Tomorrow is the release day for Cutler’s Legacy, the sixth novel in the John Cutler Mysteries. It’s taken a while but I’m so excited for this book to be in the world. Cutler holds a special place in my heart. Not only was he the first novel-length character I created, but there are also a lot of elements of my personality in that guy (as embarrassing as that is to admit). Cutler’s a guy who seems to stub his toe whenever things go well for him.
Read MoreAs I write this, it’s currently 4° F. 🥶 We don’t have any snow in Spokane right now. I consider that a blessing. I haven’t skied in years and was never any good when I did. In fact, my first attempt at downhill ended up with me in a hospital and a several-inch scar under my knee.
Read MoreThis is Desert Steve’s Gas ’N Go. Okay, not really.
But it was in the first Flip-Flop Detective novel, STRAIT TO HELL.
Read MoreI hate serial killers.
You might consider that a ludicrous statement as 99.9% of all people who’ve ever lived hate serial killers, too. The only ones who don’t hate serial killers are the killers themselves and their mothers.
Read MoreA reader (Bryan) asked a question concerning the Cozy Up series. He wondered if the “Little Sister” nickname that U.S. Marshal Gayle Goodspeed call’s Beau was somehow related to True Grit. The question surprised me, and I asked why he believed it to have originated from there.
Read MoreMy flagship series, the 509 Crime Stories, recently had its covers upgraded. For some, that was a change to the title font. For others, that was a complete redo.
Read MoreI read several personal finance and real estate blogs daily during this time. I also listened to podcasts related to those fields. The one thing that always left me feeling underwhelmed was that no one ever talked about how personal finance could link to commercial real estate (an area I worked in).
Read MoreI thought I would do something different this week and share one of my favorite scenes. This comes from my short story, “The Legend of Roy Utt,” which appears in the 509 Crime Anthology, A Bag of Dick’s.
Read MoreI recently saw a question posed to authors: “Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?” This immediately reminded me of a YouTube video.
Read MoreAlways be where flip-flops can be worn.
If you could live your life by a single rule, what would it be?
That’s a question I asked myself one summer afternoon while running around my neighborhood in flip-flops.
Read MoreMy writing career began in 1996. Sometime during that year, I sat at my computer and wrote a single-page story. It featured a cop drinking in a bar. Anger and bluster filled every word. It was an unreadable tale written by an unhappy man.
Read MoreIn 2019, I attended Left Coast Crime (LCC), a writers’ conference held that year in Vancouver B.C—only six hours from my hometown. It was my first conference of the sort, and I quickly learned it offered many great experiences.
Read MoreA reader of my books once stated that she didn’t like “heroes with muddy feet.”
This comment was directed toward Detective James Morgan, the protagonist in The Value in Our Lies, the fifth novel in the 509 Crime Stories. The reader had consumed the first four novels in the series and enjoyed them. She set down the fifth book after the opening chapter.
Read MoreRich, one of my frequent readers, posted a comment to me via Goodreads that ran along the line of, “Why do so many fictional detectives have failed marriages.”
Read MoreI love music. Hang around me for any length of time, and you’ll probably discover that my favorite genre is hard rock. It seeps into the way I talk, the way I dress, and the way I connect with others. While some in my age bracket (a slacker wave to those in Generation X) might be embarrassed to say they’re still metalheads, I’m not.
Read MoreThe knockout game is the concept of randomly selecting a victim and then rendering them unconscious with a single blow.
It’s violent, it’s illegal, and it always preys on a weaker victim.
Read MoreSPOILER ALERT!
If you haven’t read THE BLIND TRUST yet, this post gives away a big component of the story. Turn back if you want to keep this reveal hidden.
Read MoreFor a period of roughly six months, I woke up frequently with a song snippet in my head.
I didn’t think much of it at the time. I wasn’t concerned by it. More than anything, it was an oddity. A funny trick that my mind seemed to be playing on me. When the songs happened, I kind of enjoyed them.
Those musical greetings gave my mornings a little bit of a twist.
Read MoreHearing a word, or a combination of words, can sometimes spark a writer’s imagination. This occurred to me when I first encountered the term ‘side hustle.’
Read MoreC316—pronounced correctly as Charlie three sixteen—is a police officer call sign. To be exact it was my call sign for a year while with the Spokane Police Department.
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