What do Ronnie James Dio and I have in common? We’re both interviewed in the latest issue of Swedish rock magazine Top Secret. (Scroll down down down to check out my pages.) I think I’m in love with the word “pulpdeckarförfattarinnan.” (Take that, spellcheck!)

The to-do list is rapidly devouring my life. For today: first, make final clothing decisions for Edgar Week and finish packing. Then, after a long day of pre-Edgar girl tech at the beauty parlor, I’ll be braving Friday rush-hour traffic to hit the Mystery Bookstore pre-Festival of Books party tonight from 5-9pm.

Also, a reminder: I’ll be signing at the Mystery Bookstore booth at the L.A. Times Festival of Books tomorrow, Saturday, April 25 from 4pm - 5pm, along with Jan Burke, Victor Gischler, Michael Koryta, Robert Masello and George Mastras. The booth is #411, located in the northwest corner of Zone D, Booth Series 400.

I spent all day yesterday in the beauty crucible while the spunky and tireless Leala covered my entire head with a billion teeny tiny locks of real human hair. Anyone who doesn’t give a damn about this kind of hardcore femme-science can probably skip the photo set documenting my hair adventure.

My new hair will be stick straight for a few days because I can’t wash it or even get it wet right now, but by next week I’ll be able to wet set it just like the real thing.

… but you can’t take the peep booth out of the publicity surrounding her new novel. Well, ink is ink and there sure is a lot of buzz about MONEY SHOT so I can’t really complain.

So, in the spirit of living up to my ex-Times Square stripper image, I’m getting platinum blonde hair extensions. My friend, longtime hair-wrangler and mad beauty scientist Leala is starting a new business and asked me to be a “before and after” model for her website. I’m always up for hair experiments of all kinds, so I’m really looking forward to it. I’m also looking forward to having enough hair to set on rollers.

In other news, I have a ton of signings and readings coming up over the next couple of months. I’ll be posting a full schedule within the next few days and will also be bloging on the tour as much as I’m able.