(Three weeks from today: Island of the Mad.) “La Serenissima”, they call her: Venice, city of the waters. Venice began as a refuge, a place people might creep away from the various war-troubled stretches of mainland all around. The swampy lagoon, into which the Adriatic waters washed in and out, twice a day, had an…
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[Cue the bump-and-grind strip-tease music…] So, what should arrive but a nice lumpy packet from my publishers… And what do I see inside? Ooh, could it be… The spines are purple! Aahhh, such pretty things! **** Where do I get my copy of Island of the Mad? US edition—signed, from Poisoned Pen Books; signed, from…
Read More[four weeks from today…] Not to give any spoilers here, but…parts of Island of the Mad take place on, you know, islands. And a rather surprising number of those islands are inhabited by the certified insane. Yes, lunatic asylums, in the Venice lagoon. Who knew? Well, I did, for one, before I went last year.…
Read MoreFor any of you who missed the newsletter last week, and who would like to enter a drawing for these… (minus the masks) the link to that newsletter is here. You’ll need to enter before June 1. Good luck!
Read MoreThere’s a contest coming up! Well, we call it a contest, more of a giveaway. Details are in this Saturday’s newsletter (signup’s here if you’re not a subscriber) for a chance at all the Russell & Holmes hardbacks. All of them. Signed. In US hardback. Hashtag #islandofthemad.
Read MoreThe past week saw two kinds of memorial to my husband, Noel King. One was a talk, the latest in a series of “Noel Q. King Lectures” held at UC Santa Cruz. The second was a publication, with Noel as co-author. After Noel died, we started up a lecture series to continue his life’s work…
Read MoreSo, this week I will: Drive to San Francisco and fly to New York, Monday. Have breakfast with a friend; go to the Sue Grafton memorial at the NY public library; have an afternoon meeting; and have dinner with friends, on Tuesday. Have breakfast with friends, an afternoon meeting, and dinner with friends, and that’s…
Read MoreNow, most of you won’t have even glimpsed an ARC of Island of the Mad yet. But Random House would like to do a discussion guide at publication, and since some of you will have scored an early read, I thought you might help me crowd-source the guide. So: as you read, did anything in…
Read MoreThe Publishers Weekly review for Island of the Mad– –might offer you a tantalizing taste of what’s to come your way in June… Island of the Mad Set in 1925, Edgar-winner King’s well-plotted 16th Mary Russell novel (after 2016’s The Murder of Mary Russell) finds Mary helping Ronnie Fitzwarren, an old friend of hers from…
Read More…two people met on a patch of countryside: I was fifteen when I first met Sherlock Holmes, fifteen years old with my nose in a book as I walked the Sussex Downs, and nearly stepped on him. In my defence I must say it was an engrossing book, and it was very rare to come across…
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