One hundred years ago, something happened. Something vastly important. An event that reverberated down the ages. If you’ve been following the Monday posts on this blog, you’ll know that two days and a hundred years ago, Miss Russell planned on taking a walk from her inherited home across the Sussex Downs to the Channel. And we…
Read MoreNext week is National Library Week here in the USofA—with a theme of, “Unlimited possibilities @ your library®”—and this year, wishing to explore those possibilities, we’re doing something a little different. Yes, there will be giveaways, but—we’ll focus on middle schools. Do you have a middle school student in your family? Do you teach middle…
Read More6 April 1915 A slight hitch in my plans has occurred with the discovery that identity papers are not readily forged by a person with naught but an amateur’s workshop. However, by asking around among the village troublemakers, I discovered a man in Eastbourne who can provide the necessary documents, and I have paid…
Read More30 March 1915 In the past week, the Times has continued to shrink in pages, and expand in its messages of desperation. Letters from the Front speak of A DOCTOR IN THE BATTLE LINE and his AMBULANCE WORK UNDER FIRE, from Neuve Chapelle: “It has been quite impossible to write lately, as there has…
Read MoreFor those of you who didn’t get a chance to see one of my Dreaming Spies tour stops, the good folks at Anderson’s Books in Naperville, IL have posted a nice interview about writing the book, the Bodleian library, being inducted into the Baker Street Irregulars, Russell’s Twittering, and writing Sherlockian erotica, all over on…
Read MoreSo, this crime writer walks into a kitchen… Or maybe a bar—it depends on what story you’re after, and what you’re hungry (or thirsty) for. Whether it’s drinks to curl your hair or a soup to warm your heart, Kinsey Millhone’s peanut butter & pickle sandwich or Valentine Wilde’s chicken fricassee, or maybe a cup…
Read More23 March 1915 This week has taught some interesting lessons, both in practical knowledge and, perhaps more valuable in the long run, in the subtle relationships between the sexes. Dr X and I (I decided I should probably not use his name, since my presence as his chauffeur is probably against a string of…
Read MoreMad as this may seem, you can now pre-order a copy of The Murder of Mary Russell: a book I have yet to finish, a book without cover art, a book more than a year from ending up in your hands. A book with more questions than answers. It all feels rather Kickstarter-ish, doesn’t it?…
Read MoreA funny thing happened on my way to Dreaming Spies… Months and months ago, I said to Random House that I didn’t think a tour was really necessary for this novel, since it would be the first Russell & Holmes in 2 ½ years and people might be interested in it even…
Read More16 March 1915 The juxtaposition of War with an attempt at maintaining the bastions of normal life is at times painful. For example, last Tuesday’s Times (which I did not receive until late on Wednesday) contained the following: NEW PROFESSIONS FOR WOMEN. That section of the field of labour hitherto regarded as the exclusive…
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