Friday, April 30, 2010

Ken Kuhlken

1 - What's your latest?

Ken Kuhlken: THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Ken Kuhlken: To be delighted by a gripping story and learn who was responsible for the upcoming World War III.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Ken Kuhlken: He’s obsessed with redeeming the damage his mother has done.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Ken Kuhlken: Aimee Semple McPherson preaching to a parrot, because I’m a fan of comic relief.

5 - What's next?

Ken Kuhlken: 1935, Tom Hickey’s search for his long-gone father leads him to authors B. Traven and Ambrose Bierce and gunslingers Pancho Villa and the Sundance Kid.

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Tom Lowe

1 - What's your latest?


Tom Lowe: THE 24TH LETTER



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Tom Lowe: You'll be entertained. If you you enjoy a face-paced mystery/thriller, THE 24TH LETTER is the type of novel that grabs the readers and engages them for the 84 hours in which the story happens.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Tom Lowe: The main character is Sean O'Brien. Since I have written four books in this series (two published), I'm aware of much of his persona. However, in THE BLACK BULLET, a side of O'Brien is reveled that I didn't know existed.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Tom Lowe: There are many scenes in THE 24TH LETTER that I find in the favorite category. One of the chapters I really enjoy is when O'Brien discovers the connection between the killer and something in the Bible.

5 - What's next?

Tom Lowe: I've finished THE BLACK BULLET and THE BUTTERFLY FOREST. My new agent is trying to decide what's next. Maybe he'll flip a coin.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Thomas Perry

1 - What's your latest?

Thomas Perry: My latest is a stand-alone suspense novel called "Strip," which will be published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt on May 13, 2010.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?



Thomas Perry: I would say that you should read "Strip" because you've never read anything like it before. It's an original story about the final week in power of a minor criminal boss in contemporary Los Angeles. It includes the unique stories of a number of other characters which overlap with his story. Parts of it are funny, others exciting, and others moving. It's very fast-paced, and the complex stories mesh with extraordinary efficiency. It's beginning to build some buzz among booksellers, who have already received their advance copies, and so far it's received starred reviews in Publishers' Weekly and Library Journal. No bad reactions yet that I know of.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Thomas Perry: One thing that's unusual that I hadn't thought about much is the fact that while Claudiu "Manco" Kapak, the old gangster and club owner, is at the center of the story, there are about nine characters who are described, followed, and studied as though they were the "main" character. For the time when each is on stage, we see him as he sees himself--the center of the universe.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Thomas Perry: I have a lot of favorite scenes in this book, but I'll pick one. Early in the book "Manco" Kapak is confronted by Joe Carver, the man he's been hunting because he suspects Carver is the masked man who robbed him while he was making a night deposit at his bank. Carver has come to Kapak's house to tell him he's innocent. But he has broken in while Kapak is in the shower. They have their conversation, and Carver goes out a window and leaves through the back yard. Kapak, still naked, but seeing his chance to settle things, runs to his bedroom for his pistol, and fires at Carver's back as Carver disappears among some bamboo plants. Kapak was in a hurry, so he's fired through the tall bedroom window without opening it. Now, as he watches, the glass comes apart in sheets, falls to the floor, and shatters into thousands of tiny particles that pepper his naked body from his forehead to his toes. He spends the next chapter in the police station talking to a police lieutenant while trying to hide the fact that he is in desperate discomfort from the ground glass on the most sensitive surfaces of his body. The combination of his extraordinary self-control and the ridiculous nature of his self-inflicted injury make me laugh. It also signals to the reader that this is going to be a hard week for Kapak.

5 - What's next?

Thomas Perry: What's next is the third novel in the sequence that began with The Butcher's Boy and was followed ten years later by Sleeping Dogs. The new book picks up the stories of the long-retired professional killer, who lives in England as Michael Schaeffer, and the Justice Departmentemployee Elizabeth Waring, who first discovered his existence twenty years earlier.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Laura Childs

1 - What's your latest?

Laura Childs: My latest book is THE TEABERRY STRANGLER, the 11th book in the Tea Shop Mystery Series.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Laura Childs: Pick up THE TEABERRY STRANGLER because it's fun and soothing like a cozy mystery, but has the pacing of a thriller (so a thrillzy!) It also made it onto the New York Times Bestseller List - very unusual for a cozy.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Laura Childs: My main character, Theodosia, gave up a stressful job in marketing to run the Indigo Tea Shop. I didn't set out to give her my background and engineer a major career shift, but it's awfully darn close to what I ended up doing!

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Laura Childs: My favorite scene is the big, crazy ending where a rather proper Theodosia gets into a knock down-drag out fight with the bad guy!

5 - What's next?

Laura Childs: Next up is SCONES & BONES. Theodosia introduces the new culinary trend of tea and cheese - but with a bizarre murder, raft of suspects, and bungled investigation, something smells funny, and it's not just the Gorgonzola!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Denise Mina

1 - What's your latest?


Denise Mina: STILL MIDNIGHT.





2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Denise Mina: Well, it's short. It's a police procedural, there are lots of twists, some blood spilled, and a giant pile of money and a family blown apart. Hurrah!

