Then she goes and writes nineteen books in three separate series plus another seven non-series books.

We have her to thank for Lindsay Gordon, a lesbian journalist and socialist in Glasgow, Scotland. For criminal profiler, Dr. Tony Hill. For Kate Brannigan, a private investigator in Manchester, England.

Plus, of course, her other extraordinary tales, like “A Place of Execution,” “The Distant Echo” and “The Grave Tattoo.”

She’s won the Portico Prize for Fiction, the Stonewall Writer of the Year, the Barry, the Sherlock, the Dilys, the Macavity, and the Anthony Award for Best Novel, along with being shortlisted for every other crime fiction award program you’ve ever heard of.

Oh, and did I mention that she’s the creator of the highly lauded television series, “Wire In The Blood?”

When I die, I want Val McDermid’s life to flash before my eyes.

Her latest book, “A Darker Domain,” is a superb psychological thriller told only as the granddaughter of two coal miners could do.
It was released in the UK last month and will hit U.S. shelves in January 2009.

Please welcome Val McDermid - both a curmudgeon and the life of the party — and one of the finest crime fiction writers around today. And please thank her for being so gracious in facing our band of inquisitors for this grand finale column…
Ken Bruen:

Name me three books you’d choose if you were stranded on a desert island?

Treasure Island by Robert Louise Stevenson
The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies
No Night is Too Long by Barbara Vine

Are you happy with the TV adaptation of Wire in the Blood?

Yes. It’s hard to see how they could have made a better job of translating the fictional universe in my books to the screen. Robson Green plays Tony Hill with a quirky energy and intelligence; Simone Lahbib is a terrific foil; the scripts are classy and we’ve been lucky to have directors who have given the series the gloss of high production values. They’re not easy viewing, which is fine because the books are not easy reading.
Ali Karim:

Can you tell us how you felt when you watched the TV version of A PLACE OF EXECUTION, one of my all time favourite novels?

I was very apprehensivewhen I sat down to watch the adaptation. I’d read the script and knew it had done justice to the book; every alteration that Patrick Harbinson had chosen made sense to me; I knew we had a terrific cast; and I am absolute in my certainty that Sandra Jobling and Robson Green, the exec producers, were determined to make something special from a book they love. All the same, I couldn’t be sure it would work for me. But it didn’t take long to grab my by the throat. By the first ad break, I knew I was in the presence of something extraordinary. And I was right. It’s not the same as the book, but in its difference, it’s found something extra.

When you write Tony Hill do you see Robson’s face on the page?

I do. Mostly because he is physically very close to the Tony that was in my head from the beginning. I don’t see Hermione Norris when I summon up Carol, because they are very different physical types. My Carol is much more like the actress Susannah Harker.

Why do you think Wire in the Blood has become so popular around the world?

Because it’s thrilling, it’s well-made, well-acted and well-scripted. It deals with the darkness we all fear and it makes sense of what seems incomprehensible. It touches on the scary places and makes them safe for us.
And because in a lot of the countries where it has been sold, my books are already well-established with readers.

David Montgomery:

What is it about Scotland that makes it such a fertile breeding ground for crime writers?

It would take a long essay to elucidate that… The short answer is that our religious and political history has made us familiar with the dark, secretive machinations within. We’re occupants of a Janus-faced society that is only really illuminated by gallows humour. And the recent moves towards political independence have forced us to try to understand our roots, our identity and our aspirations with a little more imagination than the standard, ‘We’re not the English.’ Luckily for us, the crime novel provides the perfect vehicle for examining the society we live in. So we get to be entertaining storytellers as well as social critics. It’s just like going to the library when I was a kid — you could take out four books at a time but two of them had to be non-fiction. No such thing as unmitigated pleasure!

Louise Ure:

Was there any particular writer who was an inspiration to you when you started out?

Ruth Rendell, because she wrote different kinds of books and that made it seem possible for me not to be chained to one series character.

Sara Paretsky because VI Warshawski was the first detective I ever encounted whose life and world seemed to have something in common with the one I lived in. She had a brain and a sense of humour and politics. I loved her.

William McIlvanney, because his novel Laidlaw changed the way it was possible to write about Scotland.
And Robert Louis Stevenson because he could turn his hand to any literary form with distinction.

 
No sense in beating around the shrub (I refuse to use the commonly accepted word here) - this edition of EVIL E - is, alas - due to health reasons - the final one. My thanks to my fantastic crew, and my daughter, Kelly, for seeing the last three columns through. My thanks to you for stopping by, (in far greater numbers than I’d ever hoped for according to the stats). Your many generous comments, and personal e-mails made it a hell of a lot of fun.

I’ll miss you all, but time now is too precious to not spend with family and those special few who know who they are…

So, instead of saying ‘goodbye’ - I’ll say Aloha instead…

Elaine

A funny thing happened in the middle of Laura Lippman’s career: she became a bestseller. This wasn’t exactly a surprise to anyone. It already seemed like she’d made fans of just about every mystery reader around. She’d won the Edgar and the Anthony and the Gumshoe and all the other awards a mystery writer could win. But through eleven books, she’d never cracked the New York Times’ list.

Then came What the Dead Know and the rest was history. She repeated that bestselling success earlier this year with Another Thing to Fall. Who knows where she’ll go from here? But if we had to guess, it would be up, up, up.

Laura’s next work will be a serialized novel called The Girl in the Green Raincoat, running in the New York Times Sunday magazine starting September 7. It features Laura’s most popular character, Baltimore PI Tess Monaghan. Oh, and Tess is pregnant in it. (How’s that for a surprise?)

As if that weren’t enough, Laura has yet another book, Hardly Knew Her, coming in October. It’s a collection of short stories and a new novella.

Somehow in the midst of all that, she had time to answer questions from our panel of interrogators. Please welcome this month’s special guest, Laura Lippman.

I confess, I really like this picture of Laura…which is why I stole it off the Sun-Sentinal’s Weblog here.

QUESTIONS:

From David Montgomery:

Now that you’ve been enjoying so much artistic and commercial success with your standalone novels, do you foresee a time when you might retire Tess Monaghan and turn your eye entirely to new projects?

The commercial success isn’t as different as you might think — Another Thing to Fall was a New York Times bestseller and up against much stiffer competition than What the Dead Know — but commercial success also doesn’t have much bearing on what I do. I think every series has an end point. The trick is recognizing it. On Sept. 7, the New York Times will start running a serial that I thought would definitely be the end of Tess. But, dang, she’s plucky and it’s not quite as clear-cut as I thought it would be. That said, I still think Tess needs to take some time off, soon.
From Paul Guyot (I really hope this has a literary reference, lol):

What time is it?

Well, as the clock in Tess’s office says, “It’s Time for a Haircut.” And I’m going to use that as a really strained segue into talking about found opportunities. I wrote a piece for the Wall Street Journal this summer about my folk art collection and succumbed to some thumb-sucking profundity about how folk art informed my writing, how it was all about the use of found materials. [Insert sound of long toke here, then mime passing a joint.] But, um, it happens to be true. For four books, Tess labored under that sign, which, in real life, still hangs outside a local barber shop. And then she got a most untimely haircut. That’s not something I planned or orchestrated, but it happens a lot in my writing.

From D.P. Lyle:

Tess mostly hangs around Baltimore but occasionally will get involved in things away from home-like in San Antonio. What are the advantages and pitfalls of setting a story in your hometown versus another city?

I loved writing the San Antonio book, but the problem was — I knew San Antonio and Tess didn’t. I couldn’t begin to use all my knowledge. Meanwhile, it’s really hard for me to write about places I don’t know. I’m fascinated by people who set novels in places they don’t know intimately. I tend to be familiar with even the passing locales in my books. St. Simon’s Island and Brunswick, Georgia, for example, which appear very briefly in What the Dead Know — my dad was born in Brunswick and my parents spend the winters on St. Simon’s. My mom drove me around Brunswick, helping me find the perfect street and house for the scene I wanted to write. I can’t fake place. But that’s just me.

From Louise Ure:

Laura, although your plots are fascinating and complex, I find that I often focus on the extraordinary character development you’ve done. Would you ever consider writing something that didn’t hinge upon a crime? Something outside the crime fiction genre entirely?”

Sure! But I haven’t found a crime-less story yet that really calls to me. I like writing crime novels and don’t feel at all hemmed in by the genre.
From Nick Stone:

a). Following your impressive turn as a befuddled reporter on Season 5 of The Wire, will you be making cameos on screens big and small?

Can we be frank? I got one of the worst reviews I’ve ever gotten in my life for that cameo. It was the first time I realized that I was beginning to be a public person in my hometown. And, therefore, a person worthy of ridicule. All sorts of people, far more notable than I, have appeared in what I’ll call stunt cameos for The Wire. The former governor, a former mayor, a person whose job I won’t specify, although I will say I know he had to be edited around ruthlessly, and people generally thought he was great . . . The only good thing that came out of that cameo was that The Wire actors were genuinely nice to me for trying to do what they do, and for admitting to them that it was way too hard for me. One, Gbenga Akkinabe — he played Marlo’s hardcore enforcer, Chris Partlow, but he’s sweet as pie — patted my arm, then said in amazement upon making contact with my bicep: “Do you work out?” That made the cameo worth it.
b). I’ve heard you write in coffee shops. What’s your preferred brew?

Skim latte when I’m not dieting, skim cappuccino when I am. A skim latte is 3 points on the Weight Watchers system, while a skim cappuccino is only two. I’m not proud of knowing that, but I do. A Luna Bar has three points, by the way.

From Allison Brennan:

I have so many questions, can I take you out for drinks? Seriously . . . okay. You’ve been alternating between Tess’s books and stand alone novels. Do you enjoy writing something completely different? Do you miss your continuing characters? What are some of the pros and cons of writing a series character vs stand alones?

Allison, I am always available for drinks. I’ve loved moving back and forth. For a writer, I can’t imagine a better situation. A standalone is harder — new world, new characters, starting everything from scratch — but it’s also more exciting for the same reason. And taking a break from Tess makes the reunions that much sweeter. I like her. I don’t take credit for much, but I did create a series character whose company I honestly enjoy. The con is that someone’s always unhappy. While I’m lucky to have enormous overlap in my readership, there are Tess readers who don’t care for the standalones, and standalone fans who don’t like the Tess books.

I really lucked into this back-and-forth, best-of-both-worlds thing. When other writers ask me how to do this, I generally say: Try not to be too successful at either. If I had created Jack Reacher, or started writing standalones similar to Harlan Coben’s, I might not have had the same amount of freedom. Then again, Harlan used the popularity of his standalones to bring back his series character, to great results. And Michael Connelly makes it work.
And from Ken Bruen:

Who would you ideally like to play Tess Monaghan in the movie?

Well, everyone has their own idea, right? And whoever I choose is going to be wrong, not fit someone’s idea. And I’m a big theater-goer, who believes in changing people’s perspectives on a work via casting. I once saw a production of A Doll’s House in which all the women were six feet or taller, and all the men were dwarves. This was at Spoleto in Charleston and a few outraged matrons dashed for the exit at intermission, but I adored it. So, in that spirit, I advocate a radical bit of casting that might reinvent the series, and maybe even television.

I think Tess Monaghan should be played by Wendell Pierce, who embodied the Bunk on The Wire for five seasons. Look, the guy has done Beckett, and Chekhov. He’s an amazing actor. And he can rock a pink bathrobe.

And before you all go anywhere else…you’ve got to check out the terrific list of restaurants Laura’s put together, for those of you going to Bouchercon.  Head over to her website at www.lauralippman.com and scroll halfway down the page to: Speaking of Bouchercon - Some Eating Advice.

Also - want to express enormous congratulations to our own Interrogators, Ken Bruen & Jason Starr for their Anthony Award Nomination for Best Paperback Original - Slide ;  to Ali Karim for his Anthony Award Nomination for Special Services - Shotz Magazine ;  and to this month’s victim, er, guest…Laura Lippman for her Anthony Award Nominations for Best Novel - What The Dead Know,  & Best Short Story - Hardly Knew Her.  Congratulations to all of you!

However, we have one hell of an interview for you & some great pics from ThrillerFest  ;-)  …

What needs to be said about Michael Connelly?  If you don’t know who he is, you’ve probably been living under a rock for the past decade.  You certainly haven’t been in a bookstore or read a bestseller list, where his brilliant novels have appeared in considerable numbers.

While working as a journalist for the Los Angeles Times, Connelly created one of the mystery world’s most compelling and popular characters: LAPD detective Hieronymous “Harry” Bosch.  Through thirteen novels featuring Bosch, Connelly has won legions of fans with his unforgettable characters, crisp plotting and evocative prose.

Those aren’t the only books Connelly has written, though.  His other memorable creations include reporter Jack McEvoy in “The Poet,” ex-FBI agent Terry McCaleb in “Blood Work,” and small-time attorney Mickey Haller in “The Lincoln Lawyer.”  Does this man ever sleep?

Harry Bosch will return later this year, along with Mickey Haller, in “The Brass Verdict” (a book which our own David J.  Montgomery reports is terrific!).  Let’s all give a hearty Evil E welcome to Michael Connelly!

