Thank you, Booklist!

"Well paced and tightly plotted, Shades of Grey debuts a promising series from the author of the Theda Krakow mysteries." Thank you, Booklist!

Author: CLEA SIMON
Title: SHADES OF GREY
Publication: BOOKLIST
Issue: 1ST AUGUST 2009
Shades of Grey, Clea Simon. Severn, $28.95 (240p), Sept 2009, ISBN 978-0-7278-6781-0

Twentysomething Dulcie Schwartz is a doctoral student at Harvard, struggling to find a thesis topic, mourning her recently deceased cat Mr. Grey, and working a summer temp job. Then, one afternoon, she thinks she sees Mr. Grey and believes he warns her not to go home. When she enters her apartment, she finds her despised subletter dead with her knife in his chest. Mr. Grey, Dulcie’s mother informs her, is her spirit guide; that’s fortunate because Dulcie could certainly use extraterrestrial help, seeing as she finds herself suspected of both murder and hacking into her computer system at work. Well paced and tightly plotted, Shades of Grey debuts a promising series from the author of the Theda Krakow mysteries (Probable Claws, 2009). With scholar Dulcie as the main character, and most of the action taking place on the Harvard campus and inside the Widener Library, it should appeal to a wide audience, including fans of both cat cozies and fiction that uses an academic frame story (Lauren Willig’s The Secret History of the Pink Carnation, 2005).

Happy day!

It's my birthday and my editor emailed to thank me for my revisions and the copy editor has already touched base with some proposed cover copy (all this for "Grey Matters") and Jon is making dinner tonight and all is good!

One small step for man...

What do you remember about Apollo 11? Has it retained any magic for you?
I was seven years old, one week away from my eighth birthday. And although I was allowed to stay up, I fell asleep - but I remember being shaken awake to see that historic broadcast. We had landed on the moon - and it was on TV! All in time for my birthday! With all the hoopla surrounding the anniversary, I still get a little choked up thinking about it. How about you?

Thank you, Bristol Library!

A nice introduction to my Theda series, from a librarian's blog.

Farewell, Kate's Mystery Books

Kate Mattes started me writing mysteries. We've all known that she was trying to sell the store for quite a while now, but just heard about this last night and I'm sad. Thank you, Kate!

Kate's Mystery Books closing on August 1
An e-mail from the Porter Sq Neighbors mailing list.

Many of you have been aware that I have had the building which houses the store on the market for awhile. I have finally sold it. I of course have mixed feelings about this but know it is the right decision for me. The new owners have allowed me to stay on for a while but Kate's Mystery Books will be closing on August 1st. Between now and then, everything in the store will be sold at 25% off. On Saturday, August 1st, we will be having a packing party from 11-5 AND we will also have our Annual Yard Sale (books $1 and under) at the same time.

I hope you can get in in the next few weeks to say good-bye although I won't actually disappear. We will be having author events at different venues and of course we will have the annual holiday party so there will be opportunities for the mystery community to get together. You will get notices of them from me.

It is sad though to close the store. I hope you can join us on August 1st to celebrate the good times we have had and to help pack everything up. I know we can do it, as we have done it before. (Remember the bus?)

It is been a true joy for me to have had the opportunity to me such interesting and diverse people and i will definitely miss you.

Best, Kate


--
Kate's Mystery Books
2211 Mass. Ave.
Cambridge, MA. 02140
617/491-2660

Hours: Sun.-Mon: 12-5
Tuesday: CLOSED
Wed-Thurs.: 12-7
Fri.: 12-6
Sat.: 11-5

Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité

Happy Bastille day!

A really fun read for the holiday: Dancing on the Precipice:The Life of Lucie de la Tour du Pin, Eyewitness to an Era.

From my review: "Lucie de la Tour du Pin may have been only minor nobility, but her status guaranteed her a front-row seat at the major events of the late 18th century, while allowing her to survive upheavals the likes of which Europe had never before seen...."

