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.

Check out this long-ass interview for Swedish rock magazine Atlantis Online. I didn’t crack a single Swedish Chef joke the whole time.

In my ongoing effort to break through the chick-lit vs. dick-lit divide and reach out to more traditional female readers, I just did an unlikely and extremely cute (you’ve been warned!) interview about coffee and my Boston Terriers for romance author Susanne Saville’s Chatty Cat Café.

In other Boston Terrier news, my dog Butch had surgery on his eye today. He ran into the cement steps while playing ball in the yard on Saturday night and scraped the surface of his eye. First he had to go into the emergency room that night, and today he had to have this “multiple superficial punctate keratotomy.” It’s a minor, outpatient procedure, but he’s really REALLY unhappy about wearing the radar dish.

No, not the band, not the Scientologists, and not the polygamists with the chola hair. Check out this new interview on Chuck Palahniuk’s website “The Cult.”

As promised, I have finally been “revealed” on Clute and Edwards excellent podcast Behind the Black Mask. I always feel kind of self-conscious about verbal interviews, (after all, I’m a writer not a speaker) but other that my slight post-op lisp from all that lovely oral surgery, I guess I did OK.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. Listen for yourself.

Tomorrow I’ll be “revealed” (!) by Shannon Clute and Rich Edwards over at Behind the Black Mask. Actually, I’m just recording the podcast tomorrow and don’t know exactly when I’ll be publicly “revealed.” I’ll let you all know as soon as it’s up.

Incidentally, everything went fine at the dentist. The discomfort is unfortunately normal and to be expected but the area looks like it's healing well. Stitches are out and now it’s just a matter of waiting for the next round.

I’m home now for a few days. Home and gone, home and gone, that’s pretty much the routine for the next month or so. I’m trying to blog when I can, but most of the time I’m either running a thousand miles an hour to try and keep up or passed out in an exhausted heap.

Anyway, here’s the latest:

The March issue of Penthouse containing my interview will be available on newsstands on the 19th. I always hate phone interviews because the things I say never seem to come out quite the way I meant. For instance, I definitely didn’t mean to sound like I don’t like strong female characters in film or books. Anyone who follows this blog knows that’s not true at all. I was just on my usual rant about how I hate what passes for “strong” female characters (i.e. fake, skinny superheroes) and I was trying to say I wanted Angel to be a tough but realistic character but somehow it came out sounding totally wrong. Almost like I wanted her to be ultra girly and not strong at all. Ah well, that’s what happens when I don’t get to edit myself. It’s still a nice two page spread (not THAT kind of spread!) and I got a mention on the cover, too. I’m particularly amused by the fact that I got two pages and a cover mention while Big Steve King only got a sidebar. I guess I’ve really made it now! Either that, or I have better tits.

I’m leaving on Tuesday night for New Orleans. This one will be more of a vacation than work and I’m mostly planning to spend time with docbrite eating, bird watching and just being in that unique and amazing city. However, I am doing one semi-work-related event while I’m there. I’ll be having a modest book party next Thursday evening, the 21st of February at chefcdb’s restaurant The Delachaise. We’re planning on offering some little tasty treats and a unique cocktail created especially for the occasion. There will also be some dinner specials elaborating on the hardboiled pulp theme and (if all goes well) books available for signing, courtesy of Garden District Book Shop. I’ll post more when I know more. If you’re in the area, stop in for good reads and good eats.

Then, on Saturday the 23rd at 4:30 pm, I’ll be signing with Megan Abbott at Murder by the Book 2342 Bissonnet St Houston TX 77005 (713) 524-8597

No rest for the wicked.

Your EAR, not your rear! Listen in as I get dragged In For Questioning.

A few quick links, since that’s pretty much all I’m good for at the moment,

I’m the February guest of honor on the Barnes and Noble Crime Club.

I’ve got a lot of interviews popping up here and there now that MONEY SHOT is out. It’s hard to keep track of them all, but here’s one of my recent favorites, an exclusive “skinterview”
on the legendary celebrity nudie site Mr. Skin.

Last but not least, my very first attempt at fiction podcasting could have gone better. Long story short, I screwed up and sent a truncated version of “Hit Me” to the guy who put the deal together. As a result, the first version of the story is missing the last paragraph. In a story that short, you really, REALLY miss it. Anyway, thanks to the amazing virtual ninjas over at Variant Frequencies, my fuck-up has been fixed and the full story is now available for your listening pleasure. Check it out.

… is my two front teeth. Since I’m obviously not going to get that, here are some alternate suggestions.

This year I am NOT asking for books. I have nothing on my Amazon wishlist. Want to know why not? Here’s the answer:



The TBR pile is starting to threaten my pets. Clearly I need some kind of intervention. What I don’t need is more books. At least not until I get through the ones I’ve got.

So, for all you devoted Faustketeers who just can’t live without sending me gifts, I’ve decided to make two new wishlists this year: Secrets in Lace and Vosges Haut Chocolat. Indulge me!


In news that actually matters, there was a short Q & A with me in Publisher’s Weekly. I’m also being interviewed by Penthouse magazine tomorrow but don’t know exactly when that will run. Several others are in the works and should be up soon. I’ll post as soon as I have specifics.

I hit my deadline, but there hasn’t been much time to relax since Tuesday. Here’s a quick overview.

First of all, I had to cancel my book trailer shoot over the weekend because the owner of the location was stuck behind the flaming truck pile up on the 5 freeway. I’m in the process of rescheduling but it looks like it won’t be until the second week of November at the earliest.

I did an interview for Publishers Weekly yesterday. I felt pretty good about the written half but always feel a little less confident of phone interviews. I’m always sure that I’m babbling incoherently, but the gal conducting the interview was pretty friendly and informal so I’m probably just being too hard on myself as usual. I don’t know when they'll run it, but when I find out, you guys will be the first to know.

I’m getting implants on Monday. Three of them! No, not breast implants, tooth implants. From what I understand, I won’t be getting the new teeth right away, because they need to do some bone grafting (!) that needs time to heal first. Regardless, I loathe going to the dentist for any reason and this will be all kinds of no fun. I will be stocking up on ice cream, soup, and vintage monster movies. Any hot, chubby girls out there want to squeeze into a latex nurse costume and come over to take care of me? Required duties will mostly consist of bending over to pick things up.

Then, the following week I will be flying back home to NYC to help my dad get squared away to move out to LA. The house is sold and ready to close and all that’s left is clearing out the last of the junk, packing him up and dealing with his two scaredy cats who need to be caught (they are way too shy to pick up, let alone put voluntarily into crates) vetted and shipped to my vet out here for boarding while my dad scores a new pad.

Also, at some point during all this madness, I’m hoping to score another work-for-hire gig and oh yeah, maybe actually find time to work on something real. Imagine that.