ALI KARIM:

#1 - Your breakout book in the UK was THE POET. Why do you think that book appealed to so many readers?

MICHAEL CONNELLY:

I’m not sure but I think it had a lot of velocity built into it because there was a lot of velocity in the writing. The writing process was different because I was writing about a character who was a police reporter and I had that job for 14 years. So as I was writing The Poet there was never a pause in the writing to consider what a detective would do or what the procedure would be. I just simply wrote what I would do and so there was no pause. The story just came out. I wrote that book faster than anything before or since. I used to keep quiet about that, thinking people would equate a fast write with something that was sort of mailed in. But I have come to realize over the years that when it flows like that it usually means you are onto something that could be pretty good. I have learned that velocity in the writing process means velocity in the reading process, and that’s always a good thing.  

ALI KARIM: 

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

 JASON STARR:

You’ve said that you’re a big fan of Charles Willeford.  What is it about Willeford’s novels that you find so compelling, and could you ever see writing a novel in the Willefordesque style?

I think they were mostly small stories writ large but kept small and he had the unique ability to create subtle humor and pathos with the small details of his characters’ lives. The way Hoke dealt with his daughters, the way he set up his life. I read these books with a little smile on my face the whole time. 

ALLISON BRENNAN:

While I enjoyed the Harry Bosch novels, Mickey Haller really captured my interest and I am beyond thrilled to see Mickey and Harry together in your next book.  Can you give us a sneak peak?  Maybe a little about how Mickey developed as a character? Will you bring him back after THE BRASS VERDICT?

MICHAEL CONNELLY:

I hope Mickey keeps coming back but as with every character it comes down to whether I come up with the right combination of story and character advancement or development. The Brass Verdict is a Mickey Haller book. Harry Bosch is in it but only in a supporting role, you could say. And I think its a story about Mickey moving to the next step in his life. As far as the plot goes, it starts with Mickey more or less inheriting an entire law practice after a colleague is murdered. The good news is he suddenly has a couple dozen paying clients. The bad news is that one of them is likely behind the killing of his predecessor. He has to figure out — with the help of Harry Bosch — who that is. 

DOUG LYLE:

You are definitely a master of the series character.  How do you keep Harry growing and changing without making him so altered as to be unrecognizable?

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

I really don’t know. I just sort of write by instinct. One thing I did quite by accident was decide at the start to have him age in real time. That. of course, means I am going to run out of time with him fairly soon, but along the way I’ve been able to explore his evolution and sort of show this person changing along with his city. I think that has kept me interested in Bosch and of course what happens in the writing process happens in the reading process too. So i think that if I am staying interested the readers hopefully will as well.

DAVID MONTGOMERY:

#1 - You’re probably tired of hearing this question, but I’ll ask it anyway…  Do you foresee an end to the Harry Bosch series?  He’s aging in real time, so we know he can’t last forever.  But I’d sure be sad to see him go.  How much more life does he have in him?

MICHAEL CONNELLY:

Well, I certainly see the need to end the forward progression of the series with Harry as a cop. He’s 58 this year and the reality is I have maybe 4 or 5 years before it starts bending reality. But I can always go backwards. There are a lot years in his life I haven’t written about. I could also extend the series with his life after LAPD. So it will all come down to whether or not I continue to be interested in him. If that continues then i think Harry will continue in some way.

DAVID J. MONTGOMERY: 

#2 - So many of the best crime writers are former journalists…Robert Ferrigno, Laura Lippman, Jon King, Denise Hamilton, etc.  What is it about being a reporter that lends itself to writing great crime fiction?

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

I can only guess at it, and of course there are so many great crime writers who were not journalists. But the one thing I think has helped me is the process of journalism. No matter what the story is, you never get enough space to say what you want to say. So you learn to make every sentence count. You make them short and to the point. You look for the one telling detail rather than 50 details that don’t get to the point of what you are communicating. You try to have every quote carry information the reader needs. So in a perfect news story nothing is wasted. It creates a certain velocity in the story. I have tried to carry that over to my fiction, even though now I don’t have the same constraints in terms of space and length. 

PAUL GUYOT:

What do you enjoy most about working in television - if anything - and what about it drives you insane?

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

I don’t do a lot in TV anymore but I find that when I do work in an alternate storytelling medium that its a good break from writing the books. There are lots of frustrations built into any creative form that has many contributors. So those frustrations tend to eventually send me running back to my books. But I am a child of TV. I love good television and so I am like everybody else in the game; willing to roll the dice on the long shot chance that I might create something good and that I can be proud of, whether that is a full television series or just one episode.

LOUISE URE:

Tell us about the first time you talked to Philip Spitzer about becoming your agent.  Wasn’t there a good story in there?

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

Well it was one of those stories like everybody has about waiting forever to sell your first book or get your first agent. I had my manuscript out to Philip and was waiting. I was home alone on a Saturday because my wife had gone out. My mother in law usually called every Saturday so when the phone rang i didn’t answer it because I was writing and didn’t want the interruption. So I let the machine pick up but it wasn’t my mother in law’s voice I heard but a man saying it was Philip Spitzer and that he finished reading my manuscript and wanted to talk to me. So I had to be cool. I decided I would call back in fifteen minutes and not tell him I had screened his call. It was the longest fifteen minutes of my life! Luckily, when I called him back he said he wanted to represent the book to publishers and I was in business.

NICK STONE:

What was the extent of your involvement in the film of BLOOD WORK?  Did you work closely with Clint Eastwood, or did you “Do a Deaver”, and take the money and run?

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

It was more of a Deaver but not by choice. I would have gladly been involved but Eastwood told me he had his own team and they would go off and make the movie with little help from me. He said that up front and gave me the opportunity to walk away with my book if I didn’t like that. I chose not to walk away. Five years later and about a month before shooting began I got the script in the mail and I thought that was just a courtesy. But a couple days later Eastwood called up and asked me for notes. I had a few pages of notes and he acted on some and not on others. After that, I showed up a few times on the set to watch them film it. I brought my friend who had inspired the story to meet Clint and that was cool, too.

KEN BRUEN:

Have you written your best book or your own personal favorite of your work, when you feel you got it bang to rights?

MICHAEL CONNELLY: 

I hope I still have my best book in me. But I have a personal favorite that is my favorite for a variety of reasons that include things outside the book. It was my fourth book, The Last Coyote, and its my favorite because it was the first book I wrote as a full time novelist. I had been able to quit my day job and concentrate fully on my fiction. It was a wonderful year, I think my writing improved noticeably — at least to me — and the story itself is Harry Bosch’s core story. Its about what makes him tick as a cop and a man. So all those things sort of added up to being my favorite book and favorite year as a writer. Getting bang to rights is another sort of question. I set an ideal or goal for myself with every book. It usually takes a few years for me to go back and look at the book and decide how close I got to that goal. A couple books I thought I got bang to rights, in my opinion. One was Last Coyote and one was a book called Angels Flight. 

And now for something completely different…pics from THRILLERFEST!!

First up are pics from Allison Brennan…

Dave Morrell & Gayle Lynds at Jeff Ayers review workshop, ThrillerFest

Brent Ghelfi (only male), ITW Thriller Award Nominee for Best First Book with Kelly Stanley (right), 2008 Debut Author (in the hat), and Wilda Williams from Library Journal (with the Starbucks)…and the woman on the left?  Hmmmm…..

James Rollins, ITW Vice President and Thriller Awards Guru (left center) along with Karen Dionne (left of Jim), debut author (FREEZING POINT, Berkley, 9/30/08) and ITW Debut Author Scholarship winner.

Lee Child, MC, of the 2008 Debut Author Breakfast

Help!!! Lee Child, Mentor to the 2008 Debut Authors, with painting of Lee Child, desperate, drained by the demands of mentoring the 2008 Debut Authors.

Next -

We have a slew of pics sent in by Alex, and credit to JT Ellison…

That’s it for this month!  See you all back here in September - stay safe and stay away from rogue and sinister stairwells! 

Evil E

So now I guess you’re wondering what the hell ‘Sutton’s Law’ has to do with Keith Kahla.  Well, settle back, and I’ll tell you.  Sutton’s Law is the principal of going straight to the most likely diagnosis of a situation/problem/question/whatever.  I understand medical students use it as well (no doubt some of the doc’s/writers out there will correct me if I’m wrong!).  According to legend, it’s named for bank robber, Willie Sutton.   When asked why he robbed banks, he replied, “Because that is where the money is.”

So, you want some inside scoop from the guy who edits some of the biggest names in crime fiction?  You came to the right place.

BUT FIRST…

Fingers crossed for ALLISON BRENNAN who is short-listed for TWO Rita (Romance Writers of America) Awards which will be handed out on August 2nd in San Francisco.  SPEAK NO EVIL is up for a Best Romantic Suspense, and SEE NO EVIL for Best Novel (with romantic elements). 

MICHELLE GAGNON’S second book THE BONEYARD is out now, so if THE TUNNELS scared the hell out of you - get ready for her new one.

RHYS BOWEN emailed to announce her latest ‘Georgie’ - A ROYAL PAIN - hit the shelves on July 1st and she’s on a month long tour.  I’ll have to make a note to ask her what vitamins she uses.

SHANE GERICKE is the auction master this year at ThrillerFest - just remember, don’t wink, raise your eyebrow or jiggle your ear if you’re not bidding.  He’ll be watching and nab you!  But of course, you will take part in those fun auctions, won’t you?

So glad to see BARBARA FISTER has finally returned with a new book!  IN THE WIND should be a great read.  It’s been too long, Barbara!

Don’t cry over your latte - but Starbucks is reducing the number of music CD’s and books for sale in the shops that will remain open.   I’m sure the music and book (independent!) stores will be happy.  I mean, couldn’t they have just stuck with coffee anyway?

Congrats, by the way to all the Macavity Award nominees!  Some names expected, some sorry not there - and I ain’t saying who - but I’m especially glad to see JUDE GREBER (GILLIAN ROBERTS) short-listed for Best Mystery Short Story - THE OLD WIFE’S TALE.  I love everything Jude/Gillian writes!  And am always happy to see REED FARREL COLEMAN, DAVID CORBETT, LAURA LIPPMAN, ARIANNA FRANKLIN and JOE HILL on any list.

Read a great description of Joyce Carol Oates (re a review in Harper’s of her newest - MY SISTER, MY LOVE) - “Oates, too, consorts with warrior-angels.” Damn, but I love that.

Had a great report from LOUISE URE about the recent BOOK PASSAGES conference in Corte Madera a week ago.  She said she felt it was the best she’d attended in years.  Lots of real teaching and the students loved it.  CRAIG JOHNSON and his gorgeous wife Judy were the center of every party.  And TONY BROADBENT awed everybody as usual with his British wit and charm.   Alas, no photos - but Louise sent the two below from MURDER IN THE GROVE in Boise…with the incredible J.A. JANCE…and the irrepressible DOUG LYLE holding court in the bar.  Where else?

Coming out next month - the lovable Edgar winner, NAOMI HIRAHARA - has created a middle-grade book - 1001 CRANES.   No, not to worry - MAS ARAI will be back next year in THE HANA WAR just in time for Bcon/Indianapolis.  Remember that, k? :)  AND!!   “MAMO’S WEEDS,” the short film that Naomi wrote and Akira Boch directed for the Japanese American National Museum, will be screened as part of the Asian American International Film Festival in New York City at the Asia Society on Tuesday, July 15, at 3:30 PM.   Is this gal cookin’, or what?

Oh, but I LOVE this one!  LEE CHILD will be a visiting professor at his alma mater, the University of Sheffield, this November.  I think one of our illustrious writers organizations ought to create a special award for paving the way for new writers - and Lee should be the first honoree.   Few writers have ‘paid it forward’ as much as this gent.  How does a  ’Literary Humanitarian Award’ sound?  Any of you organizers out there listening?

Received a great photo from a favorite couple I know (and you know him as well) taken on holiday - and I was going to ’share’ it with you (had their permission, of course).  But then - I changed my mind.   The look of so much love between them - was just too exquistie and rare…and yes, joyous…not to be kept private.  So, to my dear and wonderous friends - I thank you again for sending it to me.   p.s.  If that UK famous female author opens her nasty trap ever again, let me at her, okay?

Got one of those ‘joke’ emails the other day…My, how times have changed.  Makes one wonder who’s running the aslyum.  This thing ran two full pages.  I’d ’share’ more, but…  

It’s 1958 (before a lot of you were born, I know, I know…)

Billy’s playing baseball in the street, he’s not supposed to - the kid’s a real slugger - and dad told him to be careful.  He breaks a neighbors car window, dad is furious and yanks him by the arm and takes him home.  Billy has learned his lesson, is more careful next time.  Grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful person.

Think 2008 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse, Billy is removed to foster care and joins a gang.  State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she should reach down and remember being abused herself, and when she agrees that dad swatted her one day, dad goes to prison.   ’

And this one??  Oh, my.

