Angieville

First off, apologies to Angie and her Ville for the delay in this post. My brain went dead following two weeks on the road, and the various attempts at writing something produced words so dull, they put me to sleep. Of course, pretty much anything put me to sleep, after an average of 5 ½ hours of sleep a night for 12 nights… One of the things I love most about an author tour is having a chance to meet the people who read my books. In a normal job, a person gets feedback as she goes along, conversations with customers and colleagues, but my job is to sit in a quiet room for ten or eleven months and tap my fingertips down onto buttons. Little opportunity for ongoing feedback there. On a book tour, it’s all about the feedback, particularly since my events consist of about ten minutes of me talking, two minutes of reading from the book, and 48 minutes of Q&A. It’s true, as my daughter pointed out, that I don’t actually answer the questions, but I do use them as springboards to tal...

I love the title of this the 9th Mary Russell/Sherlock Holmes novel. In name and spirit, The Language of Bees brings things back to the beginning once more. Back to the Downs, back to the hives, back to a 15-year-old Mary Russell stumbling over a retired detective tending his bees in peace, thus setting into motion the unlikely formation of a most formidable and engaging partnership. What an adventure it's been, and how fascinating to follow these two dominant personalities meet and clash and meet again, picking their way ever so rationally toward a kind of home. In this installment, Russell and Holmes indeed come home to Sussex after months and months abroad--tired, anxious, and, in Russell's case, tangled up in self-doubt and disillusionment. They walk through the door to find Holmes' beloved bees have inexplicably fled their hive and a stranger waiting for them. A stranger who is not a stranger after all. They met surrealist painter Damian Adler once before. Now he soli...

Phew, I'm back. Vegas was hot and windy, but the wedding we attended was lovely. Lots of yummy, yummy Thai food at the reception and many good people to visit with. A much-needed getaway. I just wanted to put up a reminder that Laurie R. King , author of the most wonderful if-you-haven't-read-them-yet-you-must Mary Russell series , will be guest blogging here on Wednesday. Laurie is promoting her latest and greatest Mary Russell-- The Language of Bees . You're in for a treat so don't miss it! I've also got several good reviews on their way up this week. Look out for my review of Fragile Eternity (much to say on that one), Dead and Gone (Sookie rules), and of course The Language of Bees .

Dear Friends, With a new book coming out and an ongoing celebration ( "Fifteen Weeks of Bees" ) in the Laurie R. King e-universe, I wanted to include ways to help Independent booksellers, libraries, and people to whom hardback novels are but a distant dream. Here's what I've come up with: Indies--A piece of art: Readers who buy a copy of The Language of Bees from an independent bookseller and send us their receipt will be entered into a drawing for a truly gorgeous piece of art: an original, limited edition letterpress broadside (value $125) of "A Venomous Death," a new, illustrated Laurie King short story featuring Mary Russell, Sherlock Holmes, and... bees. Libraries--A set of Russells: During National Library Week , we're collecting library love letters from their patrons. The winning letter gets a copy of the new book, The Language of Bees . At the same time, their library wins a complete set of hardback Russell and Holmes novels, beginning with T...