Scene of the Crime with Author Esri Allbritten!

As I read Esri Allbritten's The Portrait of Doreene Gray, I had a feeling that this would be one author that I'd love to get to know. As you read this interview, I think you'll agree. Esri has written two books in her Chihuahua mystery series-- Chihuahua of the Baskervilles and The Portrait of Doreene Gray, and Jokers and Fools is available on Kindle for $2.99. If that weren't enough, she also has a free Christmas story available at Smashwords, 'Twas the Chihuahua Before Christmas. In the mood for a fun story with a great cast of characters? I've just given your four links: choose one, choose all!

Esri Allbritten

Since you're reading this, I'm fairly certain you're the type of person who likes piecing together clues and facts, so I've rounded up a few goodies for you just in case you'd like to learn more about this talented writer:

Esri's website

Esri on Facebook

Esri on Twitter

Esri on Goodreads

Now let's get to the fun stuff-- the interview!

What was the very first book you remember reading and loving? What makes that book so special?

That would be Harriet the Spy. I was in third or fourth grade and already keeping a journal, but reading Harriet the Spy revolutionized my journaling for a time. Unfortunately, this took the form of bitchy, derivative comments about my classmates, but there’s nothing wrong with imitative writing as long as you move past it, and as long as you’re only eight years old.

Journal page from Esri's Harriet the Spy Days

Harriet the Spy clarified something that I was already beginning to suspect: writing is simultaneously one of the most self-indulgent things you can do while still being one of the most noble. Writers, whether they write short form or long, fiction or non, are documenting the world. That documentation is what has allowed humans to build relationships between countries, progress in technology, medicine, you name it. Harriet was a typical writer. She was a putz, doing important things.

Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time?

Sing, play guitar and write songs, play marimba (my husband and I have just started classes), travel, play with my cat and dog, watch TV, play dress up, go out to eat with friends, watch live theatre.

If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go? (I like seeing and doing things that aren't in all the guide books.)  

Dushanbe Teahouse

Boulder has a pretty high tourism quotient, so there isn’t much that isn’t covered in a guide book. I’d suggest having tea at the Dushanbe Teahouse, which was a gift from our sister city in Tajikistan. Go bowling with students at the CU lanes. See an unknown band at the Catacombs. Check out one of the public bikes and ride on the bike path. Hang around the door of a medical marijuana dispensary and ask people coming out if they have any leftovers.

[The inside of that teahouse is gorgeous!]

You have total control over casting a movie based on your life. Which actor would you cast as you? 

Emma Stone as young me, Sandra Bullock as middle me, Diane Keaton as older me. We’re doing my whole life, right? Because I’m so very important.

As a bonus, I’ll tell you that my favorite movie portrayal of a writer is Emma Thompson in Stranger than Fiction: the pajamas day in and day out, the nasty personal habits (spitting into a tissue and then putting her cigarette out in it), imagining what different methods of dying are like…then she cleans herself up and goes out to promote. Brilliant.

Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction? 

Sherlock Holmes. He’s so wonderfully flawed, and also a great example of how a fictional character can take on a life of its own and enter the public sphere.

Name one book that you've read that you wish you had written. What is it about that book that made it come to mind?

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, because Rowling owns a frickin’ castle now. 

From a less mercenary standpoint, there have been lots of books. I’ll say Laurie King’s The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, because the first several books in that series are jewel-like in their perfection, and they’re fascinating history, too. 

How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published? What did you do the first time you saw one of your books on a shelf in a bookstore? 

My husband took me to the Flagstaff House restaurant, which is in the foothills and is known for the food and the views. After eating lobster-stuffed squash blossoms, I ordered the chocolate sorbet for dessert. When it came, it was a perfectly egg-shaped scoop with a layer of gold leaf on top. There were probably raspberries or baby bunnies on the edge of the plate, too – I don’t remember, because I couldn’t get over the gold. I took a bite.

Me: (giggling hysterically) I’m eating gold!

