Watch out agents, editors and publishers. I'm coming for you.

I've started compiling a new list of agents, editors and publishers to submit to. I have two novels which are going out -- a David Blaise detective novel I wrote in 2011 and which has gone through my critique group and re-written, and a stand alone Rachel Edelstein suspense novel, although there is a non-suspense Rachel novel waiting in the wings. I wrote that last November.

So, publishing world, be on the lookout. Established agents and new agents, traditional publishing houses (large and small) and independents, even Amazon imprints . . . I'm coming for you hard this year.  And you are going to love what I've got for you.

You have been warned.

Thanks for reading.

I'll be Mother: A tea with bestselling author Rhys Bowen

I was fortunate last year to be elected president of the Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime for 2017. And while to some, Sisters in Crime may sound like a group of recovering female prison convicts, it is, in fact, an international organization of writers of crime and mystery. I am very proud to the chapter's first male president. 

So I am a mister/sister, and this year the organization, the voice for excellence and diversity in crime writing for decades, is celebrating its 30th anniversary.

The Speed City chapter of SinC is hosting internationally renowned author Rhys Bowen at a British tea and at a book signing on Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Barnes and Noble book store on the north side of Indianapolis.

I am currently reading In Farleigh Field, a mystery Bowen set in England in 1941. Full of British upper class intrigue and spies, the novel officially launches on an Amazon imprint next week.

I read her Twelve Clues of Christmas back in December and was both surprised and delighted by the high-spirited young heroine, Georgiana Ranook. As the main character in Bowen's Her Royal Spyness series, Georgie, who was 35th in line to the British throne, was fun to read and discover. What also surprised me was that I was so into the book, which was set in the early 1930s in western England, that I didn't figure out the clues to the mystery until Rhys hit me over the head with them, despite the title of the book.

In addition to the book signing and book fair at B&N at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Speed City is also hosting Bowen with a British tea from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., also on Saturday. Co-sponsored with the College Park Book Club, the tea is in the College Park Community Clubhouse on Fordham Road in Indianapolis, in the shadow of the College Park pyramids.

It's at the tea when we will officially celebrate 30 years of Sisters in Crime.

I hope you can come out to one or more of the events on Saturday. It will be fun and I'm looking forward to it -- and to meeting a world-class mystery writer. And when the time comes, I will try to make sure that, as I pour Rhys her first cup of tea, I say, "I'll be mother."

Thanks for reading.

 

Callipygian is here

The Fine Art of Murder has arrived, and just in time.

The book launch is in two days, on Sunday, Oct. 23, from noon to 6 p.m., at the Barnes and Noble store at 86th Street and Keystone Crossing Boulevard on the northside of Indianapolis.

FAM is the fifth short story anthology published by members of the Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime. There are 18 mystery stories, all involving fine art.

My story, Callipygian, is on Page 130. It's about a vacationing FBI profiler who is drawn into the investigation of an art theft and murder. The main character, Kendall Hunter, is one of my favorite characters.

Anyway, I hope you can come to the launch and if not, order a copy online at Amazon, Barnes and Noble or Walmart.

Thanks for reading.