Little Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee.  He is found crying by his teacher, Mary.  Mary hugs him to comfort him.  In a short time, Johnny feels better, and goes on playing.

In 2008?

Mary is accused of bing a sexual predator and loses her job.  She faces three years in State Prison.  Little Johnny undergoes five years of therapy.

Methinks the world has gone mad…

OKAY, LET’S GET SERIOUS NOW…on to our crew and their travails…

This group hasn’t a clue.  Talk about going in circles?  Once they realized THE QUEENPIN wasn’t after them, they took a breather and decided to HOLD TIGHT, and figure out their next moves.   Morale was low, but EVEN CAT SITTERS GET THE BLUES.  I mean, hell - THE ART OF DETECTION, especially under THE COLD MOON - was no easy feat.  With a MISSING WITNESS in EXILE, and THE SUSPECT still at large, SILENCE and FIDELITY to their mission was all!  They bandied about the idea of contacting THE BOXER AND THE SPY, but decided that was pointless.  After all, THE SHADOW MAN, and the GIRL WITH THE BRAIDED HAIR were more likely to have the intel they needed.  And, if they could get a copy of the MANIFESTO FOR THE DEAD, it might spark some new ideas.  With NOTHING TO LOSE, and a KILLER WEEKEND ahead, they decided to hightail it to THE LAST ORACLE to find out if they were simply chasing a PHANTOM PREY.  Shrugging off the DEAD TIME that had plagued them, they opted for some NIGHT WORK and while CHASING DARKNESS, they could think about that SLIVER OF TRUTH that had been teasing them during the last BLACK OUT - and that was one SAVAGE NIGHT.  When they couldn’t reach THE CRIME WRITER, they followed THE CHAMELEON’S SHADOW until they found THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINTS, only to discover that the DEATH WAS THE OTHER WOMAN, and not the vic whose murder they were trying to solve.  The RECORD OF WRONGS they’d been given were now worthless, and the LAST CALL from THE KILLING ROOM had just about blown their covers.  A few of them were beginning to lose interest and began thinking about a WINTER IN MADRID.  But BLUE SMOKE AND MURDER was too compelling to turn away now.  When one of the crew mentioned THE KEEPER OF THE KEYS could tell them WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, the battle cry was ‘Let’s not worry about THE DARK TIDE!  We can head DOWN RIVER and find the PRIEST!   THE RACE was on again, and with STONE COLD intent, they were determined to see this caper solved.  They made good progess until…  

AND NOW, GIRLS AND BOYS - THE ONE AND ONLY KEITH KAHLA!

Doncha just love this photo?  I told Keith I’d be quaking in my Manolo’s (even though I prefer Ferragamo’s) if Keith was my editor and looked at me like that!  He said “he trys not to smile in photos - milk curdles, babies cry, grown men are shaken…” And then he added “…photos are for authors who have books to push, not editors who should lurk in dark corners.”  Lurk in dark corners??  Not. At. All.  And I’ll bet Joe Finder, Gayle Lynds, Gregg Hurwitz, Steven Saylor, Lindsey Davis, Mark T. Sullivan, S.J. Rozan (whose new book Keith said is a stunner & that Lydia & Bill are back!), Alan Gordon, Jane Haddam, Charles Cumming, and William Tapply…just to name a few (!)  - are damn glad Keith doesn’t!

After getting a useless (Keith’s words, not mine!) -at least impractical degree at the University of Texas, he compounded the problem by working in a bookstore in Austin, Texas - and proving that the world is actually a tiny, tiny place, his first boss at the bookstore is Rick Riordan’s uncle.  Then Keith moved on to New York to go into publishing because, he added, he was 26 and didn’t have a better idea on how to spend his time.  After a brief stint at G.P. Putnam’s Sons in the rights department, about which the less said the better (his words again!), he landed at St. Martin’s Press, where he’s been for the past 20 years.  He expects when he dies, they’ll just brick him up in his office.  Uh, I doubt that  (my words)-but I wouldn’t be surprised if a bronze plaque is hung over the door.

The glaring overhead lights are on, a guard stands at the door, Keith sits at the center of the table, and awaits the grilling from…

DAVID MONTGOMERY:

I keep hearing that the market for mystery novels, especially series mysteries, is in a state of steady decline, but that the thriller market is more encouraging.  Have you seen this to be true?  Or, is it too much of a crapshoot to generalize?

KEITH:

The latter, definitely the latter!  I think it’s a problem of comparing apples to oranges.  Series mysteries, even those that are highly acclaimed, generally start out modestly and the best of them build an audience from there.  Some, even most, either never really connect with a broader audience or the series runs outof steam along the way - but those that remain good and interesting can keep building for years, even decades.

DAVID:

What’s the best place to be barbecue in Beaumont, Texas?

KEITH:

The important thing about Texas BBQ is that it’s all about the brisket - yeah, you can get pork or chicken if you must, but brisket is the centerpiece.  Better than any place in Beaumont is Angelo’s in Fort Worth, or Ruby’s in Austin.  But if you MUST go to Beaumont for BBQ, then I hear good things about Willy Ray’s.

ALLISON BRENNAN:

Writers are always told to write something ‘new’ and ‘fresh’ and ‘different’, but then we’re cautioned to not write anything that breaks genre rules, or is TOO different where no one can figure out how to market it.  There seems to be a moving line where authors need to balance writing the same, but different.  As an editor, what do you REALLY look for when you take on a never-been-published-before author?  Is it really all about the indefinable voice, or is there something more, like you wave a magic cigar over the manuscript and read the smoke rings?

KEITH:

Years ago, I got a submission from someone who took the ‘write what you know’ dictum too seriously and submitted a 150,000 word novel on sod farming.  It was new and it was different but I doubt you’d be surprised to learn that I declined it.  New, fresh and different are always something we look for - but it has to be something we can sell to an audience that, as publishers,we know how toget to affordably.  Tried and true is also good - but then the writer better be writing something at or near the very top of the field - otherwise the publishing houses are going to stick with the more established writers who’ve already developed a following.

As an editor, what carries the most weight is indeed ‘voice’, followed by the ability to write a good, solid sentence and combine those sentences into a compelling narrative.  What’s most likely to get me to put something down is an overly complex conceit, or a novel where the forward narrative momentum is crushed by endless asides and excessive backstory.

JASON STARR:

Keith, what is your definition of the ideal author?

KEITH:

Oh,no!  There’s no answer to that one that isn’t gonna get me into deep trouble with somebody.  I love all my authors equally!  They are ALL pretty!

DOUG LYLE:

Every writer knows that a manuscript has to grab interest early, or it will hit the round file fairly quickly.  What are the best and worst opening lines…or paragraphs…you’ve seen come across your desk?

KEITH:

Oh, I’m a big fan of the sharp opening line, but I also think too much emphasis is place on this.  Most novels- even truly excellent ones - don’t have opening lines or paragraphs that stick with the reader over the long haul.  That said, my current favorite opening line is from the book I’m reading now and is, “You’ve got to be kidding me,” the bouncer said, folding his arms across his massive chest.”  And the worst one was one I read twenty-five years ago and was something about a man undulating down the street.  I put the book on the store shelf immediately and tried to put it and the author out of my mind forever, to limited success.

LOUISE URE:

What makes you fall in love with a book from an unknown writer?

KEITH:

Clean writing, great characters, and an ability to weave a compelling story.

LOUISE:

How many drinks would I have to buy you to spill the dirt about St. Martin’s?

KEITH:

Oh, I’d pass out long before I’d ever spill secrets about SMP.  But you are more than welcome to try!  I’m fond of Belgian Trappist ales, most European red wines, and Bass on tap - just in case…

ALI KARIM:

Keith, exactly how difficult is the market for publishers currently, and what is being done internally within the industry to improve things?

KEITH:

It’s pretty bleak right now.  One of the two major chains is undergoing some serious ‘challenges’, the library market- which for decades provided a base stability for book publishers - has continued to decline, and the rise in fuel costs are biting into already tight profit margins as the U.S. is a large country and the cost to ship books from a central location is a significant factor.  In terms of the industry improving things, there are some efforts but what’s happening is that our customers (bookstores, libraries, distributors) are facing troubles reaching their customers (consumers).  We can try to help them do what they do, but it’s unlikely that we have the skills to actually replace them in whole or in part, we just aren’t set up to do what they do.

ALI KARIM:

We hear of the reduction in review space in the print media, so how key are reviewers to publishers, and is the internet going to increase in importance in terms of reviewing books?

KEITH:

Review attention has traditionally been one of th primary means by which readers fround out about new authors, sending them to libraries and bookstores.  Librararies in the U.S., in particular, tend to acquire off of reviews.  Reduced review attention in newspapers - and reduced readership OF newspapers - means there is one last means by which to introduce a new writer to an audience.  The internet is already important - to supplement and supplant the declining review space - and I imagine it will only become more so.

Richard and Judy or Oprah, however, remain the most effective means to sell books.

PAUL GUYOT:

How tall are you?

KEITH:

Shorter than Lee Child, Charles Cumming and Gregg Hurwitz.  Taller than Otto Penzler.

NICK STONE:

Do you agree that book-a-year authors suffer from the crack effect - a quick high peak (first 3.5 books), followed by an equally quick comedown (next 4.5 books)?

KEITH:

Man, the crack where you come from is so much better than the stuff around here - here the high never lasts THAT long.  But as for the aforementioned ‘crack effect’, certainly some authors do suffer from that very thing.  There can be a lot of pressure on authors to write at least one book a year and, as they become more popular, even more than one a year.  And these are not the conditions under which many writers produce their best work.  Some are better at it than others:  Rex Stout wrote some of his best books under those conditions, as has Bernard Cornwell.

But it never helps in the long run to just meet those demands without regard to the quality of the book itself.

Well, boys and girls - there you have it straight from the top.   How about a round of applause for KEITH KAHLA!   Great answers, great insights - and from one hell of a great guy!   Thanks so much, Keith - you were such a terrific Person of Interest - I guess we’re just gonna have to invite you back again.   You will accept, won’t you? :)  Hell, I’ll even find out where buy some Belgian Trappist ales!

NEXT MONTH?  WELL, ON AUGUST 8TH - our Person of Interest will be the one and only MICHAEL CONNELLY.  So, mark your calendar - or better yet - subscibe to Evil E and you won’t have to miss a thing.

THANKS FOR STOPPING BY TODAY… Hope you had a couple of laughs.  We could use a few the way things are going lately…just remember that life is not about learning how to weather the storm, but how to dance in the rain…

So, see you next month, or not.   Until then, stay safe, stay warm - and be nice to each other.

p.s. If you find any typo’s this month, keep it to yourself. I’m working with a vicious sciatic nerve problem (which Bob Levinson said I had a nerve getting) - and ‘editing’ is not a big thing with me today.

To leave a comment, now, the link is up at the top - just below the title of the column.  Click the link, then scroll to the bottom to leave your comment. 

Hope you all like the new look.  This may not be the final one, so stay tuned. All thanks to Evil E, Jr….my daughter Kelly, aka AMBIGUOUS ARTS , who is still fine tuning things. She’s the real talent in the family.  And speaking of talent - check out the left side of the coloumn - I’ve finally got my fantastic interrogators listed!  In case you’re not familiar with any of them (?!) - please do click on their names to go to their websites, and see for yourself why they’re all so special.  I’m not crazy about how small their names are, or the wacky way this program alphas by first name instead of last, but those fixes are in the works.  Also on the right side - just above “Evil E” - you’ll see SUBSCRIBE. Click that and sign up if you’d like to be personally reminded each month when the next Evil E appears.  Your email address will NOT be used for any other purpose. It won’t be traded, bartered, or used for blackmail.  And that is gospel.

Congratulations to all the Barry and Anthony nominees!  So many of my favorite authors and friends are short-listed, I’m actually giggling with glee!  By now, you all know who they are - so l’ll just take a moment to say how especially proud I am of our very own Anthony nominees - Louise Ure (Murderati/Web Site), David Montgomery (Crime Fiction Dossier/Web Site), Ali Karim (Special Services) and Jason Starr (& Ken Bruen/Slide/Best Paperback Original).  How timely that this month’s Person of Interest just happens to be Jason!  And another nominee-The Anthony & The Barry - Megan Abbott - was last months Person of Interest.  You may wonder if I have a crystal ball.  I don’t.  Just lucky, I guess.

OKAY - ”I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT…

I’m not going to buy James Frey’s new book…even out of curiosity, or the NY Times great review, or the LA Times negative review.  Sorry, but I don’t support deceit.  ‘Reformed’, or not.  I’m certain Mr. Frey’s new book (nameless on purpose) will, once again, become a best seller, and maybe Oprah might have him back on her show.  He’s already on the NYT list, so I’m sure he’ll do well without my $$.  Especially when he does appearances like he did in Portland last month to discuss the new book.    Tickets to this outing were $27 which included a free (?) book.  Oh, wait.  That probably wasn’t his doing.  I’m sure that was a  promoter policy thing.  But why, then, wasn’t a free book offered for the other writer appearing with him?

