Mary Russell’s War (nineteen: young soldiers and Santa Claus)

By Laurie King / December 8, 2014 /

  8 December 1914 At last, I have the sensation of moving forward with my life, for the first time since I set out to find the German spies back in October. What a very long time ago that seems, and such a young child she was. (I do feel, however, that the authorities were…

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Serving all your podcastian needs

By Laurie King / December 6, 2014 /

Podcasts, like audio books, are a great way of double-tasking your way through dull slices of life whether it’s on the freeway or a treadmill. There’s a lot of podcasts with my voice on them, floating around on the etherwebs, in which I and others talk about writing, or Sherlock Holmes and Mary Russell, or…

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Rain! Rain!

By Laurie King / December 4, 2014 /

It’s actually raining here on the Central Coast: real, long-lasting downpours.  Which will probably end instantly, now that I’ve said it aloud, but it’s so lovely to have real wet soggy ground outside my window. And so, for today’s Throwback Thursday picture, an image of yours truly in the Australian so-called desert, following a rare…

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Mary Russell’s War (eighteen): the empty home

By Laurie King / December 1, 2014 /

1 December 1914 Last week, O irony, was Thanksgiving. Yesterday, I returned home for the first time. Dr Ginsberg went with me, and I admit that I was grateful for her company in the car that drove me through the city streets and up the hill. I was braced for the emptiness of the house,…

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Mary Russell’s War (seventeen): moats and murders

By Laurie King / November 24, 2014 /

24 November 1914 The Valley of Fear is a murder mystery set in a moated house. At night, the owner puts up the drawbridge, yet someone gets in and kills him. England is an island. The moats around her, the seas and channels, only appear to protect her. Forty Zeppelins Are Ready for Service.  …

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Newsletter giveaway

By Laurie King / November 22, 2014 /

Next Monday we’ll do a drawing from the list of newsletter subscribers, giving away two copies of the ARC of Dreaming Spies.  If you’re not signed up for the News, you can do so here. And good luck!

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Larceny in the Library

By Laurie King / November 21, 2014 /

I was asked to write a short piece for the Random House Library blog, so I used it as an opportunity to confess the sins I committed during the writing and researching of Dreaming Spies.  Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.  Read my confession here.

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Mary’s Christmas

By Laurie King / November 21, 2014 /

The short story “Mary’s Christmas”– –is now available in a print version! My local shrine to print wisdom, Bookshop Santa Cruz, can sell you this nice little booklet (with my signature and an inscription, if you like) here. It begins one winter’s evening in late 1921 or 1922 when the two are seated by their…

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Newsletter giveaway

By Laurie King / November 18, 2014 /

Next week we’ll be giving away two copies of the Dreaming Spies ARC– –drawn from the Newsletter signup list.  So if you’re not signed up for the Newsletter, doing so now would increase your chances by, well, a fair amount.  The signup is here.  

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Mary Russell’s War (sixteen): family betrayals

By Laurie King / November 17, 2014 /

17 November 1914 How do I write about this? My tumbling thoughts were just beginning to settle down, my mind was starting to feel as if it were moving in a forward direction again for the first time since the accident, when…. How can I go on, knowing the deceit of my own parents? Why…

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