My beloved Random House has an offer you…well, you can refuse if you like, they’re not that pushy. But it’s a really nice offer, for eight Mary Russell-Sherlock Holmes novels, in celebration of Russell’s 20th anniversary. The titles run from O Jerusalem to Garment of Shadows, covering ground from 1919 Palestine to 1924 Morocco, with everything…
Read MoreTo celebrate the 2oth anniversary of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice, Picador is selling a merry bundle– –of the first four Mary Russell e-books. That’s right, a special package deal with a sweetheart of a cover, with Beekeeper, Monstrous Regiment of Women, A Letter of Mary, and The Moor. Fill up your e-reader library, so you’re never again stuck…
Read MoreDue May 1: The Mary Russell (e-)Companion: all manner of information and tidbits concerning Miss Russell’s Memoirs, from What does their house look like? to What’s a copper beech? Yes, there’s even a chapter on her sex life. The book page is here. And I will over to you my humble and immediate apologies…
Read MoreThe fabulous Picador has set up a giveaway for their re-issued paperbacks of the first three Kate Martinelli books, A Grave Talent, To Play the Fool, and With Child. Their sweepstakes is here.
Read MoreThe excellent and estimable Dan Stashower and I will sit on opposite sides of the country on Thursday (noon Eastern time) and have a conversation with Kojo Nnamdi about “The Enduring Popularity of Sherlock Holmes.” And Mary Russell, one hopes. It will be streamed, and you can ask questions, and–well, I hope you join us.…
Read MoreWhen is the end not the end? When it’s a book, and its author knows that a first draft is crap. I sent a very rough first draft of Dreaming Spies off to my editor today. This proto-novel is an exceedingly thin 270 pages, missing one of its two endings, with sporadic character development, a…
Read MoreStoryteller is a tease. Storyteller whispers in the writer’s ear, makes promises, leads the writer on… and then goes silent. There are basically two ways to approach a book. For some, Storyteller speaks in advance, clearly laying out the book’s logical sequence, opening hook to ending coda. For others, like myself, a book is an…
Read MoreHaving given a review of 2013 yesterday, you may ask me, what plans does LRK have for 2014? Not that I do Resolutions, but there’s a lot on my agenda, and yet more things crowding into the back of my mind. Although before we do that, may I be the first to issue many happy…
Read MoreLooking at the family letter I always write during the Christmas season, I found myself trying to remember: what did I do this year, anyway? I know I had a book out, but… So I looked back at my calendar, and found that yes, I was a bit busy: In January, I was still wielding…
Read MoreSome months ago my good friend Les Klinger filed a court case against the Conan Doyle Estate claiming that the Estate had no right to block the use of the characters as established in the first fifty of the Conan Doyle Holmes stories (the last ten of which, published after 1923, do remain clearly under…
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