it's my other side, Ed...smile. Alexander, the air traffic controller and owner of the bike, suited me up in leathers for a ride to the control tower at Charles de Gaulle airport. I got to go inside, watch them 'land' planes and think about what I'd do if I was a terrorist.

it's all fodder, Kelly...

I am quite thrilled with your response. You might enjoy the literature map I discuss if you haven't seen it (I just found it a few days ago). It maps groups of authors based on how common their readership is. I still can't describe the concept well in words, but the site is obvious when you see it:

http://www.literature-map.com/

Best wishes and thanks for your kind words. Jim

Hey, I hadn't seen you were on crime space until I saw you on Jame's page

Thanks, James I'll check it out. Glad to see you here Delphine!

I've only read one or two of his books but I can get you in touch with him. Send me an email and I'll get the two of you tlking together.

Sorry Delphine I lost the thread here...you mean John Harvey ou qui?

No I mean Edward Sklepowich. But I can get you in touch with John as well.

Sorry, I had lost the thread too. You told me you wish you had known Francis Zamponi when you were here. i can get you in touch with him.
+ other writers in France if you want. Why did I mention Edward in here? Dunno.

I'd love to get in touch with John Harvey, Delphine

Thanks for responding to my blog about Linda Barnes.

I think I'll move the question to the main forum to get some discussion. I don't like being critical of Kellerman, but it is what I believe, and I'd like to get the name Linda Barnes out for general discussion. Best wishes, Jim
ps Sorry about the long email I sent you before. I was up far too late and probably didn't know when to stop.

Thanks for the add, Cara. I really enjoy your Parisian mysteries and write about them regularly in my column at Bookslut.com.

Thanks, Clayton. I so appreciate you writing about Aimée's investigations. Right now I'm reading
Talk to the Snail, a non mystery by a Brit living in Paris on the do's and don't's of foreign expat living in France...a definite hoot.

Looking forward to it, Cara, should be a lot of fun! I went to Porchlight last night, which was amazing...

Cara; 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

Lyn, that's wonderful. With all the devastation in New Orleans, it's libraries that are forgotten but not any more thanks to you. I'll go to your blog...thanks for letting me, and I hope, lots of others know.

Michael, nice to hear from you! I missed out on Bcon in Alaska, too but am signed up for Denver LCC and will see you and your wife there...let's plan on it.

Thanks Cara. t'll be an honor to be on such a great panel, should be fun,
Rick

Cara sorry. Sticky keyboard.
It will be an honor to be on such a great panel, should be fun,
Rick

Cara,
It's Peg, but I answer to Pat as well. When I taught there was a teacher who looked a lot like me named Pat, and we got used to answering for each other!

Oooh, can't wait for The Crazy School... and thanks for the recommendation of Olen Steinhauer. Yes, I love his series and am looking forward to seeing what he does next.

Welcome aboard and greetings from Southern California

Aldo

Thanks, Dawg...

Now that I've found the links to the latest Library Journal review and my q and a, and my pal Libby Fischer Hellman's starred review, here you go,

Cara Black Murder in the Rue de Paradis*
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6495332.html?industryid=47120

For short fiction Chicago Blues* edited by Libby Fischer Hellman
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6495333.html?industryid=47120

And a little Q + A about why I write about Paris
http://www.libraryjournal.com/article/CA6495192.html?industryid=47175

C I hope to be able to go to LCC in Denver, I'm signed up, but my mom didn't do well in a nursing home while i was in alaska for Bcon, so it will depend on if my caregiver will stay that long mmm

Sorry to hear that, Maggie. I'm crossing fingers things go better and hope you can make it.

Thanks! Just on board, as you said. using the searcher, on MCSmith this time. And it worked. What a nice little place this is.

Olav, I've been reading Scandanavian authors this year and still on that kick...any you'd recommend?