Revision hell

I am in revision hell. Basically, I am re-reading "Grey Matters" for the umpteenth time and it is driving me nuts. I want to second guess every sentence, replace every image. This is my last change to make serious changes (though I'll see it again after the copy editor gets through and again on proofs) and the pressure is enormous.

I don't know why it should be this way. I liked this book before I sent it off. And my editor likes it a lot, too. In fact, she had very few suggestions for changes and the book is already scheduled for publication. I've printed out her email to remind me of this, whenever the going gets too rough.

Still, reading and revising again feels like pulling my fingernails out. And then trying to replace them. I hate it. I hate it. I hate it. OK, back to work.

She likes it! (BIG sigh of relief)

Heard from my Severn House editor today and GREY MATTERS is a go! This is just a private email, and of course, she's the editor who bought the series so she's biased, but I cannot tell you how nice it is to read bits like "As well as a good story, it's a fascinating and very realistic picture of the academic world with all its rivalries and politics." Well, I'm not sure how realistic it is, but if I made it believable, I'm thrilled.

Some minor revisions to make – adding more kitty bits, I think – and then onto copy editing! Plan now is for Grey Matters to pub in the UK next Dec., which probably means US release in March 2010. Phew. A little hard to believe. And now... back to work!

Nice bit of advance news (thank you, Examiner!)

This makes me so happy!

"The first release in Clea Simon’s Dulcie Schwartz series, SHADES OF GREY (Severn House, September, 2009) has everything a mystery-lover could hope for–an engaging heroine, an intriguing plot, plenty of smart, sophisticated dialogue, and wonderful secondary characters. " – Mary Kennedy, Examiner.com

The internal editor

I originally posted this on the Kepler's writers' blog last week. But I find myself talking about this topic with friends and thought I'd repost here:

“Bash it out now. Tart it up later.”

This has become my mantra since my buddy and fellow writer Brett Milano first passed it along several years ago. The phrase originates with pubrocker Nick Lowe (who also penned the deathless “What’s So Funny About Peace, Love, and Understanding?”), he tells me. All I know for sure is that those eight words have saved my writing life.

Bash it out. That’s the essence of this advice, and the reason it is key is that this is the single most difficult part of writing. Bashing it out. Getting the words on paper. Putting word after word to make a sentence, a paragraph. A scene.

Apply butt to chair, I frequently tell prospective writers. Start typing (or scribbling). Just (to paraphrase a shoe ad) do it. That’s the first hurdle, the threshold into being a writer. And it is both high and hard to overcome.

Why is this simple first step so horribly difficult for so many of us? I blame the internal editor. Face it. There is nothing so wonderful as the book you are about to write. We are dreamers. Storytellers. Idealists – or we wouldn’t want to write at all. In our heads, before we’ve committed anything to paper, our ideas are quicksilver. Starlight. Translucent. But as soon as they appear in the light of day, they become fixed in the physical world with all that implies: They become leaden, earthbound. Not fun. It’s a terrifying transition from limitless possibility to concrete immobility, and it is enough to freeze up even the most experienced author. Whatever we write cannot compare to what we imagine. And so to our internal editors – our writing superego or our internalized mothers or high school teachers – it isn’t good enough. We aren’t good enough. And so we don’t write.

We tell ourselves that we are writing. That we are just searching for the right word. The right phrase. The opening scene that will spark everything off. But in truth we procrastinate. We fiddle. We cook. When I’m trying to start a project, I do more loads of laundry than a two-person household demands. I know this about myself now and accept it as part of my process – and then, I sit down and start the work.

Because if we are going to write, if we are going to be writers, then at some point we have to do the deed. We have to actually set words down and build them up, scene by scene, into something that others can read. We have to overcome the horrible, crippling doubt and dare to make it real.