I watched an interview with Frey recently, and regarding the ‘inaccuracies’ he’d finally admitted to in ‘A Million Little Pieces’, he said he’d ‘made a mistake.’   Mistake??  Oh, I get it.  ‘Mistakes’ are new-speak when you get caught.  Horse feathers.   This from a guy who claims to revel in being unorthodox? (See Vanity Fair/June/2008), “to play with truth and reality, play with the rules people place on writing and art, which I wholly reject.”  ??  Excuse me, but I wasn’t aware that calculated lying is now considered a mistake.  Were you?   But then, ethics these days seem to be a vanishing trait.  Fame is all, no matter who is hurt, who is deceived.  Even being plagiarized (present as new or original an idea or product derived from an existing source) these days ain’t no big thing.  And yeah, it happens (in many shades of gray) more often than you might realize.  But then, that guy we all remember who’d said ‘he hadn’t had sex with that woman,’ seems to be faring well enough, so what the hell, huh?

By the way, I should make something clear here in case you might have missed one of my earlier outings.   Except for the interviews, all musings, vents, opinions and comments here - are mine - and not representative of the thoughts or opinions of my wonderful cohorts who generously concoct great questions for our interview guests each month.  So, don’t send them hate mail if you disagree with something I might say. 

I JUST LOVE THIS DEPT…

It’s never too late to start your career.

           Millard Kaufman, the Oscar nominated screenwriter (TAKE THE HIGH GROUND, and BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK), not to mention one of the creators of MR. MAGOO, penned his first novel - BOWL OF CHERRIES/2007 /McSweeneys- when he was 86!  A starred review from PW, to boot!  But perhaps even more fantastic - the Writers Guild of America recently declared Kaufman to be a “Living Legend!” Having just turned 90 - the energetic Mr. Kaufman is hard at work on another book.  Well, like they say - ‘use it, or lose it’.   Wail on, Mr. Kaufman!!

Remember all the talk about product placement in books?  Has anyone out there read CELEBUTANTES?  A friend (?) gave me a copy, and I gotta tell you - these two authors, Amanda Goldberg & Ruthanna Khalighi Hopper have got to be the queens of pp.  Damn near every page is loaded with name designer goods, jet-setting restaurants and boutique hotels, film and TV actors, luxury cars, film and TV titles, oh…I could go on, and on.  But you know what?  It was  a fun read.  Really.  Stop laughing.  I know who you are, and where to find you.  Okay, so some might think it was dumb and ditzy, but maybe it was meant it to be?  So stop thinking I’ve lost it.  It was a break from dark and stormy nights, okay?

Speaking of dark and stormy nights, there was an interesting thread on DorothyL last month…violence and how ‘torture scenes’ are increasingly explicit.  It’s kinda like who can out titillate who.  Or, is it ‘whom’?  Anyway, I naturally offered an opinion.   I said I couldn’t understand the appeal of ‘DEXTER’, or why readers apparently love this guy.  How can he be lovable?  What is it about him that doesn’t turn readers off?  It’s not that I’m against a ‘vigilante’ type protag - but does he have to love his work so much?  Someone said the series was ‘witty’.  Oh.  Well, that explains it, I guess.   Might be wittier if ‘ole Dex was involved in a therapy session ala Tony Soprano.  We could have tons of laughs then reading about the shrinks reactions whilst hearing about Dex’s expertise.   Someone else mentioned readers related to Dex because we all shared the same ‘Id’ desire.  Well, I can relate to that at least.  I mean, there are a few people my ‘Id’ is itching to meet up with…  Oh?  You too?  :)  We should talk.  Have your people call mine, and we’ll set up a meet.

AND THEN…

Belated thanks to the incomparable Margery Flax for once again working day and night overseeing yet another bestselling Edgar Week!  Not to forget the many chairs and committees who outdid themselves!   I had a great shot of Margery lined up with her husband, Steve - but she turned her head the minute I hit the button!  But here it is anyway…

GREAT NEWS DEPT…

EASY INNOCENCE, the new zinger from Libby Hellman is rushing off the shelves so fast, people are have trouble getting a copy!  And it is already in a second printing three weeks after it was released!  Absolutely terrific news for not just a fabulous writer, but one hell of a great gal.  Go get ‘em, Libby!

AND THEN…

I know you’re already primed to attend the next major crime fiction conventions - ThrillerFest (July) and Bouchercon (October) - but I want to remind you to get your acts together and be sure to register for LEFT COAST CRIME/HAWAII!!   Yeah, yeah, I know…this is June and the con isn’t until next March…but go over to http://www.leftcoastcrime.org- click on LCC Hawaii and just take a gander at how many folks have already signed up!  The Waikoloa Beach Resort is a mega complex, but darlings - there are only so many rooms blocked out for LCC, capice?  And really, you don’t want to NOT stay where all the action is, right?  This is an incredible opportunity to not just  be a part of a great con (brought to you with the exquisite expertise of Bill & Toby Gottfried ), but a super way to have your summer vacation earlier!  Bill and Toby have lined up some fantastic pre & post con excursions that will make your stay on the Big Island memorable.   How’s this for a teaser?  Whale watching, snorkel & sail to Kealakekua Bay, Mauna Kea evening summit w/a gourmet dinner, maybe a horse back ride to the Waipi’o Valley?, a trip to Kilauea?  Oh, and if you decided to visit Madame Pele, uh…don’t take any rocks home, k?  Many have, and their tales of woe are legion.  So, don’t mess with her.   All excursions are optional, naturally, but oh, so very exciting!  And one other kaimaina caution -  never, I mean NEVER turn your back to the sea.  Mo’ bettah you be one smart Malihini and get registered wikiwiki, than be saying ”Aie! Ao no ho’i!”

See? Even Bill & Toby agree with me!

Breaking news about ThrillerFest from Kath Antrim - Dr. Cyril Wecht will be attending.   Dr. Wecht, in case you’re not familiar with his name - has performed over 14,o00 autopsies!  And was consulted on the deaths of JFK, Elvis, RFK, Sharon Tate, Jon Benet Ramsey, Anna Nicole, Laci Peterson and Vincent Foster.  Whew.

If you haven’t checked out the attendee list for Bcon/Baltimore - what a treat to discover that Val McDermid will be there and - hold your hats - Elizabeth George.  Now, when’s the last time you saw her at a con?  I tell you, this is going to be one great Bcon!

AND NOW - WE RETURN TO OUR BEDEVILED CREW AND WHAT APPEARS TO BE ONE MASSIVE F…ER, SCREW UP AFTER ANOTHER…

We last left our team wondering if the QUEENPIN was once again hot on their heels.  They soon realized that she was actually after the WATCHMAN, and so were the L.A. OUTLAWS.  They got a big laugh out of that - hell, they’d been after him since the SUMMER OF THE BIG BACHI, and still couldn’t nab him…good luck, lady!  Even THE CRIMEWRITER couldn’t help them, he was too busy with a new caper.  Checking their RECORD OF WRONGS (?!), they knew they were nearing their LAST CALL and a DEAD CONNECTION, so they decided their best bet was to avoid the BURN ZONE where THE BLACK DOVE hid out, or wait…was that DEVIL’S PEAK?  Not sure, they decided to make a detour around THE SHANGHAI TUNNEL and head for THE FAULT TREE to rest.  It was there they saw A PALE HORSE following what looked like HOLLYWOOD CROWS zooming over a huge BLACK WIDOW.    All it took was ONE LAST SCREAM, and they were outta there!  Let THE CHILDREN OF BLACK VALLEY with their EASY INNOCENCE deal with it!  Their cache of YELLOW MEDICINE was low, and their copy of THE MURDER NOTEBOOK didn’t include the recipe.  So, before an all consuming BLACK OUT night fell - and hoping to hell it wouldn’t turn into a NAMELESS NIGHT, or a SAVAGE NIGHT, they hightailed it to GAS CITY again.   Sure, they knew they were going in circles, revisiting some of the same places, but when trails got cold, there was nothing worse than being STALKED by indecision.  I mean, not knowing WHAT THE DEAD KNOW, and WALKING THE PEFECT SQUARE got you nowhere.   Hell, life ain’t always a BOWL OF CHERRIES, and with nothing new in the way of clues before them, BEATING THE BABUSHKA was a major time waste.  What they needed was THE WHOLE TRUTH, not TWENTY WISHES.  They had to HOLD TIGHT to their mission, but they were in a DEAD HEAT to wrap this puppy up.    And then, it came to them…all they had to do was…

Could this guy be one of the upcoming heirs to the throne of noir?  A lot of readers think so.  Even the covers on his books just scream darkness, intrigue, conflict and all that kinda nail biting stuff.  See that dame standing in front of the window on the cover of THE FOLLOWER?  Is she nuts, or what?  I mean, she’s just looking for trouble, right?  Ah, but then…Jason must have something in store for her, huh?  

Since many of the interview questions are directed to Jason’s collaboration with Ken Bruen, I thought you’d like to see this photo I took of them during Edgar week…

And now…

JASON STARR!

And he is one!

ALI:

What is it about ‘flawed’ characters that appeal to crime-fiction readers so much?  Especially as your own work often trawls through the lives of people on the edge?  I found THE FOLLOWER particularly chilling in this respect.

JASON:

Hey, Ali.  I think flawed characters, in general,  are more interesting to read about than characters without flaws.  Normal is boring, dysfunction is exciting.  Flawed people are prone to violence, ectetera, and that can easily lead to a crime.  In THE FOLLOWER, and several of my other novels, my flawed characters are seemingly normal people.  I don’t want readers to be able to distance themselves from my books and think, Oh, that could never happen to me…because it could.

NICK:

We discussed the possibility of THE FOLLOWER being turned into an anti-Friends type TV series.   Any news on that?   You and Joe Finder are about the best writers of white collar creepoids out there.  You also write about office life quite brilliantly.  How come you do it so damn well?  Were you one of those quiet office worker bees who accepted the Holy Commandments of Office Life - Thou shalt accept thine nuts being crushed by a moron” - while thinking, “Ha, just you wait until I get published, scumbag!”, Or, were you the sort who, like me, said, “The hell with this,” and walked out…?

JASON:

Hey, Nick, thank you,and I love that, the anti-Friends.  Yes,there has been interest in THE FOLLOWER for TV and as a feature film.  I can’t really comment on it because it’s in negotiations, but I’m very excited about this project…   And thanks so much for mentioning me with Joe.  He’s been one of my favs for a few years now and you’re right, his white collar criminals are brilliant, though I suspect we have very different backgrounds.  I was usually one of the lowest level employees wherever I worked and I’m actually proud of this.  My jobs were mainly part-time and gave me time to write and I liked being at the bottom looking up.  Also, trust me, I’ve worked for some totally insane people.  I had many sales jobs, too many to count.  I also woked for magazines, in publishing, and in computer networking.  I’ve never liked being told what to do, which is whey writing has turned out to be the perfect career for me.  I usually sucked it up and kept my mouth shut, though a couple of times, like you, I just said fuck  you and walked out.  The only job I was ever fired from was — believe it or not — at St. Martin’s Press, my current publisher.  I was a ‘long term temp” working in the education department and I was fired for writing on the job.  Every time my boss came in she’d see me scribbling something and she finally got tired of it and canned me.  Though she didn’t actually tell me I was fired.  She said, “Your job is ending.”  That sounds much better, right?

LOUISE:

How the hell do you co-author a book?  Especially with the likes of Ken Bruen?  You guys make it look like a haiku written ambidextrously.  Do you kick around ideas for characters and plot?  Or do you each write a scene or a chapter and take off from there?

JASON:

Wow, thank you so much, Louise, and don’t think we won’t use that as a blurb, because we will. :)  When we decided to write together we knew there were obstacles because our styles are so differentand because, in general, I think it’s very hard to co-write a book.  I think this is why most writing teams are relatives, mother-daughters, husband-wives, etc.  you have to know the other person very well and then there’s a luck factor, you just have to be able to connect with each other.   I think it’s worked for Ken and me because we’re good friends and because, while our styles are different, we have a similar overall vision for our books.  We always know which way the books are headed…south…way south.  Regarding the actual writing, we had a bit of a head start with BUST because this was loosely based on a novel I had previously written but had kept in the drawer.  In SLIDE and THE MAX (due out in September), it has been an even bigger challenge because we had to start completely from scratch.  I was concerned going into SLIDE about whether we’d be able to pull it off, but I think there’s some of our best plotting and characters in that book and in THE MAX.   The writing itself  always goes amazingly smoothly, considering we’re on different continents, though I remember one time while writing SLIDE, Ken sent me an email where he wrote, “I HAVE A NEW CHARACTER, A COP!”  Of course, he wrote this in caps, right?  I was terrified because I felt like I had the plot down in  my head and knew exactly where everything was going, but then I figured out how to integrate the cop into what was going on in the book and I think this turned out to be our best stuff in the book.   Regarding how we write the books, some readers have speculated that we switch off writing chapters, or that Ken writes the Irish stuff and I write the American stuff, which is actually the biggest compliment we’ve gotten because it’s completely untrue.  There isn’t one chapter in anyof the books that we’ve written independently.  In a  few instances one of us wrote half of a chapter, and the other person completed it, but mostly we write together, page by page, paragraph by paragraph.  Sometimes he writes the first half of a sentence, and I write the second half.  The whole point of us writing together was to merge our styles and come up with a new voice that isn’t like the voices in our solo books.

