Q: Are we going to see any more Martinelli books in the future? And why was there a six year period between Nightwork and The Art of Detection? A: There should be another couple of Martinellis off in the future somewhere, not at all sure when. And the long gap was due to a combination…

Bow, bow you lower-middle classesBlow the trumpets! bang the brasses!(Isn’t this a good week to start out with Gilbert and Sullivan?) Anyway, start up the parade because we have another winner, number five, who I believe, if my eyes aren’t deceiving me, is new to the mailing list. Apologies to you who’ve been with us…

Yes, as those of you who read the most recent post may have realized by now, it’e2’80’99s the first of April, which makes it time for Ask Laurie. Send in your questions, I’e2’80’99ll see if I can get them all answered before the first of May rolls around’e2’80’a6 About the spam question’e2’80’94I’e2’80’99m happy to have…

I’e2’80’99m afraid these interminable spam postings have been the final blow for me with this blog. I’e2’80’99ve enjoyed it lots, but the time has come to concentrate on that part of my life that normally takes place before six in the morning. Thanks for reading, and I look forward to seeing you all at events.…

In case some of you missed this, we’e2’80’99re (we being the earth) due a cycle of huge solar storms beginning perhaps the end of this year, certainly by the end of 2007, just to make our joys complete. The sunspot cycle is projected to peak in 2012, at which time airplanes will be diverted from…

And this week’s winner of the ARC for THE ART OF DETECTION is Jim in Sacramento. Congratulations, Jim–and we have four ARCs left, to give away the next four Mondays, so don’t give up yet. But if your name isn’t on the mailing list, you can’t win one, unless you sign up here or by…

TOUCHSTONE is galloping alone, wrapping me up in it, so that even on days then I have other jobs to do, I get 2000 words in on it. Sometimes writing is like stumbling through a dark attic with a failing flashlight, hard on the shins and inspiring no confidence in the eventual outcome. Then the…

And the Monday winner for this week in March is Kathleen in Philadelphia’e2’80’94Congratulations! Both Greg in NJ and Philip in SF have their winners’e2’80’99 copies of the bound galley of THE ART OF DETECTION, and are no doubt head-down in them as I write this. Have fun, you three, knowing what happens before anyone. Well,…

The other day when I was out shopping, a couple of strangers and I had one of those little riffs of socializing that make trips to the store about more than just bags of groceries. It started when the guy at the register asked me how I was doing, and I glanced outside and said…

And the second winner in The Great THE ART OF DETECTION Advance Reading Copy Giveaway is, appropriately enough (honest, this is a random drawing!) Philip in San Francisco. Appropriate because TAoD’e2’80’99s victim goes by that name’e2’80’94please don’e2’80’99t let this put you off, Phil. We’e2’80’99re drawing from the mailing list of the LRK newsletter, and we…