Joe: And later, you’ll be pooping gold. (giant grin) Classy!

This perfectly sums up everything I love about him.

I was pretty excited when I saw my first book in our local grocery store, but honestly, it was a bigger thrill when a friend told me I was on Amazon. To be listed on the same site as Jane Austen and discounted incontinence pads…it doesn’t get any better. 

[I'm laughing so hard I'm going to have to proofread this post at least three times....]

I don't know if you've seen it, but I love Parnell Hall's video about book signings. What is the most unusual experience you've had at a book signing or author event? 

Parnell is great. I had “King of Kindle” stuck in my head for a week. 

The idea behind signings is that, in exchange for bringing a bunch of friends to the book store, the staff will promote your book to the walk-in trade. The problem is, most authors don’t have gobs of real-life friends, in the same way that badgers aren’t known for throwing parties. So I’ve definitely had my share of “nobody there” signings. But I’ve also had signings that let me know my friends are real gems. Here’s the one that really stands out.

I have a buddy who used to live in Boulder but now lives in Denver, so we mostly see each other online. I’d forgotten to tell him about a signing near him, but he saw it mentioned somewhere. He showed up at the book store missing a front tooth and with a gash on his face. His epilepsy had flared up that day and he’d had a seizure, but here he was at my signing. I thought, “This man is a much better person than I am. I’m not worthy of this, and I love him so much.” I wish everyone could have an experience like that, although not at the cost of someone’s tooth.

What's the best thing about eBooks? What's the worst?

I love ebooks. I love the way they don’t smell, and the way they don’t look on my shelves, which I use for other things, and the way the ink doesn’t get on my fingers and the cover doesn’t get dinged. I was one of the first 70 people to get the free Kindle app on my PC, and now I have it on my smartphone. I buy more books than I ever bought in paper. I adore ebooks.

The worst things about ebooks are technological bugs that I’m sure will be worked out. I’ve self-published one book on Kindle (Jokers & Fools), and the formatting process is clunky. Graphs, charts and sidebars are still likely to appear too small to read or with the edges missing. I look forward to the day when I can drag and drop photos, videos and music into books that I write. An editor once told me that those things pull people out of the story too much. I’ve also heard people say features like that are a poor imitation of movies. But visual and auditory features, embedded in text, are what the Internet is, and it seems to be doing just fine. So basically, I want ebooks to be a marriage of online content and a book.

[Done properly, those "interactive" features could pull readers even more deeply into the story. Just my 2¢.]

ON SALE NOW!

Thank you so much for spending this time with us, Esri. I know we all loved having this opportunity to get to know you a little better (and to laugh)!

May your book sales do nothing but increase!

The Scattered Buckshot Weekly Link Round-Up

Scattered buckshot? What's she on about now? Well, my brain's been a bit unfocused this week, and it reminded me of a comment a college professor once wrote on one of my papers: "This is a scattered blast of buckshot when what you need here is a well-aimed rifle shot." So it's a good thing that the link round-up naturally hops around a lot, isn't it?

For the past several months, Denis has had a shift that only gave him one entire day off each week, and that really put a crimp in our out-and-about plans. Now he'll have three days off each week, and we're already planning all the day trips we're going to be taking. Time to blow the dust off the camera!

Since my brain is so scattered, I'd better not mess around or I'll forget what I'm supposed to be posting. On to those links!

Bookish News & Other Interesting Stuff

• A few weeks ago I posted a link to an article about a lost Renoir that was found at a flea market. There have been further developments... seems the painting might have been stolen!
• One of my favorite movies way back in 1967 was "Bonnie and Clyde." The infamous duo's guns recently went up for auction.
• I found points on which to both agree and disagree in this article: How Pinterest Is Killing Feminism.
• You gotta love it when someone on television tells people to "read a f**king book."
• J.K. Rowling is selling her house in Edinburgh. Want to see pictures?
• The publishing industry has a few things to learn from the music industry.
• The nightmare that Patricia Cornwell has been going through is even stranger than her fiction.
• I wish Arizona would follow Kentucky's lead and have a license plate that encourages drivers to support their libraries.
• If you'd like to learn more about where I live, Scottsdale has a gorgeous Desert Discovery Guide.
• Reader recommendations are a growing business.
• A fisherman in Texas reels in a possible mastodon tooth.
• Several ducks were rescued from a hoarder and rehabilitated. Watch this video of the first time they were introduced to water.
• Just how much research will authors do for their books? Meet Jen Westerson!

