getting one of your children's books published? Nice meeting you and best of luck,

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Linda Ladd

    Thanks, Jackie, but I'm sure not counting on that! LOL. Hope I'll have that to look forward to someday, though. Nope, I sweat blood before each and every single book signing. ; ) Nice to meet you! I've always wished I was a photographer and could hang that cool press badge around my neck.

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Naomi Hirahara

    I think you'll enjoy STILL LIFE!

    Jul 30, 2007

  • Meredith Anthony

    Jackie-- Thanks for your note. I do love boxing, but it's less Ali's daughter than Million Year Old Baby. But I have a ball. I have a fast jab and a really powerful right! Meredith

    Jul 31, 2007

  • Jeff Sherratt

    Hi there, Jackie. Thanks for inviting me to join your page. I love the idea of writing stories for your granddaughters. What a nice thing to do!

    Jul 31, 2007

  • Lee Lofland

    I don't blame you. If I had not been speaking at the time I would have gone to Naomi and Christa's presentation, too.

    Good luck with your article. I have another one coming out in the next SinC national newsletter as well as one in the upcoming issue of The Writer magazine.

    My book will be available in stores on August 6. It's available online for pre-order now.

    Perhaps our paths will cross again, soon. I hope so.

    Jul 31, 2007

  • Dennis Venter

    Uh...I guess the great South African novel wasn't really about anything because it never really went anywhere. I kept gravitating towards mystery/crime and still do. So if/when I ever get back to novel writing, it'll be in that genre and with our crime rate, why the heck not?

    The Hollywood script is a feature film set in Arizona and is a thriller/heist/black comedy which, at the risk of evoking the wrath on the purists, is something like Nowhereville Noir.

    Dennis

    Aug 1, 2007

  • Alan Cook

    Hi Jackie,

    Glad you like the limericks. I was concerned at first about having my head cut off (it really is all there), but then I looked at some of the other pictures and figured it wasn't out of place.

    Aug 1, 2007

  • Lyn LeJeune

    Hi....you do like mysteries and crime from your profile. Glad to meet you. I'm also a writer. My book, The Beatitudes, will be out in the fall. I am donating all of the royalties to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation to help rebuild the libraries. My blogspit www.beatitudeinneworleans.blogspot.com decribes my Beatitudes Network, has excerpts, recipes and news. Hope you become my friend.

    Aug 5, 2007

  • L. A. Starks

    Thanks for your note. The initials are for Laura Ann. The trailer was put together by the woman who manages my website--it was very exciting to have it done. Her name is Clara Mizenko & I recommend her highly (Mizenko Web Design.)

    Aug 9, 2007

  • Mark Coggins

    Jackie, I just got the camera recently--sounds like you've got much more experience than me. I just put everything on auto and hope for the best!

    Aug 26, 2007

  • Newt Love

    Hey! If a author writes a novel in the forest, and nobody reads it, did it make a sound?
    I'm newt, slithering from the shallow end of the gene pool, into the open ocean. Sharks are likely to eat me before the salt water kills me, but who wants a quiet life?

    Aug 27, 2007

  • Jackie Houchin

    We gotta be related, Newt. Completely off the subject, but I used to call those square, fruit filled cookies, Newt Figtons. Yum. I just finished three stories for our local newspaper, downloaded pix from my camera and up to the paper. I'm beat...and going to hit the sack. Thanks for the invite to be "friends, cuz.

    Aug 27, 2007

  • Newt Love

    You wrote: "maiden name is Love too and I'm from Pennyslvania..".

    The family tree runs through there, but in the early 1800s. We are likely related. My sister Annette is our genaeologist. We trace back to an infant named John Love, left at an orphanage in 1747 by his 17 year old father.

    You wrote: Do you speak French, or are you faking it?

    I am a functional illiterate in French. I have learned it phonetically while vacationing there (I have a timeshare condo in Vincennes - outskirts of Paris). I am afraid that my French is very bad now, since I have not visited in three years.

