Left Coast Crime is fast becoming one of my favorite conferences, for three primary reasons: 1. Location. It’s on the “left” half of the country and much easier for me to travel to. Two years ago it was in Sacramento! This year … Monterey, a three hour drive. Much easier (and cheaper) than spending a day flying cross-country. 2. Intimacy. LCC is neither large nor small, it’s just right. I have the opportunity to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. 3. Readers. LCC is one of the few conferences that still is largely filled with reader —… Read More

I love speaking to kids. They’re usually attentive, interested, and full of questions. So when the opportunity arose to speak during Writer’s Week at my old alma mater, Menlo School, I jumped. Menlo School is a college prep high school (with a middle school for grades 6-8) and honestly, one of the best schools I’ve seen. What I learned there in four years was certainly college prep–I read books that most people read in college, I was pushed to perform at an advanced level. All classes were, essentially, AP classes. They didn’t have any separate AP or honors classes, and… Read More

I’m going on a road trip with my college-bound daughter and my mom 🙂 Fortunately, my husband is able to hold down the fort with the younger Brennan clan. I suspect they’ll be eating pizza and playing video games. Kelly has applied to a dozen colleges, six on the west coast and six on the east coast. This weekend is Southern Oregon University’s preview weekend for seniors — and it’s one of her top choices. They have a fabulous Theater program, plus very strong art and English programs, which encompasses her interests pretty well. We’re also going to make a… Read More

Technically, the Northridge Earthquake was January 17, 1994, but I’ve always equated it with Martin Luther King Day because the quake shook L.A. early that holiday morning — twenty years ago today. I was living in Chatsworth, on the border of Northridge, exactly one mile from the Northridge Mall that collapsed. I’m a fifth generation Californian from the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been through many earthquakes. Growing up, we had earthquake drills — get under your desk, hands over your head, until the shaking stops. When your teacher tells you, line up and go to the designated point outside… Read More

Technically, the Northridge Earthquake was January 17, 1994, but I’ve always equated it with Martin Luther King Day because the quake shook L.A. early that holiday morning — twenty years ago today. I was living in Chatsworth, on the border of Northridge, exactly one mile from the Northridge Mall that collapsed. I’m a fifth generation Californian from the San Francisco Bay Area. I’ve been through many earthquakes. Growing up, we had earthquake drills — get under your desk, hands over your head, until the shaking stops. When your teacher tells you, line up and go to the designated point outside… Read More

A little bit of BSP … “Maximum Exposure,” the Max Revere prequel, will be out 3 weeks from today. It’s available for pre-order for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, Apple, and probably all the other e-tailer sites. Maximum Exposure takes Max to Colorado Springs where she investigates the disappearance of a college student on a camping trip six months before. It takes place a full two years before NOTORIOUS, which will be out in hardcover on March 25. The reason I wanted to write about this now is because I’m fielding a lot of questions from readers, and I thought having a… Read More

I just received one of the most thoughtful gifts from another writer — the charming bracelet pictured above. I never expect a gift — a signed book that I’ve endorsed is generally appreciated and always holds a special place on my shelf — but over the years I’ve received many little thank yous — chocolates (yum!), flowers (sweet!), notecards, wine, and more. And while I have certainly appreciated each and every one, this bracelet, and accompanying note, had that added personal touch that had me showing it to everyone today. Inside is a quote from my book STOLEN: “You make… Read More

Over the last few years, television has shifted from being a Fall Premiere Event where all the shows began, and summer was the time for re-runs. That system is no more, as many networks, both network and cable, now have three premiere seasons — Fall, Winter and Summer. JUSTIFIED, for example, will start in January or February of 2014; LONGMIRE will start in May or June. This makes it a lot more fun for television addicts like me to have new and exciting programming all year round. However, this fall has some amazing programming, and so far? The networks are… Read More

I had a great idea for this blog, then promptly forgot it. It’s like that tickle in the back of your brain, that you know you know something, but you can’t remember what it is. Like a person’s name. Or an appointment you remembered that you forgot, but you can’t remember any details. So I started a different blog. I was going to write about mean reviewers, the kind who anonymously post bad reviews that are full of snark and personal slights instead of insight into why they didn’t like the book. But then I thought, why give those vipers… Read More

This week I’ve been staying up late writing and last night crashed at 9:30 … and totally forgot my blog. It’s one of this “catch up” days which I needed, but inevitable, things fall through the cracks … like remembering this was MY Thursday to post. Thing is … I have nothing to say. I’m going to New Zealand next week to keynote the New Zealand Romance Writers conference (yes, I’m very, very excited!) … I’m also presenting a workshop and doing other things for the conference, so I’ve been planning and preparing and shopping … and my mind isn’t… Read More