eBook News

• Did you just pay too much for that eBook?
• Kindle serials bring back the anticipation of reading.
• The importance of eBook cover art.
• Your brain on eBooks and Smartphone apps.
• A recent glitch with the eBook edition of J.K. Rowling's The Casual Vacancy better make all publishers sit up and pay attention.
• An interesting graphic that reveals the Business of eBooks.

I   ♥  Lists

• The 10 most mentioned songs in books.
• Some of your favorite authors may be frauds: 6 famous ghostwriters.
• Top 10 apocalypse books.
• 10 literary authors who illustrated their own books.
• Writers' favorite punctuation marks.

Book Candy

• This bookshelf wrapping paper is gorgeous, and if you scroll down the page you'll see that there are other eyecatching designs.
• Many of us prefer a cup of tea or coffee while we read, and I've found a perfect ring for us.

That's it for this week. Don't forget to stop by next week when I'll have a freshly selected batch of links for your surfing pleasure and (hopefully) sharp, focused little grey cells!

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

First Line: Beyond the window, I can see three kites hanging in the air over Bute Park.

The crime scene is a sad one: a woman killed after a short life ruined by drugs and prostitution... and her small six-year-old daughter lying dead beside her. The only thing that marks this crime scene as unusual is one small piece of evidence. Why would a drug addicted prostitute have the debit card of a very wealthy man who's been dead for months?

Police headquarters in Cardiff, Wales, has more important cases to focus on, but there's one person who can't let this one go: young Detective Constable Fiona Griffiths, who's got a reputation for being odd. She can become intensely focused on certain aspects of an investigation, and she doesn't always pick up on social cues. And everyone has heard about that two-year gap in her past.... (Psst! She had a breakdown. Mind-- you never heard it from me!)

Even though she has to get called on the carpet by her superior officer and told that she must do as she's told (no ignoring bits of the investigation that bore her, no haring off on some wild idea that she's gotten), Fi Griffiths has all the hallmarks of a brilliant, intuitive investigator. Told to check out the dead man's credit card and nothing more, Fi rapidly heads off on her own investigation because she's positive that dead little six-year-old has something important to tell her.

From the very beginning, Fiona Griffiths grabbed my attention and my sympathy. Throughout most of the book, her mental state is dealt with mostly by hints and innuendo, but the deeper she dives into this investigation, the more obvious it is that something is very wrong with her. From her flashes of insight and her way of putting clues together, to the way she counts the backwards and forwards "if's" in her name, to the way she tries to begin a relationship with a fellow officer, Fiona is an endearing-- and sometimes maddening-- creature.

She tries so hard to come down to Planet Normal-- to know when to laugh and how to smile at the right times-- that I couldn't help but want to get to know her and help her. So many times throughout the book, Fiona's thoughts would sing across the page and make me smile in recognition... or make my heart break. This is one incredibly memorable character, and I have to know more about her.

The fact that she's involved in a complex and dangerous investigation doesn't hurt one bit either. I couldn't put the pieces of it together and had to rely on Fiona's intuition to get us through. On his website the author states that he's working on more books in the series, and that is very welcome news. One thing that I would hope for in the future is that Fiona learns a bit of caution. The way she plows ahead into danger without waiting for backup-- although it fit the situation-- would mean that she would have a short life expectancy in the real world. Since she's a compelling character who's grabbed my interest in both hands, I want her to live for a good, long time.

