Guest Blog About Pushover - Iris Thorne #5 (and Come See Me at the LA Times Festival of Books)

I'm continuing my blog series at Elizabeth White's Book Reviews about revisiting my first series, the Iris Thorne Mysteries, originally published in the 1990s and now available as e-books and trade paperbacks. This is my final post in the series as I'm discussing Pushover, the fifth and final Iris Thorne. I reflect about ending a mystery series.

I'm giving away a copy of Pushover to one of the commenters, so please stop by and opine.

This Saturday, April 20, I'll be signing books at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the USC campus in Los Angeles.  Here's my schedule:

Prospect Park Books - Booth 63
12:00 - 1:00
Signing Literary Pasadena -- a new anthology in which I have a story
Sisters in Crime - Booth 367

2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Signing the Nan Vining Thrillers and the Iris Thorne Mysteries

See you there!

The Next Big Thing

There's a viral blog event going around called the Next Big Thing where writers talk about what they're working on now or what's coming out soon. I've been tagged by Matt Coyle, author of Yesterday's Echo, Find out about Matt's Next Big Thing here.

My next book is Pushover. It's the fifth in my series featuring sexy, savvy investment counselor and amateur sleuth Iris Thorne who prowls the streets of L.A. in her vintage Triumph sports car in the "greed is good" 1990s. Pushover will be out in late February 2013.

 1. Where did the idea for the book come from? Mercy. Who knows where book ideas come from? When asked about where his songs come from, Willie Nelson said: "The air. The air is full of music."

2. What genre does your book fall under? Mystery/Suspense/Romance

3. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie rendition?  For Iris Thorne, I'd like someone smart, sexy, and witty yet down-to-earth -- a Tea Leoni type. For her boyfriend, Garland Hughes, a younger Harrison Ford. For Iris's ex-fiance, Todd Fillinger, I see Matt Damon.

4. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book? Iris's ex-fiance Todd lures her to post-Soviet Moscow on a business venture and to settle personal issues, but after Todd is gunned down in front of her, Iris returns to L.A. and learns the City of Angels can be more dangerous than Moscow when Todd's dangerous legacy threatens to destroy her.

5. Will your book be self published or represented by an agency?
I am represented by my longtime agent, Robin Rue at Writers House.

6. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?
About six months. But I do many rewrites.

7. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?
There are influences from movies and books. It's sort of Vertigo meets The Maltese Falcon meets Bullitt.

8. Who or what inspired you to write this book?
In the late 1990s, I read a story about an American businessman who'd traveled to Moscow to pursue business ventures in the emerging Russian market. He was machine-gunned to death on a street in front of a hotel. The incident stuck with me.

9. What else about the book might pique the reader's interest? I believe of my five Iris Thorne mysteries, Pushover has the most adrenaline-fueled plot. It's lean and mean.

I've tagged Petrea Burchard to talk about her Next Big Thing which she'll do on Wednesday, January 16, 2013. Petrea's acting career morphed into writing with Act As If, her online humor column about the acting life. Camelot & Vine is her first novel. On January 16, check out Petrea's Next Big Thing here.

Past is Prologue

I'm blogging today at the Sirens of Suspense about how revisiting my first books, the Iris Thorne Mysteries, has informed my later works.  Kindly stop by and comment, love it, etc.

 

Foolproof Schemes and Foolish Dreams

Me and a friend on the pier in Bandon, Oregon

I'm continuing my series of guest posts at Elizabeth A. White's Book Reviews about revisiting after 15 years my newly re-published Iris Thorne Mysteries. This time, I'm talking about my journey to Foolproof, Iris Thorne #4. Check it out to see what the computer game Doom, O.J. Simpson, Los Angeles' stairways, and an L.A. taxi driver have in common.

If you're interested in exploring L.A.'s stairways, and get a tough workout at the same time, this is a great guide to get started.

Talking Noir at LitFest Pasadena

UPDATE - - -

LitFest RAINED OUT... As anyone who might have shown up on March 17 quickly learned.

RESCHEDULED FOR MAY 12, 2012... This will give all of you time to brush up on your L.A. Noir.

Come out to Pasadena on Saturday, March 17 for the inaugural LitFest Pasadena, Pasadena's first community-wide book festival. It's from 9:30 - 5:00 in Central Park, between Fair Oaks Avenue and Raymond Avenue, north of Del Mar Boulevard.

Come see me on the Los Angeles Noir panel at 11:30 on the Harriet Doerr stage. I'll be opining about how the City of Angels has inspired the noir tradition in the past and today with my esteemed local colleagues: Denise Hamilton, Gary Phillips, and Naomi Hirahara. 

From 2:00 to 3:00, I'll be signing at the Book 'Em booth.

On Saturday, April 21, come out to the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books on the USC Campus.  From 2:00 - 4:00, I'll be signing at the Sisters in Crime booth, Section F, Booth 373.  I'll also be signing at the Mystery Ink booth right next door, time to be determined. 

Would love to see you!

Beware the Sophomore Jinx

I'm guest blogging at Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White, discussing writing my second novel, Slow Squeeze, and facing the "sophomore jinx."  You might find it interesting.

I've also updated my website.  It now features all my books, including my long out-of-print first series, the Iris Thorne Mysteries, which I'm starting to release for the first time ever as e-books and trade paperbacks. 

The new website has its own blog, which means that I now have two blogs that I very sporadically update.  I may end up abandoning this blog or letting it go fallow. I'd like to keep it active because I'm fond of many of the posts.  For now anyway, me, the occasional blogger has two.  

Happy Valentine's Day! 

The Writer in the Mirror

Today, I'm guest blogging at Elizabeth A. White's Book Reviews about my surprising revelations when rereading my first books--the Iris Thorne Mysteries.

The first two books in my long out-of-print Iris Thorne series--Cold Call and Slow Squeeze--have been re-edited, refurbished, and are again on sale. You can buy them for the first time ever as e-books and trade paperbacks.

The Cold Call e-book is on sale for just $.99! Buy for Kindle, Nook, or iPad.

The e-book of the second in the series, Slow Squeeze, is on sale for $2.99. Buy for Kindle, Nook, or iPad.

For print book lovers, you can ask your favorite bookseller to order the books for you or you can buy the trade paperback of Cold Call here or Slow Squeeze here.

I'm sure you'll enjoy meeting Iris Thorne as much as I had fun reconnecting with her--and with the writer I was back then when I wrote those novels.

Happy holidays to all.