10 Winning Rituals to Bust the Broken Resolution Cycle
We make resolutions, fight the good fight for a while, and then lose track and lose heart. Sigh. This year, break the resolution-defeat-discouragement cycle before it gets going. Start some rituals...
Read the first chapter of 43 MISSING
For most authors, the final draft of a mystery novel is markedly different than the first. In fact, the first chapter of 43 MISSING was rewritten a dozen times. Nothing really clicked until the...
A Tale of Two Murders, courtesy of the John Feit trial
A few days ago I got an email from Josh Gaynor, a producer for the CBS show 48 Hours. He had run across my short story “The Angler” about the 2007 murder of Father Richard Junius in Mexico City....
The real story behind 43 MISSING
43 MISSING, the latest Detective Emilia Cruz novel, is fiction but is based on a true, unsolved crime. A big, terrible, words-fail-me unsolved crime. 43 Missing In September 2014,...
Desert Island Folllies
There used to be a British radio show called Desert Island Disks. Guest DJs shared the 3 albums they’d want to listen to if shipwrecked on a deserted island. If you’re familiar with the...
Gripping Audible Mystery Series Flies You to Acapulco
The first four books in the Detective Emilia Cruz series set in Acapulco are all available on Audible from Tantor Media! The books are narrated by the fabulous Johanna...
On the Rocks with Thriller Author Tim Tigner
This week I went behind the writing scenes with with thriller author Tim Tigner, who shared details about his Kyle Achilles series and some great protips for creating sensational...
Living With a Thief
"Comparison is the thief of joy." -- Teddy Roosevelt I mentioned to someone recently that my goal for the Detective Emilia Cruz mystery series is to eventually be as well known as the...
Sailing the Mystery Sea with Author Penn Wallace
Pendleton C. Wallace writes two gripping mystery series, lives on a boat, and has had careers as diverse as restauranteur and cyber security expert. He took time out from his busy...
Book Review: 2 Tickets to Venice
Venice is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Architecture, canals, and history make it a prime setting for a mystery. Two favorite authors, Donna Leon and Martin Cruz Smith...
What is Happening to Priests in Mexico?
Priests in Mexico appear to be wearing targets as well as their vestments. Father Richard was the first My pastor in Mexico City was an Oblate missionary, Father Ricard Junius,...
Book Review: Claws of the Cat by Susan Spann
CLAWS OF THE CAT is one of those books you wish you’d written, but grudgingly know you’d never come up with the premise. Related: Author to Author with Susan Spann Author Susan Spann takes us to...
The Great Madonna Mistake
It took me five years to realize the mistake. The Madonna mistake. In THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, Luz de Maria is a maid in Mexico City who returns home to the small town of Soledad...
Chatting with Police Procedural Author Linda Berry
Linda Berry's PRETTY CORPSE was one of the best police procedural novels I'd read in a long time and I read alot! She has a number of other books in the works and I was thrilled that she...
Book Review: A Madras Miasma by Brian Stoddart
In A MADRAS MIASMA, New Zealand author Brian Stoddart takes us to India in 1920 with an extraordinary sense of place and time. India is on the brink of explosion and the murder mystery is another...
Book Review: The Trespasser by Tana French
THE TRESPASSER by Tana French is the 6th novel in the chronicles of the fictional Dublin Murder Squad. Each is narrated by a different member of the squad, whose private life is somehow linked...
New Travel Book! The Insider’s Guide to the Best of Mexico
THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO THE BEST OF MEXICO was released this week on Amazon, Nook, Scribid, Playster, Inkterra, and Kobo. It is already #1 on Amazon's Hot New Releases list for the Mexico Travel...
Author to Author with Susan Spann
I’m thrilled to host Susan Spann, author of the Hiro Hattori mystery series. Even if you don't like sushi, you'll be riveted by this series featuring a ninja warrior in medieval Japan. 1 Carmen...
It’s time to bring back The High Chaparral
I have a suggestion or two how to fix Hollywood's Latino diversity problem. Well, maybe not fix. But at least make a good start. The problem in perspective In a recent commentary for CNN, Felix...
Playing Big as an Author
I was on Facebook recently (who among us can’t start a sentence that way?) and someone in a writers group asked what was our biggest concern. My answer was “Playing small.” Does anybody else feel...
Author to Author with Brian Stoddart
I’m thrilled to host mystery author Brian Stoddart, creator of the Superintendent Le Fanu historical series set in India in the 1920’s. Think Sherlock Holmes meets The Jewel in the Crown, with a bit...
Open Letter to Readers About Sex
My first novel, THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY, contains two sex scenes. The first catches Luz de Maria and Eddo as they fall in love with an emotional depth new to both of them. The second is when...
5 Lessons Learned in 5 Years as an Indie Author
It is hard to believe but I’ve been a published independent author for 5 years. In May 2012, after a tearful breakup with a publisher, I released THE HIDDEN LIGHT OF MEXICO CITY via Amazon and...
Chatting with Nordic Noir Author Torquil MacLeod
I’m thrilled to chat with Torquil MacLeod, author of the Malmö mystery series featuring Detective Anita Sundström. Full of shocking twists and Swedish authenticity, the series is a great addition to...
What Happened to the Jesse Stone Mystery Series?
When mystery author Robert B. Parker passed away, I mourned the end of the Spenser and Jesse Stone mystery series, as well as his Westerns featuring the enigmatic Virgil Cole. Sunny Randall, not so...
New Release! PACIFIC REAPER, the New Detective Emilia Cruz Novel
New release! Detective Emilia Cruz goes up against the cult of Santa Muerte, Mexico's forbidden saint of death in PACIFIC REAPER, the 5th novel in the series set in Acapulco. Without giving anything...
When Detective Emilia Cruz Meets Santa Muerte
Every Detective Emilia Cruz novel uses unique aspects of Mexican culture to create crimes and situations that would not be possible anywhere else. In PACIFIC REAPER, Emilia confronts the cult of...