Blog
The Illustrated Mrs Hudson
The 2020 “Mrs. Hudson’s Case” Illustration Contest My US publisher has managed to stick an extra carton of the galleys for Rivera Gold onto a truck for me, which means I can give them away–yay! So let’s do this: 15 copies of the Riviera Gold ARC In a random drawing for those who enter the…
Read MoreHappy Anniversary, Russell & Holmes
On 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 MoreThe Past in the Present
The 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 MoreTender is the Prose
As part of my general research on the next Russell & Holmes novel, I re-read the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel Tender is the Night. And frankly, I found it very hard going. Meandering plot, puzzling metaphors, characters distorted to fit into the roles he needs for them. Start with his take on women. The book…
Read MoreFun with adverts
One of the fun things we do here in Team LRK is put together ads and images for various projects. I toss down some words and ideas, then Robert the Photoshop King tries to make sense of them. We always go back and forth a hundred times, but we always end up with something I…
Read MoreWrite and rewrite
[Sorry all, the rewrite workshop is the 29th, not the 22nd. Brain fever…] Today I hit the (theoretical) 2/3 mark in the new Russell & Holmes novel! Not that 201 pages is a novel–even 301 pages isn’t–but there’s a rhythm to a book that I get to know, and 200 is a good, solid mark.…
Read MoreGiving away Sherlock
My friend Les Klinger and I have edited (i.e., dragged many of our friends into writing stories for) four anthologies “inspired by the Sherlock Holmes canon.” The stories have won awards, been nominated for others, and mostly have entertained a lot of people. The giveaway of these four volumes ends midnight, June 1, so make sure…
Read MoreHalfway to a Russell…
The last couple years of my writing life have been a bit like having my laptop set up in front of one of those machines that spits balls down the length of a cage at a person holding a bat. It’s not impossible, to dodge, hit, or field the missiles and toss them back while…
Read MoreLeft Coast Laurie
Left Coast Crime is coming, in Vancouver, BC—yahoo! And although any crime conference is mostly about the schmoozing in the bar or over coffee, there are panels. And I do have a couple of those. One on religion, and the other because Island of the Mad is nominated for a Lefty Historical award, which is really lovely: Religion…
Read MoreThe 2019 Noel King Lecture
This year’s Noel King lecture would make my husband Noel so happy! Meet Mercy Yamoah Odoyuye, a Ghanaian theologian and feminist. Daughter of a Methodist minister and a Church activist, Odoyuye entered the University of Ghana in 1959, where she met Professor Noel Q. King, who urged her to enter the new department of theology. Odoyuye…
Read More