If you didn’t catch the newsletter’s excerpt and giveaway of the upcoming Russell & Holmes short story, “Ten Years On,” you have a couple of days to put your name in for this ARC, for a book published April 21. The story is set in Brighton, in the spring of 1925, ten years after a…
Read MoreOn February 24, 2004, President George W. Bush told the country that he supported a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, warning that such unions threatened the most fundamental institution of civilization and defied millennia of human experience. On March 11, the California Supreme Court ordered San Francisco to stop issuing the licenses. On August, some…
Read MoreOn this day 99 years ago, two friends of ours were wed. February 17, 1921 Marriage, to Sherlock Holmes? He was the least marriageable man I knew. On the other hand, we were already partners. And having that piece of paper—that otherwise meaningless piece of paper—would undoubtedly ease such matters as border crossings, hotel rooms,…
Read MoreFifteen years ago, from Feb 12 to March 11, 2004, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom opened the doors of City Hall to men and women who wanted to marry a person of their own sex. An everyday thing, marriage, and these were celebrated with an upsurge of joy and disbelief—yet the courts closed it down,…
Read MoreThe threads running from past to the present have fascinated me since I was a grad student. Back then, my academic interest was on certain themes that could be traced from the pre-Israelite cultures and through the Hebrew Bible into the New Testament and beyond. Of course, now I write fiction, and there’s only so…
Read More(Added note:for a few days, Dreaming Spies will be $2.99 on Nook and Kindle. in the US.) I always find it interesting to look back at a book I’ve written and reflect on what it turned out to be about, and how it fits into the rest of the series. While I’m actually writing the things,…
Read MoreWhat do your shelves look like? Do you organize your books like this– ?? One particular blogger & Russell fan (hi, Katie!) likes to look at the spines, although she does admit to a hitch: It’s especially fun when a friend asks about a book: let me see where that is. Oh, yes, the cover…
Read MoreThe next Russell & Holmes book (Riviera Gold) will be out June 9, five months from today! So to mark the occasion, today the Community of the Like-Minded Reader is branching out into a new Facebook group we’re calling The Beekeeper’s Apprentices: It’ll be a free-ranging group, discussing and posting and gossiping about, well, pretty much…
Read MoreToday is the generally accepted birth date of Sherlock Holmes. And I have no argument there–but the year? Was it 1854? That’s what most of the scholars assume. Mystery Scene is hosting a virtual birthday party for Holmes’ 166th anniversary. Well, not to argue with the experts (including my friend, the eminent Leslie S. Klinger) but…
Read MoreToday has been Mary Russell’s birthday, though it got away from me in a rush of tasks. My apologies, Miss Russell, and I hope your 120th went well! Your admirer, and literary agent, Laurie King
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