Yes, it’s been six months since I’ve blogged. There have been a lot of reasons … and I’ve thought about shutting down the blog completely. But then I realized, I have a whole bunch of material I can post from the workshops that I’ve taught, articles I’ve written, and some original observations about books, writing, television, etc. And, I like this blog 🙂 So I’m back to trying to blog weekly … and see where we go from there. So why have I been busy? Writing and kids. Yes, nothing has changed. However, I had several back-to-back deadlines and went… Read More

I know the mass market paperback world very well. I’ve had 22 mass market originals released … not including novellas in anthologies. I write the book, I revise the book, it goes through an editor, a copy editor, and a proofreader or two, is printed the month before the release date, warehoused, and distributed. I’ve been fortunate that my publishers have, for the most part, been able to prevent too many sales prior to the on-sale date, which helps with opening week sales numbers, which helps with list placement. I understand the process and, even with the rapid and rabid… Read More

Good news: I finished MORTAL SIN, book three of my Seven Deadly Sins series. My publisher cancelled this supernatural thriller series more than four years ago. I was heartbroken and never planned on writing another book, even though I loved the characters. There were a lot of reasons it was cancelled, but it boiled down to low sales: too many of my readers didn’t cross-over to a shift in genre. They read my because of my crime thrillers, and weren’t going to be satisfied by demons and ghosts in their stories. But I love this series. And there were enough… Read More

I promised an excerpt to RUN, Laura Griffin’s part of our new book HIT AND RUN that launches today. (Yeah! Cheers! Applause!) I think one of the reasons I love writing this series with Laura is because our writing meshes together. We don’t write exactly alike, we compliment each other. There are a few authors I’m confident that if I recommend them to my readers, I’ll score a victory — meaning, my reader will love the books. Laura is one of those authors. I can hardly wait to start the last book in this series. But … I have to… Read More

Laura and I are thrilled that HIT AND RUN, book two in the Moreno & Hart Mystery Series, will be on-sale Monday. It’s available for pre-order at Amazon, Kobo, and the iBookstore. Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble Nook doesn’t let most indie authors set-up a pre-order link. I’ve asked. Many times. Believe me … if I see the Nook rep at RWA, I’ll be asking them. They weren’t at Thrillerfest (Amazon and iBooks were both there!) This is the HIT AND RUN weekend … so I hope you enjoy!

I love baseball. Growing up only a few miles from Candlestick Park meant growing up a Giants fan. Though we didn’t go to more than a couple games a year, I loved being at the park. More, though, I loved listening to baseball on the radio. My grandma religiously listened to the Giants every day, and if they played when I was over there (which was often), I listened with her while we played card games. Those afternoons are some of my favorite memories growing up. Recently, I realized that I’ve incorporated a lot of baseball teams into my books,… Read More

I tell people I don’t lead a glamorous life … because I don’t. I write full-time, I watch a lot of television, I have five kids to chauffeur around, and I ultimately live vicariously through my characters. I brought my lone copy of DEAD HEAT with me so you can see how boring I am. I’ll start on Thursday, because Thursday was my daughter Mary’s last softball game for the season. It was also Kelly’s last day of high school — she graduates this week. And I finished the revisions to COMPULSION Thursday afternoon, which was a great feeling. Especially… Read More

Laura Griffin and I are thrilled to announce book 2 in the Moreno & Hart Mysteries will be available on July 21 wherever digital books are sold! (Wild cheers from the crowd!) HIT AND RUN follows two more mysteries for our dynamic investigative duo, Scarlet Moreno and Krista Hart.Three years ago, when they were LAPD cops, they were nearly killed in an ambush. They quit the force and started Moreno & Hart Investigations in nearby Orange County.

It’s Tuesday, which means we’re touring Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois. I plan on blogging about our trip next week! I would have loved to have done a journal as we went, but I’m not bringing my laptop with me. Max Revere and Lucy Kincaid are distinctly different characters. I love it, because I don’t want to get bored with either one, but sometimes going from Max to Lucy and back again can be a challenge. Right now, I’m writing a novella for Hit and Run, book two of the Moreno and Hart Mystery Series I’m co-writing with Laura Griffin…. Read More

I love reading a series. It’s the same reason I prefer television to movies. I like revisiting my favorite characters, finding out what they’re doing, how they’re growing, how they’re going to solve the Next Big Crime. So when I had the opportunity to write the Lucy Kincaid series I jumped at it. I knew from the minute Lucy survived her ordeal in FEAR NO EVIL that I wanted her to be a series character. It wasn’t until I wrote CUTTING EDGE six books later that I started to think that Sean Rogan might be the best man for her…. Read More