Reviews
Herding Cats
"Anyone can herd cattle. Bringing in ten thousand half-wild shorthairs, that's another thing altogether..." Sometimes a metaphor needs to be played out. A friend alerted me to this ad a while ago, I've finally found it on Youtube
Help your cat find her way home again
To add a dramatic element in Cries and Whiskers, my heroine's cat, Musetta, gets lost. Turns out, she's involved in some foul play – but for a brief moment, my heroine breathes easier knowing that her cat is microchipped. If Musetta is picked up or turned in to a...
Be a Wednesday Sister
We are sustained by our friendships, aren't we? Even the casual ones that only gradually deepen through time and proximity? That's the theme of Meg Clayton's The Wednesday Sisters, a marvelous new novel about women who meet casually, when their kids are young, and...
How far should we go to save our pets?
These days, we can get our kitties chemo or a new kidney, but should we? My buddy Vicki Constantine Croke wrote this thoughtful and well researched story for yesterday's Boston Globe Magazine, asking just how much is too much? Pictured is Boswell, a goose, getting...
My Agatha (not the award, alas)
Nice bit of news - my editor over at the Barnes and Noble Library of Essential Reading loves my introduction to The Mysterious Affair at Styles,, Poirot's first adventure, so look for my name to be linked to the great Agatha Christie when this new edition comes out...
Pet noir?
Just heard that my short story, "Dumb Beasts," has been accepted for Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England Authors, to be published in November by Level Best Books, a multiple-award-winning small publisher up here in New England. I'm tremendously excited for multiple...
How not to write
Now, there are clearly Kathryn Harrison fans out there, but I'm not one of them. I just found While They Slept, her take on the Gilley family tragedy to be narcissistic and unnecessary.
Writers on writing
Maybe it's because I'm teaching writing again, but I love this interview between Ann Patchett and Elizabeth McCracken. And, yes, I stole it - as all good ideas are stolen - in this case from good buddy and excellent novelist Caroline Leavitt (at right).
All About Agatha
Did you know Agatha Christie only received 25 pounds for her first mystery, The Mysterious Affair at Styles? And that wasn't even an advance. She only got that because someone agreed to serialize it, and that was her take.I've been asked to write the introductions to...
Book promotion 101
Please don't suggest Oprah. Not that I'm not grateful, but...