I probably won’t be checking in next Wednesday. In the event that anyone notices (!), I thought I should explain myself.
I’ll be with my brainstorming group and this time, they’re coming to Cleveland!
See, once a year, I meet with four talented, wonderful and successful writing friends. We spend five days working on our [...]

Back from the Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda, Maryland, and as usual after a conference, I’m exhausted. It’s great to see friends, talk to readers, sit on panels and sell lots and lots of books. But it’s great to be home, too, where I can rest my voice and my feet and wear [...]

Duncan is in his grave;
[...]

Finally, the computer gods have cooperated and I’m able to post the cover of the up-and-coming “Button Holed.”
The book is the first of the new Button Box mystery series. Its heroine is Josie Giancola, a thirty-something Chicago resident who, thanks to the fact that she once worked on a no-budget indie film that has [...]

Had fun with the quiz about 1966 last week. For those of you who wondered about the answers . . .
1. In 1966, the president of the US was Lyndon Johnson.
2. Best movie Oscar winner . . . I didn’t realize this was actually something of [...]

My newest Pepper Martin mystery, “A Hard Day’s Fright,” hit bookstore shelves yesterday and to celebrate, I’m conducting a contest.
As I mentioned last week, in “Fright,” Pepper meets the ghost of a teenager who attended a Beatles concert in 1966–and was never seen again. It only seems natural that if we’re going to do [...]

I won’t be blogging again until next Wednesday, so today is my only chance to remind you that next Tuesday, April 5, my newest book will hit the shelves.
“A Hard Day’s Fright” is the seventh book in the Pepper Martin mystery series and this time, Pepper isn’t looking for a murderer–she’s looking for a body [...]

Writers wear a whole lot of hats, and this week, I’m getting a chance to try on every one of them.
Over the weekend, it was the editing hat. I got the copy edits for “Button Holed,” the first of the new Button Box mystery series. My own editor at Berkley Prime Crime [...]

Yes, my friends…you may not have realized it, but this is National Button Week. “Why does it matter?” you ask.
Just think about it . . . a world without buttons.
How do you keep that winter coat of yours closed? And your favoite blouse? What happens to your nice, warm cardigan when the [...]

Today is Zorro’s birthday, and it’s a BIG one. With any luck, that will explain why this blog is so late getting published. I’m still recovering from the birthday party I hosted for him over the weekend.
Today, he gets to decide on his birthday adventure. There’s some talk of finding the oldest [...]