One week ago today I was on my way home from the Love Is Murder Conference up in Wheeling, Illinois. I took the train home out of Chicago’s Union Station–the ride was pleasant, but boarding was a surreal experience. What is it about train boarding announcements that cause people to immediately become angry and aggressive? …Read More

I can’t believe it’s already time to have my friend CJ back in the Handbasket. Her debut novel, Lifelines, came out last March, and her second novel, Warning Signs, was published on Tuesday. I’m thrilled to have her back at the blog, and totally psyched about seeing her at next week’s Love Is Murder Conference …Read More

Lucky for us, fiction comes in many flavors. Some fans of crime and suspense fiction don’t mind the full-gore treatment—But I, and several other writers I know, can attest to the fact that other readers are vocal about wanting the violence in their crime fiction to be restrained and tidy, more like Agatha Christie than …Read More

CJ Lyons is one very busy thriller-writer chick. Her cross-genre novel (thriller, medical suspense, steamy romance) LIFELINES debuted back in early March, and she’s been in constant motion ever since. Once upon a time she was a pediatric ER doc. Now, she spends her time writing, traveling, teaching other folks how to write and being …Read More

Writers are supposed to know many interesting things. But this writer had no idea that Denver, Colorado (where I’m attending the Left Coast Crime Convention) is actually NOT in the middle of mountains. On the way from the airport to the downtown Adam’s Mark Hotel, the shuttle driver informed me that Denver is at the …Read More