PAUL:

Does your hair ever get in the way when you’re typing, or do you write long hand?

JASON:

Well, Paul, my hair isn’t quite as long as it once was (it went halfway down my back in my rocker days )  One of these days I’ll post photos on My Space.  But I do type, directly on to a P C.

DAVID:

Jason, you’re closing in on 50…Isn’t it time to cut the hair?  Do you ever get tired of writing about creeps, crooks and cons and just want to write about a preschool teacher or something?  (not that I want you to do that…unless it’s a preschool teacher  who’s also a dominatrix.)

JASON:

Whoa, Dave, I think I have about a decade to go before 50, but nope, I ain’t cuttin’ it, not until it starts falling out in a serious clip anyway, and you never know when that’ll start to happen.  We have a picture in my family of a great uncle who lived in Russia about 80 years ago.  In most of the pictures he has this thick, dark hair, and then in the next picture, boom, Kojack.  So I may wake up one day and find it all on the pillow…  But I’ll tell you what - if Barry Eisler gets a crew cut, I will too.  Deal?  If I thought of a preschool teacher who I thought would make a great character in a crime novel, I’d go for it.  But, as you say, there would have to be something off about him or her.  I think my strength is in writing about edgy people, though I think in my recent books like THE FOLLOWER, and some of the other projects I’m working on (including a graphic novel for DC) I’ve been expanding my approach, varying points of view more.

JULIA:

What do you do to keep your hair so thick, lustrous, and full-bodied?

JASON:

Why am I sensing  a theme here? :)   Tea tree oil and kimchi are my latest tricks.  But don’t put the kimchi in your hair.

DOUG:

You write solo and now 3 books with Ken Bruen.   What are some of the differences between writing as a team, and going it alone - the good, the bad, and the ugly?

JASON:

Writing my own books and writing with Ken are completely different experiences.  When I write alone it’s like working out in a gym:  I go every day, do a little more each time, but progress is slow and it could take months before I start to really see the results.  But when I write with Ken, we each do about 3-5 pages a day and the results come much faster.  We also have twice the chance to come upwith a great line or plot twist, and it’s a nice break from solo writing to be able to talk to Ken about the books while we’re writing them and to do the promotion together. When I write alone, I’m always very secretive and solitary, which is rewarding in its own way, but it’s nice to get a break from that sometimes.

ALLISON:

If I had a writing partner, I would probably be in prison for murder.   What is it like writing with Ken Bruen?   Have you wanted to kill him?   Has he tried to kill you?   How do you stay reasonably sane and still create such fabulous books?

JASON:

LOL.   Ken and I haven’t had any conflicts at all so far and I think part of it is because we know the end results won’t be like our individual books, there will be our combined books, so there are never any little squabbles about whose line or phrasing we use.  And the great thing about co-writing is if anybody ever complains about a particular seedy line I can say—hey, don’t blame me, Bruen wrote that one :)… So, no, I don’t think Ken’s plotting to kill me, but Ken’s a sneaky guy so I guess you never know.  How about this?  If I ever turn up missing - officially lable him ” a person of interest.”

THANKS TO JASON for trading places today - and as always - my thanks to the crew:  Allison Brennan, Paul Guyot, Julia Spencer-Fleming, Ali Karim, Doug Lyle, David Montgomery, Nick Stone and Louise Ure.

NEXT EVIL E WILL BE ON JULY 7 TH  subscribe and then you won’t have to remember when we’ll be back! And if you’d like to join in the conversations - just click on ‘Comment’ and yak away.  We love it.

KEITH KAHLA, Senior Editor at St. Martin’s goes on the hot seat.  Besides being the editor of so many of our favorite writers, Keith is one of the wittiest guys I know - I’m really looking forward to seeing him handle our rascals.  And you can bet he will!

So, see you next month, or not.

Until then, stay safe, stay warm - and be nice to each other.

Oh, and don’t forget to come back on Friday, June 6th - for our June edition…

Evil

You’ll note (I hope) over the next couple of months - there will be some changes on Evil E.  While most of you know my intrepid crew of interrogators, I’ve been remiss in not listing them and their websites.  Terribly evil of me, I know.  But honest - it wasn’t because I want all the attention and glory - I just didn’t think about it.  But now that my brain’s in gear - we’ll get that on next month, and a few links to other blogs.  This month - we’ve added a subscription box so I can send you an alert when the next Evil E will be up.  Oh, and one more thing - a ‘how to leave a comment’ info. You won’t believe how many e-mails I’ve had asking how to do it.   I mean, not everyone is up to snuff on how to join in the conversation on these blogs.  We’ll have that info at the end of each column from now on.

WARNING!  This will be a rather long session - got a lot of photos, the book saga - and…ta da…our PERSON OF INTEREST IS none other than MEGAN ABBOTT who won the Edgar for Best Paperback Original!!

So - to some great photo’s!

The deliriously happy young gal next to me is STEFANIE PINTOFF - the winner of the MWA/St.Martin’s Unpublished contest.  Even though I look like I just crawled out of a Maytag spin cycle - I wanted you all to meet her.  And why? Well, darlings, I was one of the judges - and Stefanie was my top pick - and she won!!  So, keep your eyes out next year for MURDER IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM.  In case the title changes - just remember her name.   But wait - there’s more!  I introduced her to Megan Abbott and would you believe -they’d gone to college together and hadn’t seen each other in years?   If we all hadn’t been so dumfounded - I’d have taken a photo of them!   

Just had to show you our resident mischief maker - PAUL GUYOT - autographing my copy of the MWA Anthology -THE BLUE RELIGION.  The signing - held at Otto Penzler’s famous  The Mysterious Bookshop - was during Edgar week.  The lovely lady next to him - as you all know - is ALAFAIR BURKE - who also graciously signed.  This is one exceptional collection of short stories that should be on your bookshelf.  I devoured it on the flight home and couldn’t have asked for better company.

Oh, but I just loved this one!  Ken Bruen & Louise Ure finally met in person!  They’ve been alternate posters on Murderati for months - developed a warm and lovely relationship via e-mails - and finally met for the first time at Edgar week.  What a time we had that night in the bar (official command post) at the Grand Hyatt!  I won’t show you the one with Ken & moi taken that night - he had me in an affectionate choke hold…and well…I look a little deranged.

Here’s John Hart with his agent and editor pre-banquet.  All easily relaxed as John laughed and told me he had no hopes of winning and was just ready to have a good time.   Since I was one of the Best Novel judges - and knew he’d won - let me tell ‘ya - it was damn hard keeping a straight face.  But I did - and he told me later that night in the bar that I had one of the best poker faces he’d ever seen.

And if you think it was hard keeping a straight face with John, it sure as hell wasn’t easy with these guys either!   This is at the VIP cocktail party (nominees, judges, VIP’s, ect) prior to the ‘regular’ cocktail party and the awards banquet.   No doubt you recognize Reed Farrel Coleman, Ken Bruen and Ed Kaufman (M is for Mystery Books, San Mateo, Calif).   I’m a bit less deranged looking here.

Two of my favorite people - and great Edgar week dinner mates - I give you - Doug Lyle and the very lovely Nan Owen.  This was taken at the book signing at Otto’s.  We later broke bread with Lee Goldberg (should taken a photo!) and laughed our way though a great time at Pershing Square.

Two more of my favorite people!   The inimitable Larry Gandle (co-editor of Deadly Pleasures) and C.J. Carpenter - one of the funniest, brightest and most loveable gals I know.   Larry, who is one of my secret loves, took C.J. and moi out to lunch at Jean Georges (Trump’s Hotel) - and let me tell you - three hours, haute cuisine and Leonard Lauder (Estee Lauder) at the next table?  Oh, my dears!  Hell, I even wore heels.  (Oh, the guy on your very left? Harry Hunsiker.  Had a great photo of him with his lovely wife, Allison -but it was too dark to show you.)

I know you’re all anxious to get to Megan’s interview - but I’ve got more photos.  I mean, I DID promise you tons, right?  Well, I don’t have tons -just a few more (some - I hate to admit - didn’t turn out).

Larry and C.J. with James Lincoln Warren (love that white dinner jacket!!) and Con Lehane.  JLW was regaling them with one of his great stories -which I missed since I was taking the photo.

Oh, this was hysterical!  Another one of Ken’s ‘love hold’s - this time with close friend Judy Bobalik (co-chair with Ruth Jordan for Bcon 2008/Baltimore) outside the Grand Hyatt as we were all contemplating moving on to Otto Penzler’s post-Edgar party.   I, alas - opted for bed.  It was past the witching hour and I had to get up at 4am for my flight home.

And then…moi & Otto!  Just had to include this one - at least I don’t look like I’m about to be put away here.   Okay, stop laughing.  I know who you are and where to find you.

Last one - but worth waiting for.   The gorgeous super agent, Donna Bagdasarian, and our crime fiction heart throb.   Ohhh….to be young and…  Oh, well.

OTHER THINGS TO MENTION….

LEFT COAST CRIME/2008 on the Big Island is not that far away - and Bill and Toby Gotfried are urging you to sign up and get your hotel room booked wiki-wiki!  I’ll have more on that (and photos) next month.

MICHELLE GAGNON has asked me to remind those planning to go to ThrillerFest to get a move on as well!  The hotel is filling rapidly and ITW is currently running a contest where the prize is a free ticket to attend - so head over to their webside and check it out.

Exciting news from ALLISON BRENNAN - SPEAK NO EVIL is finaled in the RWA contest for Best Romantic Suspense, and SPEAK NO EVIL for Best Novel w/romantic elements!  The RWA convention will be held August 2nd in San Francisco.  Go get ‘em, Allison!!

And just finished JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING’S ARC of  I SHALL NOT WANT.  Wow.  That’s about all I can say - except she’s done it again!!  Naturally.

ALAS - NO BOOK SAGA THIS TIME.   I would have taken you on the quest, but with all the photos…I didn’t want to wear your eyes out and have you miss the great interview with Megan.

AND NOW - EDGAR AWARD WINNER - MEGAN ABBOTT!!!

NICK STONE:

What are the five best white collar crime/noir novels to have come out of the US?

MEGAN:

This is a great question and I guess it reveals the embarrassingly narrow band of reading I do that it’s hard for me to answer.  While I do start mhy book QUEENPIN with a bit of white-collar book-cooking, I mostly end up reading novels centered on violent crime or crimes of the ’sin tax’ variety (gambling, prostitution).  That said, I find true stories of white-collar crime, especially fraud, to be completely riveting, e.g., the Stephen Glass scandal.  Also, many of my favorite noir novels involve a white-collar crime that leads to a violent crime, such as you frequently get in Highsmith novels, or, more recently, Peter Spiegelman and Jason Starr.  And, while it’s a violent-crime novel, I love all the minutiae of the insurance scam in James M. Cain’s DOUBLE INDEMNITY.  That collision of white-collar treachery and the primal forces it conceals and then unleashes is pretty great.

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING:

You have the most fabulous covers in all of crime fiction.  Have you ever considered getting Richie Fahey, the artist, to paint you in a bad girl pose? 

MEGAN:

Not even for a second!  I know when I’m out of my league.  I thank goodness for Richie’s lush talents, though.  His covers just make you want to sink right into the world he renders.  A few times, I’ve met people at bookstores who can barely conceal their disappointment that I’m not the model for some of these cover girls.  I always find myself apologizing…

PAUL GUYOT:

I only discovered your work this year, and was so impressed that I blathered about it on a couple of blogs, only to learn that, like always, I’m the last on to the party.  You got mad skills, which is rare these days.  I’d like to know where some of the raw stuff comes from - can you speak publicly about some of your vices or non-writing interests?  And if not, please email me privately.

MEGAN:

Gee, Paul, thanks so much!  I’m a woman with sadly few vices, which probably explains why I write about vices so much.  Like a lot of writers, I am a hopeless voyeur.  For example, I don’t gamble, but I love going to Atlantic City.  I don’t place bets, but I’ll stand at the roulette wheel for hours, watching it all go down.  The nihilistic energy of anyone, lost to their dream, their compulsion, their obsession completely captivates me.  I’m a sucker for addicts of any kind; I can’t get enough of them.  This is starting to sound like a pretty sordid vice on its own, isn’t it?

DAVID MONTGOMERY:

What did your colleagues in academia think when you started writing crime fiction?

MEGAN:

I haven’t been in full-time academia for a few years, but I have taught lit classes on occasion since and the bigger issue for me has been whether to admit to students that I also write fiction.  It feels a little bit like an exposure because we’ll be reading Chandler or Hughes or Spillane and breaking them down and the students are so skilled at taking apart these books and I don’t know if it’s a good thing to do that to one’s own books.  I’m always afraid if you break down your own writing to its component parts you may not be able to put it together again.  Plus, I get uncomfortable when anyone I know reads my writing because whenever I read fiction by people I know I feel like I’ve unveiled something about them.  All your secrets are laid bare. 

