The Murder of Mary Russell
Headstones, Obituaries, and MURDER
The first entry has come in for this year’s contest: Bob chose the visual approach, and gives us his impression of Mary Russell’s headstone:Note the throwing knife and pipe at the stone’s top? Also his decision to obscure the date of our heroine’s death, althoughI will say the stone looks alarmingly…old. The contest closes March…
Read MoreAnd the cover goes to…
Just got the UK cover for The Murder of Mary Russell, out from Allison & Busby on the same date as in the US, April 5. What do you think? (And no, this is not meant to show the Holmes flint house on the Downs, but a gamekeeper’s cottage from the story.)
Read MoreA Marriage for Mary
A new short story is born! Yes, yes, a short story isn’t a novel, but it’s a bright and amusing bit of new life that wasn’t here last month, and now is, so: yay, me! (Although “here” is a relative term. It’s here for me. You’ll have to wait until March. Sorry.) Here’s how Random…
Read MoreRoad trip with Laurie! (and a Murdered Mary?)
So here’s me, from April 5 until April 15:The Murder of Mary Russell will launch at the amazing and wonderfully warm Anderson’s Books (yay!) in Naperville (near Chicago.) They hosted an event for me a year ago—and made a great video interview. So when I learned that I’d be passing through Chicago, I brought forward my bowl to…
Read MoreSome Murder-ous love from Kirkus
A book’s first review is always cause for nerves. Do they like it? Did they understand what I was trying to do–which means, did I do it right? The first one for The Murder of Mary Russell is gorgeous, thank you very much. And because Kirkus reviewers tend to give a lot of the plot away, I’ve…
Read MoreHappy 116th!
I had one of those little pop-up notices on my screen yesterday to remind me that today was Mary Russell’s birthday. However, there’s a certain…discrepancy between that fact (along with the undeniable fact that someone continues to Tweet as Mary Russell) and the problematic title of the next Memoir: Now, I’m sure we can come up with solutions to this…
Read MoreResearch and other addictions
I love research. It’s addictive, in fact, and can threaten the actual writing of the book unless one develops a stern attitude towards the Siren call of the shelves—or, for those wired that way, of the Internet. In The Murder of Mary Russell, the past holds the answer to the present’s questions, which means I…
Read MoreLaurie King, e-dinosaur
Well, friends, we’re one step closer to this: To my great consternation, the 21st century is nipping at my heels. All these years, I’ve done copyedits on actual pieces of paper: I’ll finish a book and send my editor a lovely clean copy, spa she can take up her pencil and slash it to pieces, adding questions…
Read MoreThe Murder of Mary Russell: amuse bouche
Writing the cover copy for books–those snippets on the dust jackets–is a delicate art. A bit of plot is great, but not just plot, and NEVER spoilers. (Yes, I’ve had those.) A hint about the characters: who they are, where they’re going, and perhaps a reminder of where they’ve been if the book is from a series. The…
Read MoreRe:Writing
In the beginning was the word… and then the Author decided it was the wrong word, and changed it. Then added a couple more, after which She took those out again and changed the word back to where it had been. This is where I am at the moment: hacking through the jungle of verbiage…
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