Talking to the Dead by Harry Bingham

ISBN: 9780345533739

Delacorte Press © 2012

Hardcover, 352 pages

Police Procedural, #1 in the Fiona Griffiths series

Rating: A+

Source: NetGalley

Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis

First Line: "Maybe we'll find a gun," Pitkin said, aiming his finger at the guardhouse next to the gate.

To the teenage boys living near the abandoned Soviet military base in northern Hungary, it is a potential source of hidden treasure, an opportunity to sell what they find and treat themselves and their families to things the rest of the world seems to take for granted.  When Pitkin and Tamás find something in the basement of the hospital, they know it's better than drugs or guns to sell on the black market; these two impoverished Roma (Gypsy) boys have discovered an object that the right person will pay enough for to set their families up for life.

But the item they've found and carried away from the old military base is much more than they ever bargained for. As one of the boys takes the object all the way to Copenhagen in order to sell it, he is unwittingly unleashing a whirlwind that has the power to affect the lives of every single person with whom it comes in contact-- among them Red Cross nurse Nina Borg. Although the object isn't specifically named until two-thirds of the way through the book, it doesn't matter; most readers are going to know what it is and be filled with dread as the action progresses, chapter by chapter.

What ratchets up the suspense with each turn of the page is how this unnamed object affects the people along its path. Tamás's brother, Sándor, a law student in Budapest, has nothing to do with the object his younger brother has found, but his life gets blown to pieces anyway... as does the life of Nina Borg.

Through the character of Nina Borg, a Red Cross nurse who also does work for a secret immigration organization, the authors have a lot to say about the living conditions of immigrants forced to live in camps in Denmark, and it doesn't strain credulity to think that the details are very similar from country to country around the world. It's much easier to sit in the comfort of your own home watching television to feel pity for refugees in their own countries; much harder when you encounter these same people face to face on the streets where you live. Kaaberbøl and Friis put a very real face on the rise of hate groups and the ongoing struggles of groups like the Roma. Nina herself does not see these people in terms of political agendas or right and wrong. She sees people who need help, and she gives it to them-- as much as she can, regardless of the cost to herself or her family.

At first as I read Invisible Murder, I bemoaned the fact that there were several other characters taking the spotlight from Nina, a character that I grew to admire and care for in The Boy in the Suitcase. Then I fell under the spell of Sándor, the young half Roma law student who's trying so hard to rise above the poverty and the hatred that his people are forced to endure. I grew to like Søren as the inspector dealt with an understaffed police force faced with problems that mushroom daily. And what exactly does a cranky old man named Skou-Larsen have to do with what's going on?

I grew a bit unhappy when Nina's character seemed subdued compared with her behavior in the first book, but I realized that the authors were being true to the danger presented in the book as well as to Nina's life. No one with a family can behave as Nina does-- giving her all for what she passionately believes in-- without consequences.

Nina is faced with very real, very painful, consequences in this book, and once that unnamed object is dealt with, once all the other characters are sorted out, we're left to wonder just how Nina is going to react to the turn her life has taken. Now I can't wait for the next book in the series. Nina Borg is climbing higher and higher on my list of favorite crime fiction characters.

Invisible Murder by Lene Kaaberbøl and Agnete Friis

Translated from the Danish by Tara Chace

ISBN: 9781616951702

Soho Crime © 2012

Hardcover, 352 pages

Thriller, #2 in the Nina Borg series

Rating: A

Source: the publisher

Make Memories... Don't Be One

Have you had your annual mammogram yet? I hope so. One simple test can mean the difference between making memories... or being one. It's as simple as that.

How would I know? On the morning of October 30, 1993, my phone rang at 5 AM. It was my grandfather, in tears, telling me that my grandmother had died in his arms a short while before. Irene Brookshier had just lost her fight with breast cancer. My grandfather had just lost his partner of sixty years.