LOUISE URE:

The historical details in your work bring each scene to life.  How do you go about doing research for your work?

MEGAN:

I just love digging into the past, trying to inhabit it.  Especially the 1930s through the 1960s.  I read a lot of nonfiction, especially the more dubious variety: gangster chronicles, old movie star bios, Hollywood Babylon-style exposees, obscure true crime books and assorted, long out-of-print memoirs.  I also scour old newspapers and magazines endlessly.  When I look at one tabloid page from a 1949 Los Angeles Mirror, it seems like five novels to me.  And it gets a little ridiculous in terms of collecting.  1940s pinup girl calendars and men’s magazines, matchbooks from long-lost nightspots, movie magazines and endless, endless pulp novels.  I love all that unofficial history.

ALI KARIM:

I really enjoyed your post at Rap Sheet on Zodiac - one of my fav movies of 2007 - so who do you think is/are the Zodiac killer?

MEGAN:

Thanks, Ali.  I had so much fun writing that piece and I am fairly obsessed with the movie.  I was very sure for so long that Arthur Leigh Allen, Robery Graysmith’s and Dave Toschi’s guy, was the one, despite the negative DNA test.  But you always come up against chaos in that case.  The more you think you have all the facts at hand, there always seems to be something that prevents resolution.  In one of the documentaries on the DVD, someone talks about how the problem with much of the investigation - and you can extrapolate this more widely to all the Zodiac theorists - is that investigations began to follow the favorite suspect and work backwards to the evidence, rather than the other way around.  That’s what happens to with Zodiac.  Because Allen’s the kind of guy who clearly could or would do this, you start to believe he had to.  Because there are so many tantalizing connections,  you begin to only seek more connections.  It’s a trap.  And, as you can probably tell, I’m still stuck in the trap!

JASON STARR:

Can you ever see writing a novel in a contemporary setting?  If so, would you write it in a similar style as your period novels, or do you think you’d have to alter your approach?

Can you ever see having a series character?  Does that interest you at all?

MEGAN:

It’s a challenge I hope to take on.  My next book is set in the 1930s, but after that, I’d like to try.  Lately, I’ve written a few short stories set in the present or more recent past.  It’s very hard for me because my books are pretty unrealistic; they tend to spring from my glamorization of the past.  But I see the ”now” pretty realistically (thankfully, or how would I get to work or by groceries?), so making the transistion is tricky.  But I recognize that trying is a pretty good idea for just that reason.

I’ve grown attached to some of my characters and I’d like to return to them.  But they always end up in pretty dark spaces by the end and I can’t always figure out how to dig them out.  I’d probably have to be more gentle with a character for him or her to return.

Watching the long arc of a series character, like Philip Marlowe or Matt Scudder or many of James Elroy’s recurring characters, can be so rewarding as a reader.  But hard to pull off, I’m sure.

ALLISON BRENNAN:

First, I love your covers Megan!  Now to get serious.  As an avid reader of true crime, I’m particularly interested in your research for your second book, THE SONG IS YOU, which was inspired by the true-life case of Jean Spangler.  Can you share a little about what inspired you to writ this book?

MEGAN:

I love, love, love true crime too.  I was reading some article about Hollywood’s unsolved cases and there was this passing reference to Jean Spangler, this aspiring actress who had gone missing back in 1949.  She was so beautiful and the case was so cryptic.  I tracked down one of the movies she had a bit part in: The Miracle of the Bells.  You see her onscreen for just a few seconds and she has one line but, knowing what happened to her later, it became a really haunting moment.  I was hooked.  So I started finding out what I could.  The story was so sad, this working mother, a divorcee supporting her family, dancing in revues.  And it seemed like there were two lives for her - this home life with her own daughter and mother, her sister-in-law, all in one apartment - and this other life she was leading in Hollywood:  dating Kirk Douglass, making the scene with gangsters on the Sunset Strip.  And the details of her disappearance seemed like the plot of the darkest film noir.  Writing it let me draw on all the things I love about true crime but with the freedom of fiction to do what real life couldn’t: give the story an ending.

EVIL E:

So come on, Doll face - let’s have the real skinny…I mean the real low-down here…just who the hell gave you the inside look at Vegas in the 60s?  I mean, those are famigilia secrets.  You’re not Italian, are you?

MEGAN:

Not that I know of!  But I’ve been reading mob books all my life.  I’m from Grosse Pointe, just outside of Detroit, which, believe it or not, has its own storied mob-heritage (some of which made its way into local boy Jeffrey Eugenides’ Virgin Suicides).   But mostly, after first coming upon Nicolas Pileggi’s Wise Guy many years ago, I became really interested in stories of the day-to-day mechanics of organized crime, of how money gets moved, of how the numbers racket works.  Right before writing QUEENPIN, I’d read Henry Hill’s memoir, Gangsters and Goodfellas and a biography of mob courier and Bugsy Siegel flame Virginia Hill and a lot of books about gambling scenes in smaller cities during the ’50s and ’60s and I was just dying to try to write something in that world.

Many thanks to Megan for joining us - and - as always - my thanks to David Montgomery, Louise Ure, Paul Guyot, Ali Karim, Nick Stone, Allison Brennan, Julia Spencer-Fleming and Jason Starr for taking time out of their very busy schedules to play interrogators.   Doug Lyle will be joining the investigative crew next month - JUNE 6TH - when we grill Jason Starr!

Okay - here’s how to leave a comment (if you’re so inclined) - just click on ‘comment’ at the end of the column - and a message box pops up.  Say what whatever…(hint:  Great stuff!  Love the photos!  Get a life!  You get the drift) and then hit ’submit’.   Easy!

And - if you’d like a reminder when the next Evil E will appear - hit the ’subscribe’ link in the upper right corner of the page (under the title “Pages”).  

So - see you next month, or not.

Until then - stay safe, stay warm - and be nice to each other.

The lists are a bit lengthy, but stick around for one hell of a fabulous interview with the one and only LEE CHILD.  I spent much time pondering Lee’s introduction.  I mean, the guy has been written up a zillion times, right?  What more could I add?  Well, maybe that I’d wished he’d been pegged as the new James Bond instead of Daniel Craig.  Don’t get me wrong - Craig is okay, but to me he just doesn’t have that elusive sang-froid (as in tres cool), or the same elegant stance, or the low-key, but very sexy joie de vivre that oozes from Lee.  And darlings, no one…I mean no one can smoke a cigarette like Lee.  Even Jeremy Irons could take a lesson.  So what to do?  Well, when you get down aways, you’ll see…

AND NOW - THE NOMINEES…

THE GUMSHOE

This prestigious award from MYSTERY INK was created by one of our most discerning reviewers - David Montgomery.  In it’s seventh year, The Gumshoe has become one of the most coveted awards in crime fiction.  An additional award - Lifetime Achievement - will be announced along with the winners on April 21st.  You can cheer, or weep at http://www.mysteryinkonline.com   

BEST MYSTERY

James Lee Burke - TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN  John Connolly - THE UNQUIET  Ariana Franklin - MISTRESS OF THE ART OF DEATH  Charlie Huston - THE SHOTGUN RULE  Laura Lippman - WHAT THE DEAD KNOW

BEST THRILLER

Lee Child - BAD LUCK AND TROUBLE  Robert Crais - THE WATCHMAN  Joseph Finder - POWER PLAY  Michael Gruber - THE BOOK OF AIR AND SHADOW  Richard K. Morgan - THIRTEEN

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Sean Chercover - BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD  Philip Hawley,Jr. - STIGMA  Lisa Lutz - THE SPELLMAN FILES  Craig McDonald - HEAD GAMES  Nick Stone - MR. CLARINET

THE THRILLER AWARD

Already in it’s third year - the winners will be announced on July 12th - at Thrillerfest.

BEST NOVEL

Linwood Barclay - NO TIME FOR GOODBYE  Robert Crais - THE WATCHMAN  Robert Harris - THE GHOST  Gregg Hurwitz - THE CRIME WRITER  Jesse Kellerman - TROUBLE

BEST FIRST NOVEL

Jennifer Lee Carrell - INTERRED WITH THEIR BONES  Sean Chercover - BIG CITY, BAD BLOOD  Gerry Doyle - FROM THE DEPTHS  Brent Ghelfi - VOLK’S GAME  Joe Hill - HEART SHAPED BOX

BEST PAPERBACK ORIGINAL

Anthony Flacco - THE LAST NIGHTINGALE  P.J. Parrish - A THOUSAND BONES  Tom Piccirilli - THE MIDNIGHT ROAD  Robert McCammon - THE QUEEN OF BEDLAM  Jay Bonansinga - SHATTERED

WHEW!!  So many of my favorite books and favorite people - best wishes to you all! SPOTLIGHT ON THREE DYNAMIC DUO’S!Three great writing teams - and all family! 

P.J. PARRISH aka Kris Montee and Kelly Nichols are the critically acclaimed and NYT bestselling sister-authors of the Louis Kincaid series.  Their books have been nominated for the Edgar, Shamus, Anthony and the Thriller - which they won last year for AN UNQUIET GRAVE - and again this year for A THOUSAND BONES!  Not to forget all the hard work they do for Sleuthfest and MWA!

PERRI O’SHAUGHNESSY - another marvelous sister team - Mary and Pamela - have thirteen books under their respective belts - hit the NYT list - and hoards of fans breathlessly waiting for the next - SHOW NO FEAR - out this fall.  Now that’s sisterly love when you can collaborate on that many books and be best friends as well!

 
P.J. TRACY - This time we have a mother & daughter team!  P.J. and Tracy Lambrecht hit the ground running with their first book, MONKEEWRENCH - by nabbing the Anthony, Barry and Gumshoe awards!  Two more followed with great acclaim - and their next - tenatively titled DISCONNECTED - will be out this fall.Aren’t these dynamic duo’s fantastic?  Just goes to show - the family that writes together… Hmmm, I’ll have to think about that.  In the meantime, ladies - thanks so much for hours of intrigue, all those tense moments - terrific plots, and simply great characters.  You will all always be on my TBR pile…and not just because you’re all terrific writers - but because you’re also great people.

GENT’S I LIKE TO DRINK WITH…

Due to number of e-mails accusing me of copping out by not divulging who my favorite bar mates are - I decided to fess up.  I must admit I was being rather secretive - and, I guess - just plain stingy - and maybe just a little evil.  So - here they are…

Ha!  Did you really think I’d tell you?

But that was long ago and far away.   Michael Palmer and I were chatting about this, and he pondered - ”In this day and age, what is harder…writing novels, or getting people to read them??”  As if this terrific guy and superb writer had this problem - but it’s a legit question for all writers - NYT list-ers or not.  And it got me to thinking about this thing we call ‘ the writing game’…and what it takes to find readers today.

Think about it.  This isn’t the age of the giants (and not so giant) who - I’ll bet - didn’t have to spend 80% of their time on promotion.  This is now.  This is when a writer has to do more than fashion a good story that will please not just the reader, but the agent, the editor, the marketing staff, the publicity department, the distributors, the indies and the chains.  And yes, the reviewers.   

Anyway, after chatting with Michael, I got to thinking about what we’d discussed - and sat myself down at my trusty computer and made a list (off the top of my head) of what one must do today to entice, acquire and maintain a reader base.  No doubt I’ve left something off - so please feel free to add to the list.

To be blunt, today’s writer has to wear too damn many hats.  And for some, they don’t fit well.  Not everyone is comfortable being what I’ve snark-ely termed - a ‘carney barker’ - forever pumping their product at signings, cons, speaking events, blogs, crime fiction on-line communities, short stories for e-zine magazines, YouTube (or howeverthehell you spell the damn thing), Facebook, Myspace, Crimespace, The Red Room, anthologies, essays to crime fiction magazines, web sites, and now - video trailers!  And then of course, one must belong to the many writers associations, subscribe to all the magazines hoping to see your photo there, or at the very least - a review.  And don’t forget the mailing lists for readers, bookstores, libraries and book clubs.  And newsletters.  Oh, right - and  business cards, bookmarks, and postcards ready to foist upon anyone who is within a two-mile radius.  Some writers I know even include bookmarks when they pay their bills.   I tell you - by the time I made this list - I was worn out just thinking about all we had to do and needed a nap.

But the biggest surprise was when I added up all the cons that go on throughout the year.  Do you have any idea how many there are now? Ha!  How about THIRTY-EIGHT?!  Okay, so a few of them are across the pond, but still?  It’s a brain drain just trying to figure out which one to attend.  Not all might fit your speciality, but you want readers, right?  You want to establish a presence, right?  But you don’t have the luxury of mega frequent flyer miles?  Oh, gosh.  What to do, huh?   Kinda makes your head swim, don’t it? :)        

I dunno, kids - would Faulkner, Chandler or Cain go along with all this?  Probably.  Like I said, that was then…this is now.  