    Aug 28, 2007

  • Cheryl Norman

    Hi, Jackie! You asked about explicit sex. My books have sexual tension but not a lot of sex. I save explicit writing for my alter ego, who writes erotic romance. These books focus mainly on the growing relationship between the hero and heroine, the personal growth as they're tested by the external suspense plot, and the mystery itself. I follow the hero's journey (Joseph Campbell), but don't we all? (whether we know it or not!)

    Cheryl

    Aug 30, 2007

  • Elizabeth Zelvin

    Thanks for the comment, Jackie. I'll have to find American Dreamer in video. What's the url of the web page where you review? I'd love to check it out. :)
    Liz

    Death Will Get You Sober (St. Martin's, April 2008)

    Sep 4, 2007

  • Jackie Houchin

    Hi Elizabeth - Here's the link to a review I did on Pamela Samuel-Young's legal mystery. While there, you can check out other things I've posted. I seem to be doing more theater reveiws these days (probably because most of the book reviewing is for magazines), and a few human interest stories as well. Actually... here are three links! Happy reading!

    Book Review: http://valleynews.com/TheValley/Stories/Reviews/General-Reviews/Story~169622.aspx

    Theater Review: http://valleynews.com/TheValley/Stories/Reviews/General-Reviews/Story~169622.aspx

    Human Interest story: http://valleynews.com/Burbank/Stories/Pets/General-Pets/Story~327882.aspx

    Sep 4, 2007

  • Kathryn Lilley

    Hi Jackie,

    I haven't read anything by Mary Higgens Clark, but I'll take a look! Best, Kathryn

    Sep 15, 2007

  • Douglas Quinn

    Hi Jackie: I'm way out here on the opposite coast and have spent more time in the Mediterranean than in California, including two years in Greece. I do have a book in me set in Greece but just haven't gotten around to it yet. It's in the "to write" queue. I've written a couple of book reviews, one which I wrote but didn't post--just sent it back to the author. The review wasn't positive but the critique (which I reminded her was just one person's opinion) was constructive. Hoped the author would at least call me a jackass or something, but never got a reply. What can you do? (rhetorical).

    Stephen White and Jonathan Kellerman. Also two of my favorites. Ever try James Lee Burke? I only aspire to write as well as he.

    Smiles,
    Douglas Quinn
    www.douglasquinn.com

    Sep 18, 2007

  • Jackie Houchin

    Write that book set in Greece.... a wonderful place. I love the island of Hydra. And of course Athens. I wonder what everything looks like after all their devastating fires. Makes me shiver. Jackie

    Sep 18, 2007

  • Douglas Quinn

    When you get a chance, check out my Crimespace Blog re the info and pics from my recent book signing event.

    Smiles,
    Douglas Quinn
    www.douglasquinn.com

    Sep 19, 2007

  • Lyn LeJeune

    Jackie, Greetings: Just to let you know that my New Orleans noir mystery, The
    Beatitudes, has received 5 starred reviews! I am donating all royalties to the New Orleans Public Library Foundation to help rebuild the public libraries. I have posted Chapter I on my blog www.beatitudesinneworleans.blogspot.com. Please read and if you like it, help rebuild a library for NOLA. Thank you Lyn LeJeune

    Oct 24, 2007

  • Penny Rudolph

    Hi Jackie,
    I just got a copy of Mystery Scene Mag with your review of my book LIFEBLOOD. Thank you so much! Not just because you said such nice things, but because yours is one of the best WRITTEN of all my reviews. Half the time I'm not sure the reviewer read more than the jacket blurb. Cheers and best wishes and thanks again.......

    Oct 26, 2007

  • Elizabeth Zelvin

    Thanks, Jackie. Getting St. Martin's for Death Will Get You Sober was a huge drop of luck in a sea of persistence on the way to publication. :) Liz

    Jan 1, 2008

  • Rick Mofina

    Jackie thanks so much, drop by any time. Sign up to my homepage newsletter for chance to win a free book, etc.

    Jan 11, 2008