I arrived in LA Tuesday, looking forward to five signings and a three day mystery conference . Tomorrow night I will be at Metropolis Books at a Sisters In Crime event hosted by Lee Child. They’ve invited five authors to talk, drink wine and mingle. It’s a tough job but I’m up to it. [...]

The Little Blog of Murder was named one of the 50 Best Blogs for Crime & Mystery Book Lovers this month.
http://www.courtreporter.net/blog/2010/50-best-blogs-for-crime-mystery-book-lovers/

I’m in sunny Deerfield Beach for Sluethfest, the mystery conference. If anyone reading this is attending as well, please look me up. Please, buy me a drink. Please.
Sluethfest is a great conference for anyone interested in the process of writing a mystery. Today will be loaded with classes and how to [...]

I have this theory that the publishing business is its own worst enemy. It’s only my theory, and I could be wrong but I’ve come to the conclusion that publishers feel there’s nothing else to say.
I understand this is a very simplistic viewpoint, but as the internet is expanding, traditional media is contracting.
Why are newspapers [...]

Inbetween book signings this past week I visited Disney World. The staff, from the shop clerks to the dancers, singers and other entertainers were wonderful. I can’t imagine, from the waiters at Epcot to the people who introduce the acts, that there is a more well trained staff anywhere. These people know how [...]

Along with most of you, I watched (and continue to watch) the NBC network’s late night troubles. You can’t miss it. Untill the Olympics or a national emergency it remains the most entertaining drama in the country. And it’s implications go much further than a popularity contest. The American public convincingly [...]

My favorite restaurant burned to the ground Tuesday. Flames shot from the roof, 40 feet in the air. I happened to be two blocks away at 6:30 in morning and watched the damage throughout the day. The 1890 building is now nothing but rubble.
I played guitar there, once a year for the [...]

Just when the publishing world seems upside down and no one but Casey and Jeff are getting big advances and new contracts, there’s a story about two guys who were arrested last week for vandelism.
Now how does vandelism fit into publishing, big advances and getting published? Well, they vandelized a sign. They corrected spelling, [...]

Little odds and ends to tie up the end and celebrate the begining.
I sat down with my accountant yesterday. After going over the new taxes vs. the old taxes, he warned me to hold on to my wallet next year, because the new regime is going to raise taxes substantially. If we actually [...]

So my 27 year-old daughter is home for the holidays and she sees me emailing someone on my Blackberry. I think that Emailing on a Blackberry is very ‘today’. She says…”You still email?” Well, yes I do. “That’s so old school. Why don’t you just text?”
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