Damn, I wish Michael hadn’t asked that question…

ANYWAY…

I’m hoping to pull on your heart strings here - and your great American spirit of giving.  There’s a fine young National Guard Sergeant named Zack Bazzi - who is asking folks all over the country to help him furnish the children of Afghanistan with school supplies.  Now, don’t start thinking that with all the billions of bucks our country has sent over there…etc, etc., okay?  Forget that - we know the story already.  Let’s just move past that and think about young children eager to learn and who are without pencils, paper, rulers…and have nowhere to buy them.  So how about giving up a few lattes and joining in?  The next time you’re out picking up paper and ink for your computer, or school supplies for your own family - how about adding a few boxes of pencils, maybe a couple of notebooks and a ruler into the cart for them?   And - if you’re a writer (or not), add a book or two for the guys and gals over there.  Come on - you know you’ve got a few stashed away for special gifts.  Let this be one of them.   And tell Zack Evil E sent you.

Here’s where to send them:

Zack Bazzi

ARSIC-N (PMT4)

CAMP MIKE SPANN (MES)

APO AE  09354

Zack thanks you.  I thank you.  The children of Afghanistan most assuredly thank you.

SPOTLIGHTING…

I was all ready do a ‘Dangerous Duo’ thing here this month - and spotlight three authors who are in reality a twosome - namely - P.J. Parrish, P.J. Tracy  and Peri O’Shaugnessey.  Also missing this month - a few other departments.  But look for these fabulous gals next month on April 4th…

The terrific interview with Otto Penzler is kinda long - and while I appreciate your dropping in today - I didn’t want to overburden your eyes.  See how considerate I am?

HOWEVER - I WANT YOU TO KNOW ABOUT JOHN RAMSEY MILLER’S NEW BOOK!

SMOKE AND MIRRORS is out now - and here’s what PW had to say!  “Full of breathless blood and guts action, hairpin twists and turns, Miller’s cocktail of murder and dirty business is potent and compelling!”  Wow.  Is that a terrific review, or what?  But then, John’s one hell of a fine writer - so I’m not surprised.  And did I say what a hell of a fine guy he is as well?  John and I were both Edgar judges for Best Novel (he said I could ‘out him’) - and through those long months of reading and emails, I had the great opportunity to get to know this gentleman whose integrity I found to be impeccable. And whose wit is a killer! 

AND…the great review Paul Guyot received for his short story “WHAT A WONDERFUL WORLD”  in the new MWA anthology - BLUE RELIGION.  And, I quote - “TV writer Paul Guyot contributes one of the volume’s strongest selections.”  Ain’t bad, huh?

AND…congrats to Allison Brennan’s thriller - KILLING FEAR - on the NYT list! 

AND…R.I.P.  William F. Buckley, Jr.  Others much more eloquent than I shall ever be have said all there is…

INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLERS CORNER…
More bad news on the bookstore closings…

R.I.P.

High Crimes Mystery Bookshop - Good Yarns - Dutton’s

But all hail to those who are sticking in there.  With stores closing faster than a speeding bullet, I’m not sure these days who to list anymore - so this maybe a vanishing segment of Evil E.  Maybe I’ll just list stores you folks out there would like to have mentioned.  Let me know…

AND NOW…FOR THE SERIOUS STUFF…

Yes, our team managed to avoid THE DROP EDGE OF YOUNDER - but only because they recognized a DARK TIDE was approaching and they were damn glad they didn’t have to resort to BODY SURFING.  I mean, they knew this region was NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN.  Not, of course, that any of them were - but still.  Anyway, it didn’t take them long to avoid those DEADLY SHOALS and make their way to shore.  Once there, and glad they hadn’t had to get on their knees and pray for ATONEMENT, they had to rethink their plans once again because naturally - only FOOLS RUSH IN - and even though they were pissed they had missed the OSCAR SEASON in THE KINGDOM WHERE NOBODY DIES - their quest was more important and such trivial thoughts must be put aside.  After much discussion about which direction to head, their decision was made when they saw THE BLACK DOVE.  They only hoped this was a good omen, and would lead them past THE DEVIL’S FOOTPRINTS - or, at least - not end up in the land of UNKNOWN MEANS.  Now, that would really tick them off.  I mean, this has been a trek that one might say was…well…you fill in the missing word.  EVEN CAT SITTERS GET THE BLUES, huh?  Okay, they shrugged off a hint of KILLING FEAR in spite of a strange ANCIENT RAIN that began to fall, and plauged by THE CLOUD OF UNKNOWN, off they headed past THE ISLAND OF BONES to GAS CITY, which was just outside of HELL’S BAY, and east of MOONLIGHT DOWNS.  They knew they had to avoid THE CHAMELEON’S SHADOW - who they figured was just another FRIEND OF THE DEVIL - you know, the guy who’s always after ALL MORTAL FLESH?  Anyway, they were getting close to the LAST CALL, and time was running out.  They had to reach THE KILLING ROOM, and avoid THE FAULT TREE by the CITY OF THE SUN if they were going to make it back in time to solve the MURDER IN THE RUE DE PARADIS.   Finally, luck was with them when…

AND NOW, LADIES AND GENTS - OUR PERSON OF INTEREST!

Not a man to mince words, or soft pedal his opinions - our guest is a rarity these days.  Whether or not you agree with some of the things he’s said over the years - he is his own man.  And that - male or female - is something I always applaud.

With a list of credits longer than an Escoffier recipe as a publisher, editor and award winner - not to mention the proprietor of one of the most celebrated book stores around - THE MYSTERIOUS BOOKSHOP - and whose newest book - THE BLACK LIZARD BIG BOOK OF PULPS is being hailed as a tour de force - and - (on the way - THE BEST AMERICAN CRIME REPORTING (with Jonathan Kellerman and Thomas H. Cook) - how does one introduce such a crime fiction luminary?  Simple.

PLEASE WELCOME OTTO PENZLER…

Our interrogators today are (in alpha order): Allison Brennan, Paul Guyot, Sam Hill, Ali Karim, David Montgomery, Jason Starr, Nick Stone and Louise Ure.

ALLISON:  Often we read a book and have a picture of the personality who wrote it.  What author have you met who was different from what you imagined?

OTTO:  It has been my experience over many years that mystery writers tend to be among the nicest people on the planet. Two who were the exact opposite were Patricia Highsmith and Ruth Rendell, both of whom are/were odious, ergo different from what I expected.  Ditto Martha Grimes, while I’m at it.  On the opposite end of the spectrum, I asked Elmore Leonard’s publisher, then Arbor House, if he would do a signing at The Mysterious Bookshop.  That was about 25 years ago. Then I saw the jacket photo and this mean-looking dude, squinting under his longshoreman’s cap.   I was scared to death of him.  When he got to the store, he turned out to be the sweetest guy one could meet.  I have photos of him hanging little Christmas ornaments on our tree.  We’ve been close friends ever since.

PAUL:  So, if I have a manuscript where an elderly woman with talking cats solves crimes whenever she’s not holding court at her knitting circle…would you blurb it?

OTTO:  Yes, I would happily blurb it.  Immediately following my admission to The New York Center for the Insane and Senile.

SAM:  Otto - is this a good time or bad time for writers?  On one hand we see the consolidation of publishers and boostore channels and ever-shortening backlists, which seem bad, but we’re also seeing record numbers of new books published and new on-line channels.  What do you think?  And - how do you feel about the increased niching of the mystery market, specifically, do you think the next big thing after cats might be a dog that solves crimes?  How about a parakeet, since that would give the opportunity for the lead character to talk?

OTTO:  Yes, it is a good time for writers and a bad time for writers.  I have been in publishing for 32 years and have always heard, both from writers and publishing people, that this is a tough time.  Mergers have made it harder for mid-list writers (those who sell fewer than 7-8,000 in the U.S., or one-fourth that number in the U.K.) to find a good home, and publishers are less patient in allowing a writer to find his readership while he continues to lose money for the house.  It is largely a question of economics: huge houses have huge overhead costs, and selling a couple of thousand books is a guaranteed loss, hence the focus on big best-sellers.  The good news is that small presses have been springing up everywhere, so most good writers will surely get their books published.  The flip side of the good news is the bad news, which is that small houses don’t have much money, so authors will not earn quite enough to stay alive.  As for the niching (I don’t think that’s a word, but it should be), you’re too late.  There ARE dogs solving crimes (see Carol Lea Benjamin and such titles as The Long Good Boy).  Since there are usually about 12-1400 new mystery titles published in English each year, I’m fine with it.  I don’t read animal detective books, and you don’t have to either.

ALI:  Otto, can you tell me about the Mysterious Press relationship with Quercus Publishing in the U.K., and what delights have you for us in the U.K. In 2008?  And, last time we met (at the London Bookfair last summer), you told me that you’d recently married - so how does your wife cope with your love of books and all the reading that you do?

OTTO:  Catch up, Ali.  I sold The Mysterious Press to Warner Books in 1989.  I have had no connection to them since 1991, except they published a bunch of my anthologies a few years ago.  Presumably you mean the connection between my imprint at Harcourt and Quercus, which is both simple and unique.  Every book I acquire for my Harcourt list automatically goes onto the Quercus list, unless U.K. rights were previously acquired by a U.K. publisher.  The only case where this is true is witht he great John Harvey who, alas, seems pretty happy where he is.  I also acquire books exclusively for Quercus where U.S. rights are not available, as with Robert B. Parker and Donald E. Westlake.  Hence, and “Otto Penzler Books” imprint on two continents.  As for my (still) fairly recent marriage, Lisa doesn’t really “cope’ with my love of books and reading.  She reads more than I do, also loves books, and tragically, is a lot smarter than I am.

DAVID:  I know you’re a great admirer of the work of the late Ross Thomas, as am I.  Is there anyone writing today whose work you’d compare with his?

OTTO:  No.  The spectacularly gifted Ross Thomas was in a class by himself.  The closest I’ve ever read is Thomas Perry, whose Metzger’s Dog was so Ross Thomas-like that I almost thought Ross had written it under a pseudonym.  Perry’s later books retain the similar, clear prose style, but the plots are not as varied as Thomas’.  If you ever read someone as good as Ross Thomas, please let me know immediately.

JASON:  Hey, Otto!  What are the three most memorable books that you’ve edited?  And - can you tell us a good story about working with Patricia Highsmith?

OTTO:   The Dark Fantastic by Stanley Ellin, a book about a racist that his regular publisher for more than 20 years, Random House, and the legendary editor, Robert Loomis, didn’t have the guts to publish.  Out on the Rim by Ross Thomas, the first of a three-book contract for which he was paid a million dollars.  I begged him to bring back Artie Wu and Quincey Durant, the stars of Chinaman’s Chance, and he did.  Then, in the original version of the manuscript, he killed Georgia Blue, a character with whom I’d fallen head-over-heels in love.  He allowed me to browbeat him into saving her life.  Blood on the Moon by James Elroy.  It was titled L.A. Death Trip and had three times as much violence as the published version, still one of the most violent books one is likely to read.  Rewritten several times over an 18-month period, it was the first hardcover book of Elroy’s career and the beginning of a long friendship.

I can tell a Highsmith story, and you can decide if it’s good.  I brought her to America to promote the first of a half-dozen of her books that I was to publish.  I thought it would be nice to take her to dinner with my then-wife.  The very young publicist for the Mysterious Press, who was to work with her on the tour, joined us.  She arrived with a single red rose each for my wife and for Pat Highsmith.  My wife was effusively thankful.  Pat took the flower, made no eye contact, made no sound, and threw the rose to the floor.  And that’s the most pleasant she was for the rest of the evening. 

NICK:  I’ve just ordered The Black Lizard Book of Pulps.  Who, at a push, are your favorite five crime writers and why?

OTTO:  Hey, did you order The Black Lizard Book of Pulps from my store?  No?  I’m not answering your stupid question.  Kidding.  Five favorites change from time to time, but Wilkie Collins, Raymond Chandler, Arthur Conan Doyle are ALWAYS on the list.  Ross Macdonald, Thomas H. Cook, Rex Stout and Robert B. Parker are usually there.  Some people you may not know, like Stephen Greenleaf (great private eye writer), E.W. Hornung (creator of Raffles) and Frederick Irving Anderson (brilliant short story writer), would make the list most days if it could be expanded to 10.  Why?  Because they’re good, each in their own way.  A full, comprehensive explanation of why I love each, for so many different reasons, would require serious Freudian analysis and more time than I can take.

LOUISE:  Who’s your favorite female crime fiction writer these days?  Other than you wife, the lovely Lisa, of course.

OTTO:  In the hopeless battle for second place, it would have to be Joyce Carol Oates who, although not generally regarded as a mystery writer, has been nominated for an Edgar,is a perennial in Best American Mystery Stories, and has a dark, dark heart to go along with a sunny spirit.

My thanks to Otto for joining us today - and to my wonderful interrogators who rose to the occasion - as they always do - with great enthusiasm and terrific questions.

And please do join us again next month when Lee Child will be our Person Of Interest on APRIL 4th…

See you next month…or not.

Until then…stay safe, stay warm and be nice to one another.