My grandmother (left) circa 1922

My mother was a librarian, and I grew up in the village library, but the roots of my love of reading lead straight back to Irene Brookshier, my maternal grandmother. She was a bright, intelligent young girl with blue black hair who, once she caught sight of my happy-go-lucky, handsome grandfather, fell in love and never looked back.

The Depression lingered on in our part of central Illinois. Times were tough when my mother was born in 1935, and she and my grandparents lived in a room in the old hotel on Main Street. During World War II, my grandmother worked in a factory in Decatur while my grandfather joined the Navy and fought in the South Pacific. She grew pale and quiet when letters from my grandfather didn't arrive, and she dealt with his horrendous nightmares when the war was over and he came home. In 1948, my grandfather was well on his way to becoming a master electrician, and they bought an old house in town.

My grandmother and me, 1955

I came on the scene as the only grandchild in 1955. As I went through old photos, I realized something. There are several of my grandmother and me when I was five-years-old or younger, but the more independent I became, the more I became Grampa's girl.

I worshiped my grandfather. I was a tomboy who preferred spending much of my free time outdoors with him instead of staying behind with my grandmother, whose weapon of choice was her sewing machine and her natural milieu her kitchen and flowerbeds. Homemaking was boring. I wanted to get out and explore. Sewing, weeding and cooking were not for me!

My mother and grandfather were outgoing, funny people, and I gravitated to them as naturally as breathing. My grandmother always seemed content to take a backseat to the three of us. Many people in town thought she was stuck up because she didn't socialize much outside the family. She just never seemed to have much to say to anyone she met on the street or in the store. It wasn't until I was eighteen and moving away to college that my grandmother and I ever really sat down and talked. That one short conversation was my first hint that my grandmother wasn't the person I'd grown up believing her to be.

My grandmother in Kentucky, 1991

The years passed. I moved to Arizona right after college graduation, and I kept in touch with my grandparents through letters and phone calls. But in 1991 it was as though a homing beacon had activated, and I found myself flying back to central Illinois to spend some time with my grandparents.

I drove them down to Lexington, Kentucky, and the three of us had a wonderful time exploring. As I watched my grandmother indulge in her favorite hobby of photography, I made a note to myself to buy a higher grade camera and start taking more photos. When we got back home to Moweaqua, my grandfather went to see how his garden outside of town had fared over the weekend, and my grandmother and I sat and talked. Really talked. It was the first sit-down conversation the two of us had ever had in which my grandmother treated me as an adult on equal terms. She told me family secrets that just aren't trusted to phone lines or paper, and my eyes were opened to things that had happened long before I was old enough to understand. I looked at my grandmother with new respect, as an adult, not as a grandmother. And I liked her.

My grandmother in her kitchen, 1991

In 1992 my mother drove back to Illinois, and after finishing up a training job for Target, I flew back. As usual my grandmother insisted on taking photos of us all. My mother was notorious for refusing to be in any photographs, but this time she demanded her share of time in front of the camera. My grandparents were shocked and thrilled. I looked at my mother and knew there was more to the story. There was.

Mom had had a premonition that this would be the last time the four of us would be together. She was right. Shortly afterwards my grandmother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she had a radical mastectomy, followed by chemo and radiation. But they hadn't caught it in time, and at 5 AM on October 30, I got a phone call no one wants to receive.

My mother and I drove back to Illinois together. It was a cross country trip in miserably cold weather, and neither of us were in the mood to talk. The funeral service was surreal to me, and the weather was so bad that the few people who showed up didn't hang around long. After all, my grandmother had never had many friends, and it wasn't the sort of weather to be out in.

That evening my mother and grandfather ate quickly and went into the living room to watch television and grieve together. I was left at the kitchen table with my own thoughts and a mess to clean up. As I stood at the kitchen sink, my back aching because the counters were made for my five foot tall grandmother, not five foot ten me, I listened to the sad voices murmuring in the other room. And my mind began to wander.

