Why do I read crime/mystery/thrillers? The first part of the answer is: because I read everything. I read crime, mystery, thriller, literary, historical, some sci-fi, the occasional romance, film scripts, and nonfiction. If it’s printed, I read it. Probably some kind of weird compulsion I ought to
READ MORE →I am currently blogging over at 7criminalminds.blogspot.com with 6 other crime writers. I’ll be cross posting the blog entries here too. My current favorite criminal mind is a guilty pleasure. I first met him a few years ago in a place I don’t usually hang out: TV.
READ MORE →Only 6 more days until A TRACE OF SMOKE hits the shelves. So far A TRACE OF SMOKE has been put on Deadly Pleasures “Best First Novel of 2009” list, was a Writer’s Digest Notable Debut, an Elaine’s Pick at Book Passage, a First Pick from Barbara
READ MORE →NEWS: “A Trace of Smoke” receives starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Kirkus Reviews.  EXCERPT: “You seem intent on hurling yourself down the stairs.” He caught me easily and pushed his beautiful lips into a slow smile. “Surely things cannot be so bad, young lady.” No one had
READ MORE →NEWS: “A Trace of Smoke” is on page 25 of the March/April Writer’s Digest, on newsstands now. Wow!  EXCERPT: “You seem intent on hurling yourself down the stairs.” He caught me easily and pushed his beautiful lips into a slow smile. “Surely things cannot be so bad,
READ MORE →CHAPTER 3  On Friday, before I met him, I had sketched Boris in the courtroom. At first he had looked tender as he’d bent to talk to Trudi. His look had been so touching that I had turned to a blank page. I sketched broad strokes with
READ MORE →The trial was wrapping up, so the curious were here to find out the verdict. Luckily it was less full than the KĂĽrten trial I’d recently covered in DĂĽsseldorf. For that one, people overflowed into the halls outside. I put the box on my lap and automatically
READ MORE →Waiting for the train, I tapped the box, anxious to know what it contained, but I dared not pull anything out here. What if Rudolf had stuffed expensive jewelry in there? Or cocaine? Or a bizarre sexual instrument? I took the subway back toward the courthouse at
READ MORE →Still, Ernst thought those brown shirts and chocolate-colored shorts quite fetching. He’d only dated much older men. I had hoped that he would end up with a nice girl, in the end. Loving men was dangerous, and I would have shielded him from that danger if I
READ MORE →A tiny scrap of red silk stuck out from under the flap of the box, and I stroked it with my fingers. One of Ernst’s handkerchiefs. I’d taught him to sew. We’d hemmed many handkerchiefs together, always red and always, when he could afford it, silk.
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