And - as usual - some of the whiners haven’t a brain between them, and trying to detect some logic in their complaints is like fighting with a one-armed man.  Naturally, it’s the same old story line - favorite’s  weren’t nominated and should have been, yada, yada, yada.  People seem to forget that the Edgar’s is not a popularity contest.  But the major bitch - again - and this was in several places - was that of the fifteen slots in Best Novel, Best First Novel, and Best Paperback Original - only three women were nominated.  Oh, please.  I mean, can’t we get past this?  Isn’t it time to stop with this nonsense and lay off the judges?  I mean, come on here - it should be obvious by now that judges are acutely aware of the ’gender bias’ screaming that would ensue.  Don’t you think they all felt that swinging sword hanging over their heads as they read over 500 submissions?  Can you imagine what that felt like?  If you’ve ever been a judge, then I know you do.  If you haven’t, then don’t cast stones, okay?  I guarantee you they worked like hell to be fair and objective, and deserve a vote of thanks for giving up damn near a year of their free time. 

And how - you may ask - do I know this to be true?  Easy.  I was one of the judges…one of eight for Best Novel.  So if you still feel a need to complain, you know where to find me.  And I’m also an ITW judge this year for Best First Novel.  When that list comes out - you may not like that one either.  So, like I said…you know where to find me.  But not yet, okay?  We’re not even ready for a short-list.

Something else to keep in mind - judges have their favorite writers and books just like you…so your favorite writers didn’t make the cut?  Well, maybe some of our personal favorites didn’t either.  Ever think about that?  What it all boils down to is that the books are eventually short-listed because of their excellence…voice, originality, execution and plot.  No agenda, no smoke-filled back room, no politics, no cliques, no diabolical plots, and no playing favorites.    So, like my pal, F. Paul Wilson said when we discussed this very issue at the first Thriller Awards banquet (when we were both judges) - “It’s what’s between the pages, not between the legs.”    

The new story, at least to me, is how many members of Dorothy L and 4MA had never heard of many of the Edgar nominees!  Now, these are a pretty savvy group of readers - 4,000+!  Many of whom are reviewers, authors, indy booksellers and librarians.  That alone tells me all the Edgar judges did a hell of a job in selecting books based on what they deemed merit and not author popularity, gender, or promotion buzz.

So - let’s just wish all those nominated our congratulations for being singled out by their peers…and remind them…and everyone else…that win, or lose, the nomination alone is a great honor and they should all take a bow. 

And so should all the judges for a difficult and time consuming job.

What’s more important than complaining about who was, or wasn’t nominated - is that we should be concerned about the health of Mysteryville.  With folks worried about the economy - book sales are already plummeting, indies are closing shop and print reviewers are dropping like flies.  Looks like a stormy year ahead for the book biz, kids.  So if your sales are down, don’t take it personally, don’t scream at your publisher, your agent, your dog - or doubt yourself - it’s just life right now.  Will the boom days return?  Hell if I know. 

Publishers Lunch said they reported 6,500 new deals in 2007!  Granted, that figure includes non-fiction, and, no doubt, new contracts for established writers, but when you include the slew of new writers joining the fold every day (don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing) - you gotta wonder just how much of the pie is left, huh?  Methinks the slice days are over - so grab what crumbs you can, tour where the cost won’t kill you, and keep a smile on your face.  It could be worse.  Yeah, it could - folks might go back to watching TV instead of reading. :)

ANYWAY… 

I was going to add a ‘GENTS I LIKE TO DRINK WITH’….but I changed my mind. Purely selfish reasons.  If I told you who they are, there might not be room for me at that cozy table in the bar.  So you’ll just have to find out on your own.

And - no LADIES YOU’D LIKE TO LUNCH WITH this month.  I’m on a diet.

I’LL BET YOU DIDN’T KNOW DEPT:

 Got this from the latest Smithsonian - Marmosets display ‘unsolicited prosociality‘.  This means they give without expecting something in return.  Kinda nice, huh?  And this can also be exhibited by humans now and then.  Think Patry Francis.  Several of her writer gal pals did a mega blog blitz on January 29th talking up her debut book - THE LIAR’S DIARY.  Patry, as most of you know, has been seriously ill and unable to get out and promote.  So, kids - give her a try, okay?

Going to LOVE IS MURDER?  Got some advanced scoop for ‘ya.  Be sure to check out what will probably be one of the funniest damn panels ever devised - ‘FRIENDS OF DAVE’.  Yep, you read that right.  David Montgomery will be moderating what I’ll bet is gonna be a hilarious roast.  Oh, the friends?  Well, how’s Barry Eisler, Paul Guyot and Lee Child?  Okay, you guys - I’m expecting photos from that panel for the March column!

People are talking about Amazon’s Kindle.  And so is Consumer’s Report.  They aren’t crazy about it at all.  If you’re thinking about laying out $400 for one,  I suggest you pick up a copy.

This one cracked me up - and Allison Brennan will probably hit me over the head with her new lap top for telling you - but Ballantine is promoting her as “Thomas Harris meets Julie Garwood”.  I love it because it’s true.  She’s that good.

SPOTLIGHTING…

The one and only Michael Palmer.  Why did I say ‘the one and only’? Because he is not just another NYT writer who keeps us glued to his books - he’s a rare man who, besides giving us thrilling plots  - still finds time to work part time for the Massachusetts Medical Society as an Associate Director of their physician health program, helping doctors put their lives together as they suffer with  physical and mental illness - and - sadly - substance abuse.  A round of applause, if you please, for a dedicated humanitarian! 

Michael’s latest - THE FIRST PATIENT - is out now and you’ll never guess who gave him this blurb:  “An exciting thriller that is full of surprises and captures the intense atmosphere of the White House, how the medical system works, and how the 25th Amendment could be brought into play. I thoroughly enjoyed it!”  Give up?  Bill Clinton.  Yep, you read that right.  Not bad, huh?  But then, neither is Michael.

And then there is C.J. Lyons - yet another angel of mercy.  Besides working full time as a pediatric ER doctor, C.J.’s debut book - LIFELINES - finally comes out March 4th.  Admid all of this - I still don’t know where C.J. found the time to chair the first ThrillerFest in Phoenix.  Talk about a workaholic!  Best wishes to you, C.J.!

One might call Sharan Newman an ‘angel of mercy’ as well.  I mean, if you read the Da Vinci Code. :)  Thanks to Sharan’s best seller - THE REAL HISTORY BEHIND THE DA VINCI CODE - a lot of misinformation was finally cleared up.  The book is ingeniously in encyclopedic format and gives information on various topics mentioned in DVC.  And now, Sharan - who is a medieval historian, a Macavity and Bruce Alexander award winner - has a new page turner for us - THE SHANGHAI TUNNEL.   Oh, what you’ll learn about Portland, Oregon’s history!

INDEPENDENT BOOKSELLER’S CORNER…

Vicki Lane generously gave me a list of her favorites…of course, you need to be in North Carolina to drop in…

Malaprops, 55 Haywood Street, Asheville, NC

Accent on Books, 854 Merrimon Ave, Asheville, NC

City Lights, 3 E. Jackson Street, Sylva, NC

Osondu Booksellers, 184 N. Main Street, Waynesville, NC

AND CONGRATS TO…

Nick Stone - KING OF SWORDS is gonna be a movie!! TA DA!! This really is one hell of a book.  Just remember to keep the lights on when you go to bed.

Carl Brookins - the first book in his new series - BLOODY HALLS - is out now, and is based on his years of working in academia. Ouch.

Barbara Fister - finally, this terrific writer has a new book coming out in April - IN THE WIND.  I’m telling you about it now because I want you to be sure to make a note to buy it.  And, well…my office is a mess and I might lose the note.

Evil E’s Interrogators - Julia Spencer-Fleming is joining our intrepid team!

Steve Brewer - whose birthday is…TODAY!  Happy Birthday, Bubba!

AND NOW…FOR THE SERIOUS STUFF…

We left our team deciding there was no point in BEATING THE BABUSHKA, so instead they trode on IN COLD PURSUIT of DEADMAN’S SWITCH hoping to catch up with ROBBIE’S WIFE who would, they thought, reveal WHO IS CONRAD HIRST?  But some of the team held little hope - feeling certain they were in for a series of HEAD GAMES.  Nonetheless, with THE WHOLE WORLD WATCHING, they knew THE STAKE was worth their efforts and they’d do what was necessary.   Even in THE HEAT OF THE MOMENT - they knew ALL SINS FORGIVEN would be something to hang their hats on.  By nightfall, they found MOTHER BRIMSTONE who pointed them to ANGOLA SOUTH - and that was one hell of a RUDE AWAKENING!  All this time - and they’d been going in the wrong direction?  No!  It was impossible!  Man, these guys were ready for THE SCREAMING ROOM about now - but - tough as they were - and not ignoring this latest reality check - they still felt as if they’d been hit with a SUCKER PUNCH even though THE SCENT OF BLOOD was still fresh.  THE COMMISSION must go on, and while the road ahead was dangerous with DRY ICE, they had THE HUNTER’S MOON to guide them, on this, THE DARKEST EVENING OF THE YEAR.

The DEAD DON’T LIE was an UNSPOKEN truth between them, so they headed back toward THUNDER BAY and CHILLWATER COVE in hopes THE WIDOW’S MATE was still hanging out by WRECKER’S KEY.  They found the ACCIDENTAL SLEUTH instead.  He was living in REDUCED CIRCUMSTANCES, so they gave him some SPARE CHANGE for THE DEATH LIST he’d snitched from THE CHINESE ALCHEMIST, and then headed back to their REFUGE in MAGIC CITY to regroup and make up a new plan of attack and a better RECIPE FOR TROUBLE.  Alas, and alack - as they rode the current DOWN RIVER, they saw THE ALIBI MAN on the shore waving his arms and shouting about a DEEP STORM heading their way.  It was too late to turn back by then - THE FIRST WAVE had already hit them.  Their only chance of survival was hoping THE NAVIGATOR could steer them to THE EDGE, and hope to hell they could avoid THE DROP EDGE OF YONDER.  Luck was with them when…

AND NOW - OUR PERSON OF INTEREST!

 A slight change this month…thought you might get a kick out of a few snippets from ’On The Bubble’ interviews I did some months ago.  Just for the hell of it, you know?

I asked this of JLW - aka James Lincoln Warren - who is, you no doubt know - one of the most talented short story writers out there.

“My spies have reported that your plans to take a production of “The Full Monty” to Bouchercon this year is on the back burner now that Paul Guyot has dropped out.  I mean, this stellar production has legs!  Have you found a replacement yet?”

And he said…

“Nothing could replace Paul.  I mean it.  Nothing is the absolute perfect replacement for Paul.  The biggest problem I’m having with casting is that all my friends at mystery conventions, quite naturally, are sublimely attractive women and no matter how hard I try to convince them otherwise, none of them want to play skanky male strippers.”

Ian Rankin was one of my first guests at On The Bubble - and was a great sport to play along with the off beat questions I posed…

Especially this one…

“Is it really true that Rebus’s chair has been stolen and the thief is threatening to list it on eBay unless you write him into the next book as the hero who saves Rebus’s life?”

And he said…

“If Rebus’s chair were stolen, the lazy sod would lie on the floor rather than go buy a new one.  Me, too, come to that.  But I do write real people into my books all the time.  Problem is, they have to pay charities for the privilege.  Stealing my mate’s chair isn’t going to make me write anyone into my book.  And if they don’t like that, well, they can sit on it…and rotate.”

Tess Gerritsen has got to be one of the loveliest ladies around - and it was great fun having her ‘On The Bubble’ - this is one of my favorites…

So, Tess, I asked…

“Everyone has a Walter Mitty dream, what’s yours? ”

And she said…

“Brad Pitt decides Angelina Jolie just isn’t hot enough for him anymore, and then his gaze meets mine across the room, and… No, honestly, I’m already living my Walter Mitty dream.  I still can’t believe I’m getting paid so well just to make stuff up.”

There are many more - and maybe every now and then I’ll throw a few in just for the hell of it.  Jim Rollins was a hoot, Dylan Schaffer drove me nuts, Gayle Lynds was a riot, and then there’s Barry Eisler, Cara Black, P.J. Parrish, Alex Kava, Donna Moore, Jim Born, and so many more great sports, so - like I said -I’ll add one or two on occasion.

NEXT MONTH’S PERSON OF INTEREST - ON MARCH 3RD - WILL BE THE ONE AND ONLY OTTO PENZLER.  I GUARANTEE YOU WON’T WANT TO MISS THIS ONE!

So, before I leave your wonderful company - I’d like to offer a few scintilating quotes…

Josh Billings (1819-1885) said… “About the most originality that any writer can hope to achieve honestly is to steal with good judgment.”

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) said…”I was working on the proof of one of my poems all morning, and took out a comma.  In the afternoon, I put it back again.”

Robertson Davies (1913-1995) said… “The world is overstocked with people who are ready and eager to teach other people to write.  It seems astonishing that so much bad writing should find it’s way into print when so much good advice is to be had.”

See you next month…or not.

Until then…stay safe, stay warm and be nice to one another.