Award-Winning Bestselling Author
Michael Connelly’s books have been translated into 36 languages and have won many awards. His best known crime fiction series features LAPD Detective Harry Bosch. His other hugely popular series features criminal defense attorney Mickey Haller. Michael has been a crime reporter, has written the Jack McEvoy series, stand-alone novels, many short stories, as well as non-fiction.
Peter James and Ian Rankin are among the foremost writers in the UK. Internationally acclaimed, their books have been translated into dozens of languages, and are regularly on best-seller lists.
Peter James has written 25 best-sellers. His most famous character is Brighton-based Detective, Roy Grace.
As a writer and reader, I have more than a passing interest in book reviews. While some writers say they don’t pay attention to reviews, that level of insouciance escapes me. I think it’s a natural human tendency to be more than curious about what readers think of your work—good, bad, or in-between. I can barely imagine a writer who doesn’t read reviews.
I’m not talking about reviews from trade publications such as Library Journal, Booklist Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus. They could be the subject of an entirely different piece. Rather, when asking the question “To Review or Not to Review” I’m referring to the millions of reviews posted by readers on internet sites such as Amazon, Goodreads, Barnes & Noble, Shelfari and others. These can be brief, telegraphic, one or two sentence entries, or long disquisitions about a book and its merits or shortcomings.
Ingrid Thoft’s acclaimed debut novel, Loyalty, introduced mystery lovers to her protagonist, Fina Ludlow. Fina is a top-notch investigator for her family’s law firm whose senior partner is Fina’s father, Carl Ludlow.
Ingrid’s just-released novel, Identity, involves thorny legal and psychological issues raised by a single mother, Renata Sanchez, who was impregnated by artificial insemination. Though she signed an agreement to keep the donor’s identity secret, she is convinced that making her child’s father part of her child’s life is best for her daughter. Fina’s task is to uncover the identity of the sperm donor. Complications ensue—the biggest being the donor-father is murdered only hours after his identity is made public. The case turns into a homicide investigation and Fina must find out not only who murdered the father, but why he was killed.
International best-selling author Alison Gaylin received an Edgar nomination for her first book, Hide Your Eyes. Her Shamus Award-winning novel, And She Was, received a nomination for the Thriller and Anthony awards.
In the Brenna Spector series, Stay with Me is the third novel, preceded by And She Was and Into the Dark.
Stay with Me involves Brenna Spector, a private investigator who has “Hyperthymestic Syndrome,” a condition in which she recalls each moment of every day since an event of 30 years earlier. The story thrums with suspense, and rewards the reader with a surprising yet plausible conclusion.
I think this pretty much sums up plenty of things.
Testifying in court can be a trying experience for an expert witness, whether you’re a forensic pathologist, engineer or psychiatrist.
Early in my career, I was asked by a defense attorney to evaluate a plaintiff in a lawsuit. He was a 30 year old man, who, while walking across the lobby of an office building, slipped on a freshly waxed floor and fractured an ankle. The physical injury was indisputable and was caused by the accident. I was certain the plaintiff would be claiming a consequential depression as being causally-related to the fall.
Linda Fairstein needs no introduction. For more than two decades, this former prosecutor was Chief of the Sex Crimes Unit of the Manhattan District Attorney’s office. She tried many “ripped from the headlines” cases and is considered America’s foremost legal expert on sexual assault and domestic violence.
Her 15 previous Alexandra Cooper novels are international bestsellers and have been translated into more than a dozen languages. Her 16th is Terminal City, a suspense potboiler, once again featuring prosecutor Alex Cooper and her team who are in a frenzied quest to track down a serial killer who may be a mass murderer and terrorist.
“Don’t waste your time,” a fellow writer said to me when he learned I was planning to meet with a book club. “There are so few people there, there’s nothing in it for you?”
I respectfully disagree.
As an author of psychological suspense thrillers, I’ve been invited to several book clubs to talk about my novels. It’s a very engaging kind of contact with readers, and is unlike speaking at libraries, being on a panel of authors, or talking to members of an organization.
Love Gone Mad was free on a Give-Away program from June 2nd through June 5th. Over that four day period, there were 53,109 downloads of the novel. It now has 208 Amazon reviews with 138 5-star reviews and a 4.5-star average rating. Thank you to all those who downloaded the novel, are reading it and posting such fine reviews.