Over the years, I’ve learned various techniques to get me over the threshold. One of those is, of course, fear of deadline. When you earn your rent by what you write, fear is a great motivator. This often works for students, too, and explains why so many assignments are penned only hours before deadline. This fear can be useful, and I confess I’ve allowed myself to wallow on occasion on a more nebulous, existential variety: Maybe I don’t have any more books in me. Maybe I’ve done it all and should simply teach full-time or take up PR. For while there is absolutely nothing wrong with either profession, the idea of not writing terrifies me – and gets me back to work.

I’ve said before that I believe the ability to write is like a muscle, and keeping the muscle in shape helps, too. All those years doing journalism have given me some fall-back techniques – surefire “ledes” to start a story that I can use in fiction, too, if need be. I’ll also assign myself fairly arbitrary word lengths – say, 1,000 words a day – and make myself do them.

But basically these techniques only work because of the second part of the mantra, the “tart it up later.” I can use a hackneyed device (“start with a quote”) or bash out 1,000 words of transitional sentences because I know I can fix it later. I tell myself that in a month or two, whenever I have a draft, I can choose to rewrite the entire work – or toss half of it. I can bash it out now, because (as I remind myself), I will have the opportunity to tart it up later. That’s the promise I make myself and to my internal editor. In exchange, she lets me write.

That sounds a little like a trick, doesn’t it? But it’s not so much outwitting the internal editor, as it is buying her off. I’m just typing, I tell her. You’ll get your turn later. And for a little while, she leaves me in peace.

Thank you, January Magazine!

"We engage with the work of the authors we love on many levels." So begins today's January Magazine Author Snapshot. It then goes on to say incredibly nice things – concluding: "Mystery, music, nightclubs, animals in danger: on a certain level, it’s an unlikely combination, yet, somehow, it works very well. And why? That special blend, I think: passion, heart, understanding and voice, voice, voice. Simon’s is as strong and clear as the passion she brings to the stories she tells."

January Magazine is a must-read, a 12-year-old online journal of the arts, with news, reviews, and interviews updated daily. I check in whenever I can, for information and just plain fun. But still, somehow, when editor (and fab author) Linda L. Richards asked me a few months ago if I wanted to be "snapshot," I said, sure and filled out an email interview. I never expected something as nice as this. Thank you, Linda! Thank you, January Magazine!

Michael Jackson, RIP

The weird face. The pedophilia, I know, I know...

But watching the coverage – especially those amazing early clips of the Jackson 5 and those Thriller videos – is making me sad. I grew up with Michael (well, I grew up, anyway). He was two years older than I was, which makes seeing him so young doubly poignant. I think for folks my age, he was like our Elvis: a great, seminal musician and force in music who had faded into sad irrelevance or worse. But we still didn't expect to lose him just yet.

RIP, Michael.

This explains a lot

Turns out, Severn House never got the manuscript of "Grey Matters" that I worked so hard to get in by the May 31 deadline! Am experiencing waves of relief and annoyance as I re-send. Am asking for confirmation, and if I don't hear by tomorrow will send again. Phew. I guess. You'd have thought they'd have asked, no? Only found out because agent sent out a "so?" query.

Anyway, my UCLA class starts today and I'm working on another guestblog for the Kepler's website. I think I'll write more on process, maybe on outlining or not, planning... or not.

Update: just heard that editor got the re-sent "Grey Matters." Loves the blurb, will read ms. "a.s.a.p." Which means a whole new wave of anxiety. Why do we do this again?

The fallow period...

What do you do while you're waiting for to start your next project? How do you replenish the creative juices? How do you stand it? That's the topic in my guest blog today at Kepler's Well-Read Donkey, a blog for writers and all who love books, sponsored by the great SF indie bookstore. Please drop by and share your thoughts!

I am creeped out...

by Helen Oyeyemi's "White is for Witching." As I hope my review in today's Boston Globe makes clear, I didn't love it. But it did get under my skin!

Happy Saturday.

She likes it!!

Just heard from my darling, beloved agent. The delay was because she was in fact re-reading Dogs Don't Lie and ...

she likes it! "A lot" (why doesn't she love it?). She found the characters "extremely appealing" and thinks readers "will connect with them." (So, why doesn't she love it again?)

