Good News and Hitting the Road.

As most of you must know by now, my 11th Molly Murphy novel came out on March 13th. Eleven must be a charm because yesterday I learned that it had made the New York Times bestseller list. As you can imagine I am over the moon at this news. So often I have come close and now I have finally made it.
Was it the great cover? The atmospheric title? All the work I do in social media these days? Probably a combination of all three. I don't care how I did it. I made it. Yipee! Do a happy dance with me.

And tomorrow I set off on an intensive three days speaking and signing around Southern California with my good friend Cara Black. Cara has a new Aimee Leduc novel out, called Murder at the Lanterne Rouge.  If you haven't read Cara's books yet--they are all set in Paris and are so wonderfully suspenseful as well as taking the reader to the different arondissements of Paris.. This one is set in Paris's Chinatown, which is fun because my last year's Molly book, now a brand new paperback, was set in New York's Chinatown, so we'll have a lot ot talk about.

It's always more fun to do a book tour with a fellow author. For one thing she can navigate for me as I find my way across LA to Thousand Oaks, Tustin, Redondo Beach, downtown LA,, Huntington Beach, Paasadena again, speaking at 6 bookstores. Then back up Highway 5 to speak the next night in San Francisco. It's a whirwind tour with little time to breathe and I would love to see some friendly faces if you live in the area.

I'll blog along the way if I can find time and let you know anything fun/strange/exciting that happens to us. Our strangest so far was speaking together at a nudist colony. I believe all events this weekend are to be clothed, but one never knows!

10 Fun Things to Do for St. Paddy's Day

1. Dye your hair green.

2. Do Riverdance while waiting for the bus or around the supermarket

3. Sing Oh Danny Boy at the metro station, and put a hat in front of you. It will pay for the green beer.

4. Change your name to O'Rosenblum, O'Garcia or O'Demetriov.

5. Read Finnegan's Wake out loud. Try to make sense of it.

6. Visit every Irish pub in town and order a Perrier.

7.Go to every Irish pub in town wearing orange and then claim you're a Giant's supporter when they try to knock you to a pulp.

8: Go up to the most attractive man/woman you meet and say "Kiss me, I'm Irish." See if they believe you.

9: Go to confession for the stupid numbers 1-8

10. And if none of the above appeal to you, then order a copy of the new Molly Murphy book, HUSH NOW, DON'T YOU CRY. It's a better way to spend your time than any of the others and far less dangerous!

Two Days to Molly

I'm in final countdown mode to the publication of my eleventh Molly Murphy novel, HUSH NOW, D ON'T YOU CRY. It is scheduled for release on Tuesday March 13th and I'm excited about it as I think it's a particularly suspenseful gothic type of plot and it has a great cover.

Spoiler coming if you are not up to date with the Molly books.


It is also the first book since Molly got married at the end of Bless the Bride. Since she promised Daniel that she would give up her detective business when she married, it will be a challenge from now on to find reasons for her to solve crimes without sneaking behind her husband's back (which she'd never do, of course).  Another thing that's different about this book is that most of the stories take place in the gritty atmosphere of New York City, but this one takes Molly and Daniel to the famous "cottages" in Newport R.I. For those who don't know about these cottages, they were really extravagant mansions built as summer homes by the very rich--Vanderbilts and Rockerfellers and Astors. Molly and Daniel are there out of season and expect to have the place to themselves... but it seems the whole family of a New York alderman has been invited and none of them has any idea why.
 

I'm doing a mini-tour this time with my good friend Cara Black who is celebrating her new Aimee Leduc novel, Murder at the Lanterne Rouge. We'll be signing in Scottsdale on Monday 12th, and then at six stores in Southern California on the weekend of the 23rd of March, then a couple of events in the Bay Area and appearing at the Left Coast Crime convention in Sacramento at the end of March. My schedule is on my website.

Rainy Monday Blues

A rainy Monday in California and I'm feeling lost. My friends from England have gone home. I've worked like crazy to do the copy edits on my next Molly book called Hush Now, Don't You Cry, and I've sent off my next Georgie book to my editor and agent. Now suddenly I have nothing to do except for a large mound of laundry (we had eight people staying over last weekend). And did I mention that it's raining?

If it had been a lovely clear sunny day I could have escaped to the great outdoors to refresh and rejuvenate myself. But frankly when it is dark and rainy all I want to do is to curl up in bed and nap. Maybe I was another species in my past life and I need to hibernate, or at least fly south. My thoughts have definitely turned to Arizona, where we have a condo to which we will be heading at the end of October.

One of the main reasons I bought the condo in the first place was that I don't do winters. I don't mind a big roaring fire and crisp snow outside the door, but dark skies and dreary rain seem to sap all my energy. At the condo I wake early to morning sunlight streaming in through tall arched windows and I'm up and ready to go.
This is necessary because I write two books a year and the Molly book has to be written during the winter months. So pretty soon I'll be tossing around story ideas and then after the holidays I'll settle down to writing Molly book 12.

Writing two books a year is a pretty hectic schedule, especially since they both involve quite a bit of research. I keep thinking of slowing down and doing only one book a year, but frankly I have to admit that I'm one of those writers who has to write. I feel lost if I'm not working on something in my head. I'm simply not good at doing nothing. As for retirement,,, I can't even picture what I'd do if I wasn't writing. I'm not one of those people who can play bridge three times a week or potter around my garden all day.  Luckily it's a career that can go on until I'm ninety (I believe P.D. James is over ninety now, isn't she?)

So maybe tomorrow I'll finish that laundry and then start toying with new story ideas--what should Molly do next? How can she go on detecting after her marriage? Any suggestions?