Steve Liskow

1 - What's your latest?

Steve Liskow: WHO WROTE TEH BOOK OF DEATH? came out in May from Mainly Murder Press.

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

Steve Liskow: It's a book about fixing what went wrong the last time and trying to do it right this time, not to mention that it's a cool mystery with suspense, humor, and hot sex.

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

Steve Liskow: He's a lot more alpha than many of my other characters, but more sensitive, too.  Maybe because he's been serious screwed over before through no fault of his own.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Steve Liskow: About half-way through the book, a woman gets electrocuted and my protag has to perform CPR on her. He has to fix it this time because he wasn't around when his wife died years before. It forces him to face the fear and pain again because he cares about this woman, too. I'd never tried that kind of juxtaposition in a scene before, and I think it worked. but I like a lot of other scenes, too. This book is different from a lot of my other work, so it made me develop in different directions.

5 - What's next?

Steve Liskow: I'm doing research for a mystery that will involve Roller Derby. I got the idea because my daughter is the Captain of the Queen City Cherry Bombs in New Hampshire. Now I've interviewed several skaters, coaches, and referees in Connecticut and I'm becoming a serious fan of the sport. It's a helluva lot of fun and the people are all seriously cool.

David Housewright

1 - What's your latest?

David Housewright: THE TAKING OF LIBBIE, SD

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

David Housewright: LIBBIE deals with the slow death of the Great Plains. North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Montana have been losing population for decades. Look around and all you'll see are empty churches, abandoned farms, closed schoolhouses, shuttered businesses - there are six thousand ghost towns in Kansas alone. In fact, several hundred thousand square miles of the Great Plains have a population of fewer than six people per square mile. In some cases it's two people per square mile. The last time that happened was 1893 when many historians, including Theodore Roosevelt, who later became president, declared that the frontier was closed. Now imagine that you are 45 years old, married with children, and living in one the small town that you grew up in, a town that most likely will be dead and gone decades before you are. Think that might make you a bit desperate?

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

David Housewright: He's losing faith. For seven books now he has been doing "favors" for friends because he believed he was helping to make the world a better place. Now he's not so sure. Now he's wondring if he's not making it worse.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

David Housewright: The first scene in the book when McKenzie is kidnapped by bounty hunters and transported to Libbie because he's helpless and he realizes fior the first time just how vulnerable he is.

5 - What's next?

David Housewright: My 11th book - and eighth in the McKenzie series - is nearly completed. I call it HIGHWAY 61 - or THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE - or SNAFU. Actually, I'd be curious to learn which title your readers like best.

Craig Johnson

1 - What's your latest?

Craig Johnson: JUNKYARD DOGS, with Viking, May 28th.

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

Craig Johnson: Sixth in the Walt Longmire series; I think it’s the most humorous book I’ve written yet. It deals with a lot of the more venal aspects of human nature in a small town in northern Wyoming.

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

Craig Johnson: Sheriff Walt Longmire’s most devastating weapon is his sense of humor.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Craig Johnson: Probably the scene where Walt tries to ascertain why a young couple has their grandfather tied to the back of a ’68 Olds Tornado with a hundred feet of nylon rope....

5 - What's next?

Craig Johnson: HELL IS EMPTY is an analogy for Dante’s Inferno. It takes place mostly in the Cloud Peak Wilderness Area, where a group of convicts has escaped from a private transport company and Walt is the only one there to go after them.

Lila Dare

1 - What's your latest?

Lila Dare: My latest book is the first in the Southern Beauty Shop series from Berkley Prime Crime, TRESSED TO KILL.

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

Lila Dare: You should read it because it's funny, warm-hearted, and well-plotted, sort of a Steel Magnolias with dead bodies. Publishers Weekly gave it a starred review and Romantic Times blessed it with 4 1/2 stars.

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

Lila Dare: Grace knows she's a little gun-shy about men because her marriage ended badly--her hubby cheated on her almost from the moment they walked down the aisle. What she doesn't know (and I just realized) is how strong she is, how capable of being happy on her own.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Lila Dare: That's a hard one. If I only get one, I'll say the scene where Grace (the protagonist) meets Special Agent John Dillon of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. There's a lot of tension, humor and chemistry that I hope will carry through the next several books in the series.

5 - What's next?

Lila Dare: Next up is my PI novel set in Colorado Springs, SWIFT JUSTICE, which comes out from St. Martin's Minotaur in October under my real name, Laura DiSilverio. Think of it as a cross between Remington Steel and The Odd Couple, a female buddy series. Next up in the Southern Beauty Shop series is POLISHED OFF, due out in Feb 2011.

Gabriel Cohen

1 - What's your latest?

Gabriel Cohen: It's a crime novel called THE NINTH STEP, the fourth in my series from Minotaur Books/St. Martin's Press. They're set in Brooklyn, NY and feature NYPD homicide detective Jack Leightner.

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

Gabriel Cohen: Aside from the fact that I hope it tells a pretty exciting fictional tale about crime in present-day New York, the book incorporates a number of true historical events, including the most amazing story I've come across in 25 years of freelance writing: the story of how a munitions ship caught fire and almost blew up in New York harbor during WWII. If it had gone up, it might have led to the greatest disaster in human history (the shock wave would have taken out a number of towns along the Jersey shore, the northern tip of Staten Island, and the southern end of Manhattan). The only thing that saved the entire area was the incredible bravery of a little band oflocal firefighters and Coast Guardsmen.

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

Gabriel Cohen: I like the idea of main characters who change and discover new things about themselves over the course of a series of books, rather than staying exactly the same from book to book. (I was inspired early in my career by how the main character changes in Lawrence Block's Matt Scudder novels.)

