Ken Isaacson

I, like so many of my friends, were shocked to hear last week that Jeremiah Healy took his life. Jerry was the author of the John Francis Cuddy private eye books and (under the pen name Terry Devane) of the Mairead O’Clare legal thriller series Rather than comment online immediately, I found I had to take some time to reflect on the news. I have nothing profound to say, but I do need to add my voice to the chorus of writers and readers who mourn this terrible loss. My first contact with Jerry was in 2006, when I was preparing for the launch of my debut novel, SILENT COUNSEL, and I was looking for established writers willing to blurb the book. I’d never met Jerry, but was a fan of his work. I knew that he was a member of Mystery Writers of America, and I e-mailed him cold—“One MWA member to another”—asking if he’d be willing to help out. Within a day or two, and not knowing me from Adam, he responded with a yes. A few weeks later I had my first blurb. A wonderful one, at that. I finally met Jerry at the Edgars Banquet in 2007, and though our contact through the years was casual, I would continue to run into him at conferences like Bouchercon and Left Coast Crime. The last time I saw him was at LCC in Monterey, last March, where I had the honor of moderating a panel in which he (along with Joel Goldman, Charles Rosenberg, and Sheldon Siegel) participated: “Legal Thrillers: NOT Your Father’s Perry Mason.” Jerry shared with us his encyclopedic knowledge of legal thrillers throughout the years. One recurring theme I’ve seen in the online remembrances of Jerry is how helpful he was to so many beginning writers—something that his willingness to blurb my book demonstrated to me years ago. Going through my old e-mails this morning, I found this, from him, in response to my thanks for his confidence in me: “Ken, Happy to help, as folks like Robert B. Parker and Tony Hillerman did the same for me back in the mid-80’s when I was breaking into the field. My only hope: You’ll also ‘pay it forward’ to rookies once YOU”RE established as well.” My thoughts are with his wife, Sandy Balzo, and with the rest of Jerry’s family. Jerry, I hope you are at peace.

By the way, I see on Amazon that McIntyre's RELATIVELY GUILTY, is being offered for free--no doubt to introduce new people to his Robbie Munro series. (I checked with Michelle before posting this, and she said that bringing this to everyone's attention doesn't run counter to the Promotional/Advertising policy...)

A great event, indeed. And meeting Charlaine was certainly a treat.

Spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Book Expo America in New York City, helping out at the Mystery Writers of America booth. It was a busy time—so much so that I was hardly able to wander the huge exhibition hall to explore. No matter, because there was plenty of action at the MWA booth, which hosted a long list of authors signing books to be given away. One of the events at the booth on Tuesday morning was the appearance of Charlaine Harris and Tony L.P. Kelner, who signed copies of WOLFBANE AND MISTLETOE, the anthology they edited. You can imagine the long line for them! (Here's a picture, if I attached it correctly...) Unfortunately, I can’t locate a complete list of the authors who followed after them at the booth, but I can tell you the books that I snapped up for myself from among those who were there. Many of these are Advance Readers Copies of books not yet even released. THE KING OF PLAGUES, by Jonathan Maberry CLAIM OF INNOCENCE, by Laura Caldwell SCARED TO DEATH, by Wendy Corsi Staub THE FUND, by H.T. Narea (Hernan’s debut novel) ABYSS, by David Hagberg THE DAMAGE DONE, by Hilary Davidson (Hilary’s debut novel) FALLEN, by Karin Slaughter LEARNING TO SWIM, by Sarah J. Henry (Sarah’s debt novel) In the small amount of time I claimed for myself, during which I was able to go up and down the aisles, I scored copies of: FEAST DAY OF FOOLS, by James Lee Burke AGENT 6, by Tom Rob Smith LIVE WIRE, by Harlan Coben (Audio) I also ran into Barry Eisler, and we chatter for about ten minutes about the state of the publishing industry. No, we didn’t figure anything out, other than the fact that the times, they are a’changin’. All in all, a fun time.

Watched Blue Valentine, which we did not care for all that much, despite "popular opinion."

In today's New York Times. "In the latest chapter in the unfolding tale of the book evolution from ink to pixels, Amazon.com said Thursday that its customers now buy more e-books than print books. Since April 1, Amazon sold 105 books for its Kindle e-reader for every 100 hardcover and paperback books, including books without Kindle versions and excluding free e-books." Read the entire article here:

We Are Family ~ Sly and the Family Stone

Come Together ~ The Beatles

Yes, this was one of the good ones first shown during the Superbowl in the US..

Our little Oakley, whom we lost almost two years ago...

In the Still of the Night ~ Cole Porter (1937)

"Black Rain" on Netflix, last night.

Has anyone read either of Andrew Grant's books? (Lee's brother.) Have not gotten to them yet...

Are you familiar, then, with the works of Charles Todd, and the series of Ian Rutledge detective novels? I've read only one (the first, I believe, in the series), and I found it fascinating for a few reasons. A TEST OF WILLS. First, Charles Todd is actually a mother/son team. Second, although the series is set in very early 20th century UK, both authors are 100% United States born and bred. In my opinion, writing a novel that's set in a different time period is a big challenge. Separate from that, writing a novel that's set in a location foreign to your own is a big challenge. To write a novel set somewhere else, in the past, must be an EXTREMELY big challenge. And I do believe this team delivers on both scores. I found the setting, both temporally and geographically, to be rather convincing.

I'm curious about how many people find that they learn a lot of history by reading historical fiction. For example, I think I learned quite a lot about World War II by reading Herman Wouk's THE WINDS OF WAR and WAR AND REMEMBRANCE. I was utterly fascinated by those two books (read many years ago) and simply did not want them to end, and the amount of history that was crammed into them was amazing. Another example is Dennis Lehane's THE GIVEN DAY. What a wonderful way to learn history!

Forty years of experience being 18...

Being from the US, I'm admittedly not familiar with a lot of UK authors. Last month, while browsing some of the Amazon discussion boards, I came across a Scots author, William H.S. McIntyre, and two of his books, RELATIVELY GUILTY and DUTY MAN, in his "Robbie Munro - best defence" series. Mr. McIntyre is a partner in what's said to be Scotland's oldest law firm, and he writes about defence lawyer Robbie Munro. He writes with humour and wit, and is quite enjoyable. Surprisingly, he does not appear to be "traditionally" published, and his two books are available only in e-format. I decided to give him a try, and am glad I did. Is anyone else here familiar with him? Thanks.

Does anyone have any input on WATER FOR ELEPHANTS, by SARA GRUEN? I saw the just-released movie here in the US, and rather enjoyed it. (Have to say, though, that I thought the chemistry was lacking between Reese Witherspoon and Robert Pattinson.) Having seen the movie, I'm wondering whether I ought to pick up the book. Anyone here read it? Thanks. Ken