Nevermind, I'm happy. I'm more than happy. I'm thrilled. I'm chortling with joy. And she is putting a list together so the thing can go out to editors next week. And then I can be on tenterhooks once again, waiting....

am seizing this moment of joy with both hands, boys and girls. Both hands.

No news

... still no news, except a quickie note from my agent saying she'll "get back to me as soon as possible." Am trying to focus on other things: my UCLA course starts next week, I'll be guestblogging at Kepler's Well-Read Donkey, too. Hard to concentrate on anything else right now though.

The wait begins...

Two weeks ago, I sent off to my agent the manuscript of my second Dulcie Schwartz mystery, Grey Matters. Today, I sent her the ms. for Dogs Don't Lie. Now, the waiting begins.

No, I didn't write a book in two weeks. I had written Dogs Don't Lie for fun, starting about a year ago. The basic premise - of a hard-boiled tough gal who just happens to be able to hear what animals are thinking - comes from a short story I wrote for Dead Fall, an anthology of New England crime writers. I'd been reading a lot of noir (Megan Abbott, Linda L. Richards) and thinking about the whole cutesy "animal psychic" thing and, voila, Pru Marlowe and her irascible tabby Wallis were born. If it takes off, I want to call the genre "pet noir," as in "bete noir." Of course, we'll have to see if it takes off.

Once I had drafted Dogs Don't Lie, I got some happy news. My editor at Severn House wanted a sequel to Shades of Grey - and wrote it into the contract. And so in January, I set Dogs Don't Lie aside and threw myself into writing Grey Matters. I wrote it pretty quickly, for me. I'm sure it will need revisions, but I think I turned in a pretty strong mystery, so I have reason to believe she'll like it. And once that was sent off, I could go back to revise Dogs Don't Lie. It was sort of perfect timing – I still loved the book, but enough time had passed so I could see its flaws. Dogs Don't Lie is not under contract to anyone, and so next week my agent will just start sending it out.

Sounds good, right? I actually like being this busy and despite a sense of growing fatigue (and growing disgust with the state of my office), I've been happy these past few months. It's the new part - the waiting - that I can't stand. This part of the process just wrecks me. As soon as I'd sent off DDL, I started worrying that I hadn't hidden a crucial clue well enough. And then that I'd hidden it so well that it wouldn't make sense. Now I've even started worrying that my Severn House editor won't want Grey Matters. Basically, I'm swinging between wild optimism (these are my best works ever... Dogs Don't Lie will be my breakout book) and despair (you can fill in the blanks).

I am tired. I need to clean my office and catch up on my outside assignments. The waiting has begun.

April Smith interview

Two of April Smith's smart, subtle Ana Grey thrillers were recently reissued. I grabbed the author as she was on assignment in New York... read more here.

Goodbye, Readerville

Readerville, an early online home for many of us writers, readers, and book lovers, closed down today. I confess, I hadn't visited in a while, seduced away by newer social media and by my own work. But for nine years, Readerville was home, an online watercooler where I could count on emotional refreshment during the day. I met several friends there, who remain friends in the real (as well as the virtual) world, and I'm sorry it won't be around for others. Major kudos to founder/creator Karen Templer for keeping it going as long as she did. Thank you, Karen, and best of luck with all future ventures. Readerville, RIP.

FYI - I had the honor of writing about one aspect of Readerville for The New York Times a few years ago.

Lesa Holstine on "Probable Claws"

Librarian and critic Lesa Holstine reviews Probable Claws today. I won't quote the entire review here, but I can't resist:

"Once again, Clea Simon skillfully brings together the various aspects of Theda Krakow's complicated life. Not every author can intertwine cats, the rock music scene, and the problems at today's newspapers. Over the course of this series, though, Simon has managed to build sympathy for Theda, a woman who often alienates even the people who love her, as she gets so caught up in her current story or passion, whether it's cats or rock music, that she neglects her personal life. Readers who appreciate complicated characters, and intricate plots, will appreciate Simon's latest crime novel, Probable Claws."
– from Lesa's Book Critiques

Thank you, Lesa!

