Saturday, July 25, 2009

How I'm spending my Summer Vacation

Hey All:

Lots happening this summer...here's a quick photo album to show the scoop! This is Janet
Evanovich, of course, who gave a rousing, inspirational and truly funny keynote address. Then she patiently, patiently, patiently signed books for the hordes of devoted fans who stood in line. (Like me..)


Here's a hilarious moment at the RWA convention in Washington DC--we all had to evacuate. Which we did, reluctantly. Happily, some, like Barbara Vey here, figured it was a good way to keep the party going. That's iced tea, by the way--the alarm interrupted our lovely lunch. You know Barbara's blog right? Just click on her name...



Here's another great pal.
Becke Davis is the multi-talented doyenne of the B & N mystery and gardening bookclubs...as well as a reviewer for Michelle Bunfiglio's Romance Buy the Book. This is just before the RITA awards ceremony at RWA.

This is the MBTA, the Boston Subway. Aren't these great posters? (Designed by Jeanne Devlin, the graphics genius.) I just think it;s so funny, Charlie on the MTA. (Gotta hum it, in tribute to the Kingston Trio.)







MIRA maven/editor (and RITA nominee) Margaret O'Neill Marbury, with the stellar (and RITA nominee) Carla Neggers. Carla's been storming the country on a multi-state book tour--I don't know how she does it all.






Thrillerfest in New York City. On the right is Keith Raffel, who writes cool thrillers about the dot com biz. In the middle is some guy named Lee Child, who they told me was kind of famous.









Nora Roberts. What a classy, charming person. (This is at the extravagant and glam Harlequin party at the Ritz. Champagne. Chocolate fountains. The most elaborate cake I've ever seen.) And that's Barbara Vey, of course. Usually she's the one taking the photos and drive-by videos.











This is the library in Scituate Massachusetts...SRO, I'm delighted to say. Hallie Ephron and I led a wonderful discussion about mysteries...look closely and you can see us by the bookcases. It's a fantastic library, and books were also on sale courtesy of the wonderful Buttonwood Books of Cohasset.



This is Front Street Books in Scituate...as you can see, it's a great town for mystery lovers. This was July 3, so we were delighted that the room was full!




Thrillerfest..this is one of the signings in the Barnes and Noble room. Dianna Love was such a force of nature! And her book with Sherrilyn Kenyon is on the NYT list. No wonder she's smiling.






Aw.. David Morrell and Heather Graham. I managed to sneak into the shot when their lines of fans finally subsided. Look at David Morrells' book The Shimmer...when you see it in stores, check out the acknowledgments. Just, do. (And then buy it, of course.)



R. L.Stine. He and I are alphabetically in proximity, luckily for me, so we sat together at the signing. We bonded over folk music and Broadway, and now my grandson thinks I'm pretty cool. Signed books will do that...





More to come!

Monday, July 13, 2009

The Latest: Brand New Review Blog!


You know Michelle Buonfiglio, right Bellas?
(Here we are at RWA 2007)
And you know Becke Davis. Right?
Well, if you don't, you're about to be introduced to two amazing powerhouses. They've now joined forces for a fantastic new readers-writers-romance-suspense-world of publishing and books extravaganza.

Romance B(u)y The Book!

And the first review out of the block? A rave for PRIME TIME!






(thank you thank you thank you...)






Here's a taste:




"In this taut, Agatha Award-winning series opener, Phillippi Ryan, an investigative reporter for Boston’s NBC affiliate, writes with the voice of experience, baiting the hook with whispers of a whistle-blowing scandal..."

But hey, you should read the rest. And explore the site.


Oh, wait..here's a little more.. from Becke Davis, RBTB Contributing Editor:

"Phillippi Ryan reels us in with snappy dialogue, a memorable cast and a mystery packed with satisfying twists."

Now, FOB's and soon-to-be FOB's--check out the site!