It wandered down through all the years and all the meals when-- after the most cursory help-- my mother, grandfather and I would adjourn to the living room and leave my grandmother alone in the kitchen. My grandmother, who always seemed content to remain in the background. My grandmother who wasn't stuck up but shy. My grandmother who loved to read and was passionate about travel and genealogy and loved photography so much that she built her own dark room. All those years, all those meals, all those times we just left her there. Alone.

Did she ever feel like the hired help, as I did that night? Did she ever feel like taking out the trash and just walking down the alley, down the street... and never coming back? My mind flew through dozens of mental snapshots: we both loved books and flowers and birds and traveling just to see what was on the other side of the hill. We both started turning gray at a very young age. We both hated clutter and frilly clothes. Some people thought I was stuck up, and I wasn't... I was... shy.... Just. Like. My. Grandmother.

That's when it hit me. Although I'd tried, I could never be outgoing like my mother and grandfather. I often wondered why I didn't really fit in the family when all the time I did. I was just staring at the wrong two family members. I had my match right there all along.

I resemble my grandmother, intellectually and emotionally, more than I do anyone else in my family, and due to breast cancer and my own blindness, I was denied having a real relationship with her.

It's pointless to dwell on might-have-beens. Regrets are a waste of time. All I can do now is share this woman with all of you and urge everyone to do everything they can to be around for a good long time. Please... make memories, don't be one.

Postcards from the Dead by Laura Childs

First Line: A dazzling night filled with gigantic floats, silver beads, dizzying lights, fire-twirling flambeaus, and a crowd that was fueled by too much Dixie Beer and Southern Comfort.

It is Mardi Gras season in New Orleans, one of the busiest times of year for Carmela Bertrand and her scrapbooking shop, Memory Mine. Since business still hasn't completely recovered from Hurricane Katrina, Carmela reluctantly agrees to do a puff piece on live television with her least favorite reporter, KBEZ-TV's Kimber Breeze. Instead Carmela finds Kimber's body hanging off the balcony of the Hotel Tremain.

Carmela is quite content to let the police do their job without her assistance, but when she starts finding postcards signed by the dead woman left in her shop, she and her best friend Ava decide that local law enforcement needs a helping hand.

Postcards from the Dead is a fast, enjoyable read that has two mysteries cleverly masquerading as one. (Quite fitting for Mardi Gras, isn't it?) Author Laura Childs gently led me astray on that point, so while I did deduce the identity of one killer, the second criminal was a surprise.

The strengths of this book are to be found in its two main characters, Carmela and Ava-- both strong, smart, successful and quirky women who love their work and enjoy their lives-- and in the setting itself. I loved walking the streets of the French Quarter, visiting the Garden District, and enjoying the Mardi Gras celebrations. I even learned that chicken wire plays an important part in shopkeepers' lives during this colorful, rowdy event. (Who says you can't learn anything by reading mysteries?)

Sometimes the "themes" of cozy mystery series, be they about cooking, book shops, knitting, antiques, or-- in this case-- scrapbooking, seem incidental to the books; almost as if they're just hooks to draw us in. Not so in Postcards from the Dead. As Carmela worked in her shop and taught classes to her patrons, I found the information about scrapbooking and ephemera fascinating. It's a very good thing that I'd taken care of all my errands outside the house before I plunked myself down to read, or I would have been searching out the nearest version of Memory Mine to rifle through all the goodies and bring bags of it home. Childs includes scrapbooking tips as well as recipes in the back of the book for any readers who may be interested, and I have to admit that I'm still feeling the urge to start up a new obsession.

If you're in the mood for a light, enjoyable read with thrills and laughs, Postcards from the Dead would be a perfect choice to curl up with. Worried that you've never read any of the books in this series and this is number ten? Don't be. You can read this without feeling that you're missing boatloads of information... but you may find yourself seeking out the other books in the series!