Real-life drama

Does anyone else remember Stan Mack's "Real Life Comics"? As cell phones have become omnipresent, the possibilities are not only everywhere, they're hard to ignore. I just spent ten minutes behind a good-looking, well groomed youngish man in line at the pharmacy. It was quiet in there, and the following one-sided conversation was quite audible to everyone. As were, I'm afraid, his romantic woes:

"Yeah, I know, I know. If she were a man– I mean, I've been talking to people and everyone feels that if she were a man, it would be different. Yup, she's getting a free pass."
(pause)
"No, it's not just the thrill of the chase."
(pause)
"So it seems I'm a nice guy, but I'm just not very exciting."
(long pause)
Uh huh, uh huh." (Short pause) "To be honest, I find that borderline insulting."
(long pause)
"It's all right. I'm so out of it from lack of sleep and from 'The Deal' that I almost don't care. Oh, gotta go."
Hangs up and tells the woman at the counter. "I didn't want to be one of those people on a cell phone."

And people ask me where we get our ideas.

Think you might want to take a writing course?

I'm teaching "Essential Beginnings," a course designed to get you started (or re-started, or jump-started) writing for the UCLA Extension School's online writing program. This week, the program is hosting a free online cyber open house. Instructors teaching everything from memoir to screenplay writing, nonfiction to fantasy are all chiming in. We're here to answer your questions - but there's one catch. You have to register to join in. It's all free and you are under no obligation, but you do have to log in.

Come on, dive right in!

Update: Tonight (Wednesday) I'm doing a chat at 6 p.m. PST. It's specifically for beginning writers who may have questions about writing classes, but everyone is invited to join in.

Backspace!

Well, I'm just back from a weekend at the Backspace Writers Conference and I wanted to post something before inertia - and the new week - takes over. First of all, kudos to Karen Dionne and crew for putting together an excellent, small, and focused conference. I arrived midafternoon on Friday, just in time to hear Joseph Finder talk about what he's learned while writing his successful and quite wonderfully written thrillers. Lovely speaker, and a smart man - and when some overly worried newbies were stressing about whether ebooks and Kindle would change the face of publishing, he cut right to the point: Don't worry about the means of distribution at this point, he told them. Just work on your book. (My husband and I broke into wild applause at this point.) He also ended up repeating, several times, the hard truth that many writers need to hear: You need to listen to criticism. If everyone is rejecting your book, maybe you need to keep working on it. His own story of rewriting his first book multiple times was a vivid example of the labor needed to become a success.

That seemed to be the theme of the conference, certainly during my own panel on "keeping the series fresh." Jason Pinter, another thriller master, moderated and while fantasy writer Naomi Novik couldn't make it (food poisoning!), her husband, Hard Case Crime honcho and author Charles Ardai stepped in. I felt like the softie on the block -- being the only writer for whom blood and gore isn't a priority -- but I like to think I held my own in a lively (but really quite fun) discussion of everything from how do you know when a series is done (either when you or your publisher gets bored) to whether or not series characters should grow (I say yes, but Charles pointed out that in some cases, you go to series for their consistency. Hmmm... well, yes, but...) We also touched on how we choose a protagonist who can go for several books (what makes a character interesting? Sympathetic? Well, what makes a person interesting or sympathetic?) Good audience questions, too!