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Gabriel Cohen: I'm partial to the first scene, in which a stranger shows up while Jack is at home enjoying breakfast on a day off and tells him something which totally changes his view of the most significant event in his childhood.

5 - What's next?

Gabriel Cohen: I'm writing a new novel, and also working on an essay about another true and very personal story: five years ago, I unwittingly moved into a Brooklyn apartment where an actual homicide had taken place just seven months before: my landlord murdered his wife. That apartment, believe it or not, is where I wrote THE NINTH STEP.

Deborah Coonts

1 - What's your latest?

Deborah Coonts: WANNA GET LUCKY?, on sale May 11th.

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

Deborah Coonts: Life being what it is these days, everyone needs a good laugh.

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

Deborah Coonts: That not only does she think like me, laugh like me, she even talks like me. Of course she is taller, prettier and can throw off funny lines that it takes me months to dream up.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Deborah Coonts: The first scene in Chapter 4 where the reader meets Teddie. He is my main character, Lucky's, best friend, and Las Vegas' foremost female impersonator--and he's also straight, which makes for an interesting paradox. When we meet him, he is just coming in from a night on the town, still in costume and he stops at Lucky's apartment to awaken her for the day. I like the scene because it exemplifies Lucky's non-judgemental nature and her ability to look beyond the surface to find and appreciate the person inside.

5 - What's next?

Deborah Coonts: Book 2 in the series, LUCKY STIFF, slated for a Feb 2011 release. All the main characters return. It's fight weekend in Vegas when pieces of a former rather unsavory oddsmaker are found in the shark tank at Mandalay Bay. The District Attorney pushes for a pick indictment against a friend of Lucky's, drawing her into the investigation. To complicate matters, the current reigning Hollywood hunk shows up needing Lucky's help with a matter that threatens to implode his career. Lucky's mother gains national media attention when she auctions a woman's virginity from her whorehouse in Pahrump and then expects Lucky to save her from the fire. And a handsome French chef proves to be a handful at work and a romantic complication Lucky doesn't need.

Stefanie Pintoff

1 - What's your latest?

Stefanie Pintoff : A CURTAIN FALLS came out from Minotaur Books on May 12th – the same day the paperback of my debut novel, IN THE SHADOW OF GOTHAM, was released.

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

Stefanie Pintoff : A CURTAIN FALLS is a fast-paced read that will take you to an era of New York City history -- the early days of the burgeoning Broadway theater -- that is at once accessible and yet unfamiliar. And, it features Detective Simon Ziele, a protagonist with a dark streak, well-suited to adapting early modern forensic techniques to traditional detective methods to solve the most baffling crimes of the day. In this case, he must track down the serial killer who is stalking actresses of the Great White Way in 1906 New York City.

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

Stefanie Pintoff : Ziele matures a great deal in this book; both personally and professionally, he comes into his own.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Stefanie Pintoff : Ziele encounters a person from his past - someone he hasn’t seen in over 10 years – which forces him to confront emotions he has buried deep inside of him.

5 - What's next?

Stefanie Pintoff : I'm just finishing the third in the series – which takes Detective Ziele into a New York City underworld filled with hidden ciphers, secret societies, and anarchist plots.

Peter Abrahams

1 - What's your latest?

Peter Abrahams: THEREBY HANGS A TAIL, under my pen name Spencer Quinn. It's #2 in the Chetand Bernie series. DOG ON IT was the first.

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

Peter Abrahams: For pleasure.

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

Peter Abrahams: This question is too hard.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Peter Abrahams: That's up to the reader to decide.

5 - What's next?

Peter Abrahams: I'm working on book #3 in the series. (THEREBY HANGS A TAIL, based on just a partial week of sales, will debut at #25 on the NYT extended list 1/24.) My new YA suspense novel (under Peter Abrahams), BULLET POINT,came out in April (Harper Teen).

Joanna Campbell Slan

1 - What's your latest?

Joanna Campbell Slan: PHOTO, SNAP, SHOT

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

Joanna Campbell Slan: Publisher's Weekly called it, "a cut above the usual craft-themed cozy." I tackle big issues like hatred and prejudice while providing an enjoyable read. You know, when people are laughing, they let down their defenses. It's a great opportunity to consider tough topics. Literary Journal mentioned the book in a recent article touting cozy classics.

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

Joanna Campbell Slan: Oh, trust me, I recognized early on that angst and humor are roommates. I used to work as a humorist, a motivational speaker who uses laughter to deliver tough messages. My character provides a lot of laughs, but at the heart of the book are plenty of important questions.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Joanna Campbell Slan: When my protagonist Kiki attends a meeting of white supremists, she realizes she's surrounded by people who would want her daughter dead...just on principle. It's a powerful and compelling moment when we all recognize how totally irrational extremist thinking is.

5 - What's next?

Joanna Campbell Slan: MAKE, TAKE, MURDER is in the hands of my publisher, and it will be released in April 2011. Again, I tackle a tough topic: Domestic Abuse. I even look at how it starts early when young women don't expect the guys in their lives to treat them with respect.

Earlene Fowler

1 - What's your latest?

Earlene Fowler:  State Fair

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

Earlene Fowler:  Because everyone loves the fair, even when someone is murdered.

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

Earlene Fowler: She wishes she had brown eyes.

4 - What's your favorite scene and why?

Earlene Fowler:  Whenever she gets to eat some crazy deep fried food, like pickles or Oreos. Because I like writing and reading about junk food.

5 - What's next?
Earlene Fowler:  Spider Web (No actual spiders are involved...not even fried ones)