Sure. But I'm not sure if the book is getting translated. I think so eventually, but ... Anyway. Remember norwegian Roy Jacobsen. he normally writes literary novels, but If you somewhere down the road see there is a book by him being tagged a thriller or a crime novel, pick it up. It's a sure winner. - Else.... Karin Fossum, and old favourite and with several books in english, but she can bore me sometimes. - The swedes have two greats, John Ajvide Lindqvist, who plays with the horrorgenre, but is quite literary. The biggest name by far is Stieg Larsson. Dont know if they are translated yet but they will be, guaranteed. The man wrote 3 books and then died before the first one was published. All of them very good.

Cara, thank you so very much! Hope to see you in the new year, and thanks for the inspiration and kindness in '07! er - bon annee?? is that right peut-etre? :)
- Sophie

Wishing a Happy Holiday Season. Hope to run into you in 2008

Aldo

I hope so Aldo...maybe at LCC in Denver?
Best in 2008 and Sophie...c'est vrai!
Going to brrrrrr city of lights next week...might need snow boots...

Thanks Cara,

Happy New Year back! We're in Manhattan, having returned from Maine a few days before Xmas. We gave up on the ice and snow. I was remembering with envy how mild the winters are in Umbria when I received an email from a friend who lives above Assisi. She writes that they have 17 inches of snow. A few inches less than Downeast Maine but only a few. We'll return to Maine on May 1, and to Italy--not sure when, but I hope before the end of summer.

Have a wonderful year with great sales. Grace

Yes, we started early and ate some mochi this morning. Have a wonderful time in Paris! I'm so envious. Will you be doing any Aimee tours anytime soon? I've never gone to Paris and when I do go, I certainly don't want to do the stereotypical touristy thing.

Happy Year of the Rat, Cara!

Thanks for the New Year wishes! Happy New Year to you as well. I'm in Tucson, where my wife, boys and I have been visiting my mother, siblings and nephews.

Tomorrow, it is back to (cold) St. Louis. We went on a great hike yesterday in the lower reaches of the Catalina Mountains, and I'll have the photos loaded on Flicker.com soon (my user name is Bashkin001). I had a couple of photos short-listed for publication in (non-paying) city guides of Oxford and Tucson- my big excitement of the week.

I've read a lot lately, and written abut some of it at Nearly nothing but novels. More to come!

Best wishes, Jim

Happy New Year Cara!

Thanks, Cara. Yes, Death Will Get You Sober coming out and two gorgeous granddaughters--winning the lottery couldn't make 2008 a potentially better year. :) Liz

And Happy New Year back, Cara..!
Us related? Maybe, a love of Paris runs in my blood too...had my honeymoon there and go back whenever I can...now I'm all misty eyed just thinking about the place...boo-hoo-hoo...
Loved Maxim's Paris Noir...great collection.
Best
Tony.

Thank you for the message. I hope your New Year is brilliant! Looking forward to seeing you in spring.
Let me know when you're headed to town.

Have a great 2008!

Thanks. And of course, a happy new year right back atcha. Hope 2008 have been treating you well so far, and keeps doing so.

Here's a snippet from a Washington Post article on French women titled 'French Women Don't Get Fat and Do Get Lucky'...what do you think
"....The actress Nathalie Baye, who's 59 and looks it, has made some 20 films in the past decade, including romantic roles. She told an interviewer that at the 2003 César awards (France's version of the Oscars), Meryl Streep asked her whether "things were as difficult in France as in the U.S. for actresses of a certain age. I told her that thankfully, French cinema is very faithful to its women."

These French actresses are products of the generation of '68, France's sexual and social revolution. But in the French version, women weren't expected to forgo high heels and chivalry in exchange for equality. So it's not surprising here when successful women retain their charms. In the United States, the two can seem mutually exclusive. The right-wing talk-show host Rush Limbaugh felt free to question Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's candidacy in December by sneering, "Will Americans want to watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?"

Of course, things aren't all rosy in French bedrooms. France has its share of lonely widows and divorcees. All the Frenchwomen I spoke to also stressed that older women must keep up their looks to stay appealing. Liftees are becoming a more frequent sight.

