Tuesday, April 24, 2007

SoCal Adventure

Heading south, again... for the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: April 28 and 29th.

It is a huge undertaking housed on the UCLA campus. The event is free, there will be thousands of booksellers, exhibits and AUTHORS on hand.

Saturday, April 28
Los Angeles Times Festival of Books:Mysterious Galaxy Booth—11-12 noonBook ‘Em—1-2 pm

The Los Angeles Times has a great spread on the Festival today!

Check out the program guide.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Famous Forgers Part III

Tom Keating:
A real character, this cockney house painter was imprisoned for fraud when he tried to pass off 13 of his drawings as the work of British painter Samuel Palmer. He later confessed to having painted 2,000 "Sexton Blakes" (fakes).

Here's an article that discusses how Keating and others became famous for their fakes! You will find all of our famous forgers get mentioned in the article.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Page 69 Test

Got an invitation to participate in the Page 69 Test for Shooting Gallery a couple of weeks ago from Marshal Zeringue.

Here's how Marshall describes the test:
Is it representative of the rest of the book? Would a reader skimming that page be inclined to read on? The fact is, p 69 may well not be representative of the book, but the answer gives you an opportunity to say something about what your book really is about and how that page fits in or ... whatever you like.

He has over 160 books tested so far.

How could I resist that offer?? It was an interesting and difficult experience. It felt a little like an English composition assignment, but it was fun, too.

Check out the Page 69 Test for Shooting Gallery. How does your other favorite book fare?

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Famous Forgers Part II

John Drew:Drew was imprisoned for commissioning fakes from artist John Myatt (see below), and then forging documentary “proof of provenance”. He slipped the papers into art library collections for investigators to find while researching the forged works of art.
Original Picasso:

Faked Picasso:

John Myatt:
Prolific forger in a profitable partnership with art dealer, John Drew.

Monday, April 9, 2007

Mystery and Independent Bookstores

In case you haven't caught the links on my website for some of my favorite independent bookstores, I thought I would list them here...

Green Apple Books
Powell's

Here are a few where I have done readings/signings in the past:

San Francisco Mystery Bookstore: I have truly enjoyed my readings/signings at this hometown favorite, plus this bookseller sold books at my Shooting Gallery release party! Thanks again Diane!
Mysterious Galaxy--one of my favorite, not just because I made it to their top selling paperback list! I really enjoyed my signing for Shooting Gallery there...and looking forward to more signings for Brush with Death!
Seattle Mystery Bookstore: a new favorite since my trip there in February!
M is for Mystery: great place to look for specialty (first edition, signed, etc.) items.

Send me links to your favorite hometown bookseller! Let me know if they are carrying my books. I would love to send them a poster in time for the latest release in July!

Stay tuned...more to come as I make my way around the country!
Support your local bookseller!

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Where will Hailey be??

Well...all over, actually...
you can always check here to see if I have added more appearances, but for now, this is what I have booked.

April 28, Saturday -- Los Angeles Times Festival of Books: I will be at the Mysterious Galaxy (booth #614) —11-12 noon and at Book ‘Em (booth #441) —1-2 pm; at UCLA

May 3-6, Friday to Sunday -- Malice Domestic Conference, Arlington, VA; I will be at a Meet the Authors breakfast on Saturday, May 5th at 9:00 am in Salon III.

May 12, Saturday: I’ll join Joel and Christy Harris for the Grand Opening of their new bookstore, Clayton Books : 5433 D Clayton Road , Clayton, CA 94517, (925) 673-3325

May 22, Tuesday at 7:30 pm, I will be at Castro Valley Library with Camille Minichino: 20055 Redwood Rd.Castro Valley, CA 94546; 510-670-6280.

June 7-10, Thursday to Sunday -- Murder in the Grove Conference, Boise, ID:Boise Centre on the Grove, 850 Front Street; more information to come.

June 30, Saturday at 2pm -- I will be at the Kensington Library with Diane Chambers, Priscilla Royal, and Mark Coggins: 61 Arlington Avenue, Kensington, CA 94707; 510-524-3043.

JULY 3RD -- BRUSH WITH DEATH HITS THE BOOKSTORES!!

July 11, Wednesday at 6:30 pm -- I will be speaking at the Rose Garden Branch of the San Jose Library with Vinnie Hansen: 1580 Naglee Ave., San José, CA 95126; (408) 808-3070.

July 13, Friday from 7-10 pm m-- release party for Brush with Death at the Oakland Columbarium! Full details to come... check out the preliminary details here.

July 26, Thursday at 7 pm -- I will participate in a Sisters in Crime panel at the Lafayette Library with Camille Minichino, Ann Parker, and Peggy Dulle: 952 Moraga Road, Lafayette, CA 94549; (925) 283-3872.

July 28, Saturday at 2 pm, I will participate in a Sisters in Crime panel at the San Jose Cambrian Library: 1780 Hillsdale Ave., San José, CA 95124; (408) 808-3080

August, B&N Book Fair, Dublin, details TBA

October 13, Northern California Sisters in Crime Writing Conference, All Day event, Stockton, CA. Further details TBA

Never fear, I will remind you as we get closer to these dates!!

Friday, April 6, 2007

Famous Forgers Part I

Han Van Megeeren:
Imprisoned and accused of selling a Vermeer to Goering under Hitler’s reign –which amounted to treason—Van Megeeren produced an exquisite forgery while in jail to prove that he had sold Goering one of his own copies. The charges were commuted to forgery.Elmyr de Hory:
A prolific and versatile forger, de Hory claims that ninety percent of his fakes have gone undetected and hang on museum walls.
You can learn more about Elmyr de Hory in Clifford Irving's book, Fake. Speaking of Irving, the movie detailing his HOAX will be out April 13th, and if you need an excuse to see Richard Gere looking fabulous, well, there's one for you!

More famous forgers to come...happy weekend!

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

SAVE THE DATE

I am working on putting together the Release Party for BOOK 3: Brush with Death... ( available for pre-order at Powell's).

Here's what I know so far... July 13th (Friday the 13th) at the Chapel of the Chimes in Oakland. We are hoping everyone will get a chance investigate the place. Maybe we can set up a tour of some of the key action spots from Brush with Death.


You may recall I participated in the Ghost Walk with Sisters in Crime there last October. We are having the book release party at a resting place for the dearly departed, and beautiful architectural treasure, because it is a major CHARACTER in Brush with Death.

You can read a teaser for Brush with Death.

We had a blast at the last release party at Varnish. I hope you will mark your calendar and join us to celebrate the release of Brush with Death! I will post more details as I get them.

Monday, April 2, 2007

For Art Crime Lovers

March was full of author panels! Many of the people who came to the panels were aspiring writers. Invariably, one of the questions is how do we research for our mystery writing.

So, I thought I would share with you some of the places I go to find out about art crime. Here are a few of my faves.

The FBI Art Squad and their list of the Top Ten Art Crimes

Interpol’s art site, with their own Most Wanted List!

For updates on thefts, forgery, and antiquities trade, plus plenty of resources regarding forgery and theft, the Museum Security network can’t be beat this.

Lots of information about art crimes, forensic art, illegal antiquities trade here.

Let me know if you turn up anything I should include in book FOUR!