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Denise Mina: She's tall. Being a short arse myself I always assume everyone else is looking up perpetually but actually, I think she's a giant five foot eight.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Denise Mina: Favorite scene is when one of the gangsters gets out of the car to avoid having to listen to the other one rant about his ex wife. He finds himself near to a woman he adores and goes and leans on the wall of the building she is in, revelling in his proximity. I felt that stone of the wall on my back when I wrote it.

5 - What's next?

Denise Mina: A second Alex Morrow book called 'The End of the Wasp Season' about the social earthquake that came from the financial crash.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Rhys Bowen

1 - What's your latest?

Rhys Bowen: THE LAST ILLUSION, the 9th Molly Murphy mystery. Molly witnesses a horrible illusion gone wrong, meets Houdini and is hired to find out who is trying to kill him.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Rhys Bowen: All of my Molly Murphy books give a fascinating glimpse into life at the turn of the century. This one features Houdini, the world of illusionists and international espionage. It's a fast paced read. One review said, "You won't breathe until you've finished it."

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Rhys Bowen: I know my main character pretty well, after nine books. She is brave, headstrong, not always prudent, wants to be independent and make her own mark in society, which is not easy for a woman of her time, but also wants security and to be loved. Hence her constant dilemma.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Rhys Bowen: I have to say I enjoyed writing about a lady really being sawn in half. Not that I am gruesome but I've been labeled a "oozy" writer for so long that it was fun to write a really shocking opening scene.

5 - What's next?

Rhys Bowen: I'm just finishing the next Molly book--set in New York's Chinatown. Again fascinating research. And my next Royal Spyness book, featuring Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the throne but penniless, comes out in September. It's called ROYAL BLOOD.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Jane Cleland

1 - What's your latest?

Jane Cleland: SILENT AUCTION, out in mid-April.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Jane Cleland: Josie Prescott, the protagonist, uses her knowledge of antiques to solve the crime; it’s smart and interesting.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Jane Cleland: Josie knows the questions to ask. This book features info about scrimshaw; she didn’t know a lot about it, so she learned.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Jane Cleland: When she visits a scrimshander in his studio, complete with waterfall, perched in the gorgeous New Hampshire fall foliage. I also like the ending… the last few chapters… sweet things happen.

5 - What's next?

Jane Cleland: I’m working on the 6th in the series—DEADLY APPRAISAL. The pivotal antique is vintage clothing.

Friday, April 09, 2010

Brian Freeman

1 - What's your latest?

Brian Freeman: My fifth novel THE BURYING PLACE arrives in U.S. stores on April 13. The paperback of my last book, IN THE DARK, was just released on March 30. Check out all of my books at my all-new web site,www.bfreemanbooks.com.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Brian Freeman: Both THE BURYING PLACE and IN THE DARK are exactly what I want to achieve in psychological suspense: deep characters whose emotions andsecrets drive the intense drama. Read them because you can't put them down and you have to get to the final twists -- but keep them on your shelf and pick them up again because you want to re-experience the characters.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Brian Freeman: Jonathan Stride makes a lot of mistakes...some in his personal life, some in his professional life. Then again, that's what makes him human, and I think that's why readers relate to him.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Brian Freeman: The last chapter of IN THE DARK may be my favorite scene in any of my books. It gets me every time.

5 - What's next?

Brian Freeman: My sixth book is done -- a stand-alone in the same psychological suspense style, set in Door County, Wisconsin. Stay tuned!

Tuesday, April 06, 2010

Sandra Balzo

1 - What's your latest?

Sandra Balzo: FROM THE GROUNDS UP, which came out March 1.



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Sandra Balzo: My main character, Maggy Thorsen, has had her coffeehouse destroyed by a freak May snowstorm. She has to start over (you guessed it) from the grounds up. New location (a historical train station) and new partner (Sarah Kingston, the Brookhills real estate agent who give new meaning to "Don't partner with someone who's crazier than you are"). Never one to listen even when she's talking to herself, Maggy launches her new endeavor, only to find Sarah's nasty uncle squished under the wheels of a commuter train. It only gets worse from there. How could you NOT read it??

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Sandra Balzo: Maggy, apparently, is a masochist.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Sandra Balzo: Maggy's first meeting with Sarah's cousin Ronny. In contrast today-of-the-week panties, Ronny is all about decade-of-the-day. Today he's Mr. Rogers Meets West Side Story.

5 - What's next?

Sandra Balzo: A CUP OF JO is the sixth book in the Maggy Thorsen series and will be out in the US in September (June in the UK). THEN, the first book (RUNNING ON EMPTY) in a brand new series, which will alternate with the Maggys. I'm pumped!!

Saturday, April 03, 2010

Linwood Barclay

1 - What's your latest?

Linwood Barclay: NEVER LOOK AWAY



2 - Assuming I haven't read it, why should I?

Linwood Barclay: It will help me with my mortgage payments. Also, everyone says it is my best book so far.

3 - What can you tell us about your main character that you hadn't realized until you answered the question?

Linwood Barclay: He's too trusting. It gets him into some very big trouble.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Linwood Barclay: Can't tell you. The favorite scenes are all surprises and I can't give them away.

5 - What's next?

Linwood Barclay: Have one more rewrite to do of the book that will come out in 2011, tentatively titled CAN'T BE TRUE.