Hey, check out page 3 of the Summer Issue of Mystery Scene (#150)! Continue reading
Category Archives: Books
My Hollywood Adventure
I’ve been mostly silent about my experience when Warner Bros. made a movie of my third novel, Valentine. Until now. Continue reading
My Interview With NewInBooks!
Publishing a new title is always nice, but it’s even nicer when I’m asked for interviews. Grant at NewInBooks.com asked me to talk about my latest Nora Baron thriller and several other things: Continue reading
A Novel In Pictures: The Woman Who Knew Too Much
My new Nora Baron thriller, THE WOMAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH, is set in Venice, Italy, in the dead of winter. Nora is an actor and college drama teacher, the wife of a CIA operative, and her husband’s people recruit her to Continue reading
Pictures of a Work-In-Progress
My new series of novels with Nora Baron, my honorary CIA agent, is unlike anything I’ve written before, and not just because they’re spy stories. The CIA doesn’t usually work within U.S. borders, so Nora is always traveling to Continue reading
A Valentine’s Day Gift (Book Excerpt)
In honor of St. Valentine’s Day, here’s a free sample from my 1996 novel, VALENTINE. Continue reading
Why I Love Mrs. Pollifax
I’m in love with a girl named Emily. Okay, she’s hardly a girl; she’s a widow and mother “of a certain age” (mid-sixties) who Continue reading
Dark Genius: Agatha Christie’s Masterpiece
I always loved to read mysteries, even as a child. When I was thirteen, I decided I was tired of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew. My sister Suzy was the big mystery reader in the family, so I asked her for a good “grown-up” mystery story. She handed me AND THEN THERE WERE NONE by Agatha Christie, but first she sealed the final chapter of her copy with tape and made a bet with me. Continue reading
Advice For Writers: Get An Agent!
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m a union kind of guy. I belong to two AFL-CIO unions, four writing guilds, and ASCAP. My mom was an actress in the theater, and she was very active with Actors Equity (one of my two unions). In addition to her acting agents, she always had Continue reading
The Scene of the Crime: Russell Square Gardens
Pal.
That big man, Bill Howard’s chauffeur. Three whispered words: Be careful, Pal. How could a complete stranger possibly know about that? The car accident with no police record. The death of “John Doe.” The body lying in the morgue with a long history of health problems. A gold locket on a gold chain: Always keep me close to your heart . . .
Nora Baron stood before the fountain in Russell Square Gardens, Bloomsbury, Camden, London, England. She stared out at the dark lawn, not seeing it, possessed by a sudden panic. The fog had arrived in earnest now, swirling before her eyes, the icy tendrils clinging to everything. She could feel it, cold against her face. The trees, the lawns, the great Victorian hotel across that road, the great museum across that other one; she couldn’t see them now. She was aware only of a rhythmic pounding sound somewhere behind her, and it seemed to be coming closer. Continue reading