Sat., I had the honor of being on a panel with blogger Sarah Weinman moderated by dear friend and fantastic novelist Caroline Leavitt. The topic this time was book reviewing - and we had quite a few authors and would-be authors asking us all sorts of questions about how to get their books mentioned in print. Caroline gave out great, sound advice about pitching - and about the reality of how many books don't get reviewed. (Caroline told us the distressing reality of reviewing for People magazine: Hundreds of books are reviewed and the reviews don't run because they don't fit in the mix - she has even reviewed a John Updike novel and the review has not run! Maybe they had too many four-star reviews that week - or no-star reviews - or books by men, or .. whatever.) And Sarah taught me a few things about social networking and creating a buzz even without reviews. Basically, she said if you're going to do it, do it right - and told us about sites like boingboing.com and Dear Reader. I added a note of simple web etiquette - make sure you know the rules (in most cases, don't just sign on and flag your book. Make sure you participate in the conversations, etc.). Much, much more... but that's the gist. Nice people, nice crowd, lots of time for mingling... and if Jon and I ran off to have a glass of prosecco on the rooftop garden of the Met, I hope everyone will forgive us: it was our anniversary!

Win a free large-print PROBABLE CLAWS

Hi folks,
I have a few more large-print Probable Clawses than I need, so I'd love to give one to a deserving reader! It's the same, full text as the regular hardcover – only in very large type and bound in paperback.

I'd love to give this to someone who really needs to read large-print books - or to someone who will pass it along to someone with vision problems. My publisher, Poisoned Pen, does these regularly, and I know some readers really appreciate it!

So... here's the contest question: What is the name of the cat in my next (September) book? You can find out by poking about my website. Hint: it's not Musetta! Email me your answer. If I get more than one correct answer, I'll choose a winner by June 10!

Upcoming writers' conference

OK, folks, I dropped the ball on blogging about the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (zydeco/brass band/soul/blues fun in the sun), the Ponderosa Stomp (roots rockers refound), and Malice Domestic (readers/writers 24/7). But I am really going to try to blog about the upcoming Backspace Writers Conference next weekend. I'm on panels Friday afternoon (writing series) and Sat. a.m. (reviewing books), and I bet there will be a lot to discuss. (I've already picked up one of Naomi Novik's Temeraire novels - dragons in the Napoleonic wars? - in preparation for Friday's panel.) Yes, this is the same weekend as BEA and I'm trying to coordinate with one of my Poisoned Pen Press colleagues, who will be in NYC, too. But basically, it's going to be Backspace and time with the lovely friends who are hosting me and Jon.

What do you think of blog tours?

Hi folks!
The new Independent Mystery Booksellers website now has a blog for authors, readers, publishers, and bookstores to share thoughts and opinions – and today I have guest blogged about guest blogging! What do you think? Please drop by and let us know. (That's the group's logo up top. It isn't live, but if you click on the logo over on the right of this page, it'll take you there.)

She likes it!!

My agent likes it! "Grey Matters," that is, the second Dulcie Schwartz mystery! Of course, she has a bunch of changes she wants me to make – catches I'm grateful for (did I always describe this one character as "wan"? Yup, I guess I did. And does my heroine always sound a bit too needy on the phone with her boyfriend? Maybe so.) But these are fixable flaws, the kind of thing I'm just glad someone pointed out to me before it's too late. But the overall book? Well, granted, she's my agent. She must like my writing anyway, but she thought that my plotting in this book was better and "more sophisticated" (her phrase) than in the first book! And she's not even a blood relative!

I've got work to do. But right now, I'm celebrating. Of course, the editor still has to like it. But this is a good start!

Rolling on the river

Got to review Tim Gautreaux's The Missing for the Phoenix. Really enjoyed it. Can verify that it is dead-on about life on riverboats, too, in a way. While we were in New Orleans, we took a ride down the Mississippi on the Steamboat Natchez (last of the paddlewheels) and got to chatting with a lovely gentleman of about, oh, 80 or so. Tall, craggy looking, handsome belt buckle depicting a horse, and a Cajun accent you could slice with a knife, you. He started telling me how when he was younger, he and his buddies used to go out on the riverboats to hear the music, dance, and drink. We had some good times, he told me, although he did stop drinking once he "got the DUI." (He only had to pick up trash for four days, though.) Kept pointing out sites on the riverbank where one or another relative lived, or had lived, so I finally asked if he was from around New Orleans (his accent placed him squarely in the state). "Oh no," he said. "I'm from Thibodeaux!" Another world

"Baited" breath, changeable carpets, and more

Do you feel betrayed when your favorite author screws up? When a rug suddenly changes color in the middle of a book, or a grammatical error creeps in even as the characters discuss grammar and writing? Me, too! But it happens – and I own up to it today on Lorna Barrett's blog, "Pet Peeve Thursday."