In the United States, men tend to treat older women who've done age-erasing work with either horrific awe or chaste respect. France is more sanguine. Last year, Paris Match magazine put a photo on its cover of a topless 50-something Arielle Dombasle -- looking like a reengineered 16- year-old -- to celebrate her new cabaret act.

Cara - A belated HNY back to you. I hope the first weeks of 2008 have been kind!

Jim

Thanks, Jim.
I'm blogging at www.nakedauthors.com today
if anyone's interested check out
Cherchez La Femme

Cara

Sorry, I don't get to crimespace that often, and missed your comment from last JULY!!! NO, am no longer in the paris squat alas. It was such a beautiful place. I am in India now. Loved the last book!

I'm on another planet now, and ears don't burn here. All good, right? When is your next trip to Paris?

Bonjour, cherie! Where are you? Linda

in Montmartre, Linda. Sun's shining on the balcony and and everyone's lingerling over lunch...

Cara -- just found this site. Delighted to see you as a member. Saw an article in the NY Times Review of Books about Aimee in the Latin Quarter. Great coverage -- glad they agree with me too! Sending you all my best! M

Cara -- welcome back to the chilly Bay Area. Hope the tourists didn't overwhelm you in Paris - and WAY TO GO with a short story in French in an anthology. I'm missing Stacey's -- and going faithfully to M is for Mystery and Book Passage events. Angels & Demons was a guilty pleasure -- Ewan McGregor as the camerlengo (though the chamberlain is typically a Cardinal -- they had him as a Monsgr.) was brilliant. Afterward, I kept wondering why the hell nobody gave the Professor (i.e., "Tom") a map. If you were trying to stop an explosion of anti-matter (destroying Rome) -- don't you think they would have had GPS? Hope to see you soon!

Hi Cara , I want to introduce you to my debut novel "A Circle of souls" which is a murder, mystery, psychological thriller and a tale of justice and hope. Do visit www.acircleofsouls.com to read more about the book. Make sure you sign up to win an autographed copy of the book. You can also read more reviews by clicking on the More Reviews button at the website. Thanks for your time in advance.

Best regards

Preetham Grandhi

Early Endorsements for “A Circle of Souls”

Linda Fairstein, NYT Bestselling Author: "A fascinating debut - this novel takes the reader to the darkest places in the human soul, from a writer with the authenticity to lead us there. A stunning thriller and an important read."

Judge Judy Sheindlin, star of the Judge Judy Show: "The seminal work of this fine author kept me glued to my chair until the adventure was over and the mystery solved. A great read!"

Book Synopsis:

The sleepy town of Newbury, Connecticut, is shocked when a little girl is found brutally murdered. The town s top detective, perplexed by a complete lack of leads, calls in FBI agent Leia Bines, an expert in cases involving children.

Meanwhile, Dr. Peter Gram, a psychiatrist at Newbury s hospital, searches desperately for the cause of seven-year-old Naya Hastings devastating nightmares. Afraid that she might hurt herself in the midst of a torturous episode, Naya s parents have turned to the bright young doctor as their only hope.

The situations confronting Leia and Peter converge when Naya begins drawing chilling images of murder after being bombarded by the disturbing images in her dreams. Amazingly, her sketches are the only clues to the crime that has panicked Newbury residents. Against her better judgment, Leia explores the clues in Naya s crude drawings, only to set off an alarming chain of events.
In this stunning psychological thriller, innocence gives way to evil, and trust lies forgotten in a web of deceit, fear, and murder.

Cara -- check out the NYTimes for 8/25/09 -- In France, Intricate Tale of Corporate Espionage - this sounds right up Aimee's alley ... am sure you're involved in writing but this might be a grain for another story. Or remind you of parts of Murder in the Latin Quarter for sure!

Can't wait til 2010 for the next installment.

By DAVID JOLLY
Published: August 24, 2009
PARIS — The story has the elements of a corporate thriller: a cast that includes former French spies and military men, a cycling champion, Greenpeace advocates and a dogged judge whose investigation takes him from a sports doping laboratory outside Paris to a Moroccan jail and some top French corporations.