I’m just back from four days in London on my own, following a vacation in Ireland with my husband. I love London. It’s been a long time and I was thrilled to go back. I have no British connections of any kind, except one, but that’s an important one. I’ve been reading English books my [...] Read More →
News/Blog at Poisoned Pen Press
Planning a Book Launch . . . ideas?
I’m in the process of planning the launch for CAPACITY FOR MURDER, third in the Professor Bradshaw series. I am not what you’d call a great party planner, but luckily, I have a friend who is. Jesikah, a talented emerging YA fantasy writer– her Pinterest page immerses you in her words and world–is a former [...] Read More →
Destination Unknown
Did any of you know for sure what you wanted to be when you grew up? Did you become that? (The job or career, I mean; I’m assuming “grown up.”) I wasn’t ever sure what I wanted to be. I picked a college major not because it aligned with my future goals but because 80% [...] Read More →
My Writer’s Retreat
By Vicki Delany Think of a writers’ retreat. A cabin someplace in the woods, perhaps on the ocean or in a French village. Panoramic views, peace and quiet, nature all around you. What productivity could you accomplish? I recently spent three weeks at my own personal writers’ retreat, and it was pretty much the exact [...] Read More →
Alafair and Me
Hercule Poirot, Harriet Vane, Annie Darling, V.I. Warshawski, Stephanie Plum, Alafair Tucker. Where did they come from? What sort of mind does it take to create a character that seems to live and breathe? Yes, I dare to list the name of Alafair, my turn-of-the-Twentieth-Century sleuthing mother of ten children, alongside these immortals, because I’m [...] Read More →
Words Elude Me
I live in Portland now. I love so much about this city, but what really slays me is Mt. Hood. When I drive to the office in the morning, if it’s clear day, the mountain is bright white, bold, magnificent. I can even see it from my office windows, and each time I look in [...] Read More →
From Mary Anna–For the ones who run toward danger
The events in Boston and in West, Texas, have left me uncharacteristically quiet. I’m a novelist. I can almost always think of something to say. Often, I can think of too much to say, but not today. Two of my children have married into families who are all-too-familiar how hard it is to watch a [...] Read More →
The Imaginary Clue in the Very Real Parking Lot
No suspense novelist could have asked for better plot elements: two immigrant brothers, radicalized by god-knows-what-insane political ideology, terrorize the Boston Marathon, go to ground in Cambridge and Boston, shoot it out with police and the FBI in Watertown, and literally shut down the entire Boston Metropolitan area for an entire day. Absurd. Tragic. Perhaps even [...] Read More →
I’m Off!
No, the title doesn’t signify a moment of self-revelation calling out for help from my friend, fellow Pittsburgh native, writer and psychotherapist, Dennis Palumbo; it’s my way of saying that at the end of this month I’m off to MYKONOS!
Classic Novels in Twelve Words
by Mary Reed Just for the heck of it, the other day I challenged my fellow Poisoned Pen Press authors to summarise famous novels in twelve words. Hilarity ensued. Srsly. Readers currently catching up on the classics should be warned that Here There Be Spoilers. Jane Finnis is the author of the Aurelia Marcella series [...] Read More →