August 3rd is Release Day for Yesterday's Murder, so the title of this blog post really does make sense.

I started this story a long time ago, maybe fifteen years back. I loved the premise of a woman waking from a long-term coma, finding that her life is completely changed, and then having to solve a really cold case. I wrote maybe half of my idea down at the time, but I was working with two different publishers on two different series, and it just became too much. I set YM on the shelf (well,...

An author knows the end is near when Amazon starts sending, "Are you sure your book is ready for publication?" notices, and I experienced the first of those over the weekend. That meant a day of making sure, checking everything twice and maybe once more.

YESTERDAY'S MURDER is pending. It can be pre-ordered, which is a good thing for authors. Every pre-order is counted on release day (August 3rd, in this case), so the book rises in the algorithms, which gets it seen by more people, who buy it...

Today I'm reminding myself that people have lived under repressive governments for millennia, from restrictive religious communities to grinding autocracies. They suffer, but they learn to laugh and love and live within the limits they face.

I'm reminding myself that the leaders of such societies tend to be megalomaniacs who demand constant praise, no matter how false and fawning it becomes. The sycophants willing to shower such leaders with false compliments are many, but in their hearts they...