Postcards from the Dead by Laura Childs

ISBN: 9780425252758

Berkley Hardcover © 2012

Hardcover, 336 pages

Genre: Cozy Mystery, Amateur Sleuth, #10 in the Scrapbooking series

Rating: B

Source: the author

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

You Are a Blueberry Margarita

Honestly, there's no one quite like you. And believe it or not, most people think that's a bad thing! You're open, wild, friendly, wacky, and tons of fun. You have a big personality... and a big heart.

What Flavor Margarita Are You?

[Hmmm... I've never tried a blueberry margarita....]

Scene of the Crime with Author Laura Childs!

Laura Childs is the pseudonym of prolific best-selling author Gerry Schmitt who writes three cozy mystery series: the Tea Shop mysteries, the Scrapbooking mysteries, and the Cackleberry Club mysteries. Since I've read books in the first two series, I was thrilled when she said yes to my interview request. Her very next book, Postcards from the Dead, the tenth in the Scrapbooking mystery series, will be available tomorrow, October 2, and if you stop by Kittling: Books, you'll be able to read my review!

Laura Childs

Here are a few links that I've gathered just in case you'd like to learn more about this talented writer:

Laura Childs' website

Laura Childs on Facebook

Laura Childs on Goodreads

More about Laura Childs' series

Without further ado, let's get on to the fun part-- the interview!





What was the very first book you remember reading and loving?  What makes that book so special?

Aside from children’s books, I think it was a Nancy Drew Mystery – The Sign of the Twisted Candles.  I was fascinated by Nancy’s curiosity and how she sleuthed around and dug up clues to solve the mystery.  Also, the copy I read was published in the thirties and had belonged to my Aunt Isabelle, so I wasn’t quite sure what a “roadster” was!

[Ah yes, I remember Nancy donning a fresh frock and jumping into her roadster quite well!]


Outside of your writing and all associated commitments, what do you like to do in your free time?

Travel to Asia and Carmel, CA with my husband, play with my two Chinese    Shar-Pei dogs, raise money for a couple of non-profits, read mysteries and    thrillers.


If I were to visit your hometown, where would you recommend that I go?

Minnehaha Falls

Since I live in the Twin Cities [Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota], I would probably recommend a day in one of our amazing parks or at one of our many lakes.

[In searching for this photo, it didn't take long for me to learn that the Twin Cities does have several wonderful parks!]





You have total control over casting a movie based on your life.  Which actor would you cast as you?

Rachel Zoe

She’s not an actor per se, but I really love designer and reality star Rachel Zoe.  She’s a sassy blond who adores fashion.


Who is your favorite recurring character in crime fiction?

It would have to be Lucas Davenport in John Sandford’s Prey series.  Lucas is tough, sexy, fairly complex, and isn’t afraid to stray outside the law when it comes to catching a killer.







Name one book that you’ve read that you wish you had written.  What is it about that book that made it come to mind?

I’ve always been in awe of 'Salem’s Lot by Stephen King.  He took a wacky idea – vampires invading a small New England town – and made it totally believable!

[I read that book when it first came out. I was in college, living in a basement apartment, and the circumstances surrounding my reading it late one night is one of my favorite reading memories!]


How did you celebrate when you first heard you were to be published?  What did you do the first time you saw one of your book on a shelf in a bookstore?

No celebration, just a big sigh of relief.  But the first time I saw my very first  book (Death by Darjeeling) in a bookstore, I went weak in the knees.


I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but I love Parnell Hall’s video about book signings.  What is the most unusual experience you’ve had at a book signing or author event?

I’d have to say casually walking in for a book signing and finding 120 people waiting in line.  I guess that’s the power of making the New York Times bestseller list!


What’s the best thing about eBooks?  What’s the worst?

I think eBooks are terrific in that they seem to have brought a whole lot of people back to reading books.  They scare me because I fear more bookstores will close.

ON SALE OCTOBER 2!

Thank you so much for spending this time with us, Gerry. We really appreciate the opportunity to get to know you a little better!

May your book sales do nothing but increase!



Don't forget to stop by tomorrow for my review of Postcards from the Dead (and grab a copy for yourselves).