Newsletter 04/15

April 2015

I’ve just returned from a much-needed and well-deserved vacation in Florida, tan, fit, and ready to begin my next novel. I stayed at The Breakers in Palm Beach and when the desk clerk handed me my bill I knew why they called it The Breakers. They should have a cardiologist at the checkout.

Anyway, while in Palm Beach my wife and I had dinner with our good friend, Ethel Kennedy. Mrs. Kennedy is a remarkable woman and I always look forward to seeing her when we’re in Florida. Also at dinner were Ethel’s daughter Rory and Rory’s husband, Mark Bailey, who wrote a terrific book titled, Of All the Gin Joints: Stumbling through Hollywood History, illustrated by Edward Hemingway. The book can best be described as one part Hollywood history, two parts cocktail recipes, and three jiggers of fun. You will truly love this book, as I did.

In my last Newsletter I recommended Wine in Words: Notes for Better Drinking by my good pal, Lettie Teague, who is the wine columnist for The Wall Street Journal. I gave the publication date as Tuesday, April 21, but it’s been changed to Tuesday, April 14. FYI, all hardcover books are published on a Tuesday. Why? Because the first edition of the Bible was published on a Tuesday? No, because all bestseller lists begin counting book sales on Tuesday. This is good cocktail party trivia.

Also published on Tuesday, March 24 was The Mystery Writers of America Cookbook: Wickedly Good Meals and Desserts to Die For. As I recommended in my previous Newsletter, I have contributed John Corey’s secret recipe for Male Chauvinist Pigs in the Blanket. Proceeds from this book support the Mystery Writers of America.

Speaking of John Corey, my seventh Corey novel, Radiant Angel, will be published on Tuesday, May 26, in time for Father’s Day and other major holidays such as St. Jean Baptiste Day which is celebrated in Quebec. You can read Chapters 1 and 2 for free by clicking here. You can read the rest of the book by clicking here to pre-order.

After Radiant Angel is published, I will be doing a publicity tour around the country, destinations to be determined. My scheduled appearances will be posted as they develop. If I’m in your neck of the woods, please stop in to a book signing.

Several people have sent me fan emails about my last novel, The Panther, which is set mostly in Yemen. If you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that the situation in Yemen has deteriorated since John Corey left there. If you read The Panther you’ll see that Corey predicted a lot of what’s happened in that unhappy country.

The fourth book in my John Corey series, Wild Fire, is being reissued on Tuesday, April 28 with a new cover that I helped design. If you like the cover, please buy the book.

And finally, I am getting more involved with social media, meaning Facebook and Twitter (whatever that is) and I am now on Instagram which I’m told is really cool. Back in the day, when an author published a new book (on a Tuesday) the publisher would send a congratulatory telegram. If you don’t know what a telegram is…well, it’s sort of like a cross between Twitter and Instagram, except there are no pictures and some weird dude would ring your doorbell and hand you the telegram. If it was a singing telegram, the guy would sing the words, like, “Congratulations to you, congratulations to you, your book has been published and your check is now due.” Or something like that. Then you had to tip the guy about fifty cents. Sometimes Western Union would call you and read the telegram to you instead of sending the guy with the weird hat and coat, then they’d ask if you wanted the telegram mailed to you so you could have a paper copy of it. The telegram usually arrived in the mail long before the publisher’s check.

Some things never change.

See you in May.

Sincerely,