I was also live on KKOX in Keokuk, Iowa, this morning! Did anyone hear me on Jean Meyer's "Pet Talk" program? If so, let me know. I wish this show streamed, but alas it is still terrestrial radio.

What I write about when...

I'm not writing books (or writing about books):

everything from bicycles to online learning. Ah, the varied life of a freelancer!

Creep yourself out!!

Like scary stories? Sarah Waters' "The Little Stranger" is wonderfully creepy and really gets under your skin. Check out my Boston Globe review if you want more detail.

"Whatever happened to Ahmed?"

I'm plowing through Grey Matters (the second Dulcie Schwartz mystery, sequel to Shades of Grey, at least, if my editor accepts it!) and feeling a bit pressured. Yes, Shades of Grey doesn't come out in this country till September, but still ... according to my contract, this second book is due end of May, which really means May 20, because my agent wants to read it first and I want to have time to respond to her comments before we send it in. And I'm reminded of something the wonderful funny and prolific Donald Bain said during a panel at Malice. The panel wasn't about deadlines or writing series, but as is often the case, the talk moved off topic and Bain ended up talking about writing a mystery before the age of computers. Basically, he was nearly ready to turn in his manuscript when he realized he'd goofed – a character's husband had gone off to Egypt early in the book and never been mentioned again! Well, as Bain said, if this had happened post-word processor, it would've been easy to go back and re-work the missing husband back into the text. But Bain really didn't want to have to retype the entire three-hundred-odd pages. So instead, on the last page, he has one character say to another, "I wonder what happened to Ahmed?"

Needless to say, the editor loved it – and assumed Bain had done it intentionally to set up a sequel.

I haven't found anything like that in Grey Matters, but if you get to the end and someone asks, "I wonder what happened to Ahmed?" you'll know why.

Yes, I loved "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"

Really. I thought it was a great spoof of Austen's style and content and I'm not afraid to say so in public (or, really, in The Boston Phoenix.

Back from Malice

Wow, what a weekend!
just back from the Malice Domestic traditional mystery conference in Arlington, VA. During this fun-packed three-day festival of the traditional mystery, I learned about writing humor, voted during a "Sleuth Off" (Sherlock Holmes won, though I confess I was rooting for Miss Marple), kept running into the marvelous Elaine Viets and, on fewer occasions, Anne Perry, in the elevator, and got to hear about some great new books. Spoke on a very interesting and involving panel on "Social Issues in Mysteries," on Saturday morning, with Pari Noskin Taichert, Marion Moore Hill, and Elizabeth Zelvin, nicely moderated by Harriette Sackler. But as usual, it was the casual interactions – meeting fans like Robert from Georgia and sister authors like Pari that really made the weekend. And, of course, traveling a few hundred miles it the best way to meet with neighbors like Hank Phillippi Ryan and Rosemary Harris. But hey... it was all fun! I confess I skipped out before the big banquet, but congratulations to all the Agatha winners!

And while this is a different sort of Agatha, I'm thrilled to announce that these two new Christie editions – with my introductions! – are now available: The Secret Adversary and The Mysterious Affair at Styles.

(Oh, I may be wrong, but I think you can read at least one of my new introductions here!

Party time!

It's time to celebrate here at Chez Musetta!

Not only is tonight the book release party for "Probable Claws" (tonight at Ryles Jazz Club, if you're around), sponsored by the marvelous Kate Mattes of Kate's Mystery Books.

But Amazon FINALLY has "Probable Claws" in stock. Now, if you want a signed book, I strongly urge you to call or email Kate! But Amazon is really a lifeline for smaller authors, like myself, so I am very relieved!