So I’m mile-high in Denver today for Left Coast Crime, wondering, frankly, why I’m already awake. But today’s Virtual Cocktail Party guest is so spirited and energetic that she can motivate even a sloth like me to take action. No small feat. Worthy of a major prize, in fact. Nobel level.
C.J. Lyons’ debut novel,Lifelines, came […]

So whaddya think? Did we need an extra day this February? Or could you just as soon have done without it? Me, I haven’t decided yet. Check back after midnight.
I’ve been ensconced in the writing cave all week, pounding through my latest book, although I got a bit of a slow start, being more than […]

Well, not exactly sponsors. Between travel and writing I’m swamped and left with nothing but poetry for you today. .
Words
Be careful of words,
even the miraculous ones.
For the miraculous ones we do our best,
sometimes they swarm like insects
and leave not a sting but a kiss.
They can be good as fingers.
They can be trusty as the rock
you […]

Yes, yes, yes, I’ve got Istanbul for you today. But first, something much more important! HUGE congratulations to my wonderful friend, the immensely talented, generous, and all-around lovely J.T. Ellison, for signing a second three book contract with Mira to continue her amazing Taylor Jackson series. Let the list-hitting begin!
Obviously, the drink for today […]

Catchy title, eh? Betcha thought I was going to sweep in here and tell you all sorts of sordid tales of my adventures in Istanbul. Maybe next week. Because while, yes, it was the trip of a lifetime, rife with more stories than you can possibly imagine (and more stories than I would ever own […]

Part the Second
Welcome to week two of Tasha’s Cocktail Party!!!
Fitting really, that we couldn’t get it all in during one Friday. Tasha and the rest of the Chicago contingent are at Love is Murder this weekend, yucking it up with the likes of Lee Child, Barry Eisler and Tess Gerritsen, among others. I wish I […]

Part the First
by J.T. Ellison
It’s been a long time coming, but at long last, Miss Tasha is the focus of her own cocktail party. And that’s not much of a stretch, because for those of us who know her and love her, every day is a party.
Tasha is one of those rare individuals […]

Astute readers will not be shocked in the least to learn I’ve been singing the above song for the better part of the last week. That’s right, it’s time for the most difficult, harrowing part of being a writer: the research trip. And for me, this time it’s Istanbul. I’m all packed (Organized Girl likes […]

Where do I even begin? How will I ever get through it all? Do you really need details? Is it necessary to learn that two girls, when thwarted in their casual effort to pick up a bottle of Blanton’s, will go on a rampage that ends in frantic calls to stores to put what is, […]

Sooooo…….I’m sure I’m not the only one out there who has spent the better part of the past couple of weeks in a state of, well, debauched debauchery. It’s all left me more than a little tired, and I’ve been fighting off a nasty case of plague. And rather than give a weak and pathetic […]