DARK VOYAGE

It’s tough to keep a secret in the age of social media, but the Killing Malmon crew in New York pulled it off. Rob Hart deserves the credit: it was his idea to surprise Dan and Kate Malmon on their trip to the Big Apple with a special super-secret Noir and the Bar. Dan and Kate are beloved by the crime-fiction community, and they’re the editors of Killing Malmon: 30 Authors… One Victim, an anthology to benefit the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (Kate has MS, so this is an issue close to their hearts). The usual suspects — Rob Hart, Todd Robinson, Angel Luis Colon, Thomas Pluck, Dave White, Hector Acosta, and me — read excerpts from our stories. If you’d like to learn more about the collection, which will be published in October by Down & Out Books, click here. If you’d like to see how much fun we had with the event, scroll down!

Were the Malmons surprised? Hell yes. Recovering with drinks.

Reading “My Side of the Matter,” which was inspired by the famous Truman Capote story.

Big Daddy Thug Todd Robinson double duty: bartending before he took the stage.

The theme of the collection is killing Malmon, after all…

I love these crazy kids.

I’ve been a huge fan of Susan Elia MacNeal‘s novels since the very start. (That’s no exaggeration — I got an advance copy of the first book in her Maggie Hope series, Mr. Churchill’s Secretary, back in 2011 and immediately fell in love.) Tonight I have the pleasure of interviewing Susan about her seventh Maggie Hope book, THE PARIS SPY. We’ll be at Park Slope’s Barnes & Noble (267 Seventh Avenue, Brooklyn) at 7pm tonight. Come say hello!

I’ve done so many events over the years, but Suspense Night at the St. Louis County Library was one of the all-time greatest. My thanks to everyone who worked behind the scenes to make it happen, to Reed Farrel Coleman for being an excellent MC, to my co-panelists Blake Crouch, Maureen Corrigan, and Peter Blauner for being so much fun to share a stage with, to the Midwest Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America for the warm welcome, and to everyone who turned out!

Lunch at Cielo with some friends of the library.

At the library for the panel.

Quite the crowd.

Having fun!

Post-event. What a great night! (More photos here.)

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I’m thrilled to be part of the twelfth annual Suspense Night at the St. Louis County Library next Thursday, June 8th. I’ll be appearing with Reed Farrel Coleman, Blake Crouch, Peter Blauner, and NPR book critic Maureen Corrigan. Click here for full details. Hope to see you there!

I had a blast at the Queens Book Festival on Sunday. I owe a huge debt to Alex Segura, who organized the panel *and* the entire crime track of programming. Thanks to my terrific fellow panelists, and to everyone who came out to see us!

There was a lot of laughter…

The shades never came off.

Post-panel smiles. Left to right: moderator Scott Adlerberg, Alex Segura, me, Adam Sternbergh, Lyndsay Faye, and Dave White.

Hanging out with Alex and the incredibly adorable Baby G afterwards.

What are you doing this Memorial Day weekend? If you’ll be in New York, I hope you’ll check out the Queens Book Festival. I’ll be on the Mystery Writers of America “Craft of Mystery” panel at noon on Sunday with a stellar crew: Lyndsay Faye, Alex Segura, Adam Sternbergh, Dave White, and moderator Scott Adlerberg. That’s not the only mystery-themed event that day — there’s a conversation between Queens-based crime writers Radha Vatsal and Alex Segura at 4pm and a Noir at the Bar with SJ Rozan, Thomas Pluck, Jen Conley, Nick Kolokowski, Sarah Weinman, Cathi Stoler, and SA Solomon at 5pm. (Details on events here.)

The Queens Book Festival is free to attend, but — as the organizers put it — “seating areas are for a minimal donation.” (Location and transit details here; ticket info here.) Rain or shine, hope to see you on Sunday!

On April 1st, the Short Mystery Fiction Society announced the finalists for the 2017 Derringer Awards. I didn’t see the news until late, so when a pal emailed me, I wondered if it might be an April Fool’s joke. Fortunately, it wasn’t: my “Swan Song” is up for Best Long Story. “Swan Song” was published last year in one of my all-time favorite anthologies, UNLOADED: CRIME WRITERS WRITING WITHOUT GUNS, edited by Eric Beetner. Publishers Weekly singled “Swan Song” out for praise when they reviewed the collection, and it’s an incredible honor to be a Derringer finalist. The story can be read online by members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society. And if you haven’t picked up UNLOADED yet, now would be a great time! Buy it from Amazon, Nook, Kobo, IndieBound, or at your favorite independent bookstore.

I’ve written before about Great Jones Street, the phenomenal app that allows you to read countless short stories. Calling it the Netflix of short fiction is no exaggeration (except that GJS is free, which makes it even better). GJS bought four of my stories last fall, and it recently gave them gorgeous cover art and started featuring them on the app. “A Special Kind of Hell” was last Friday’s feature, then “A Hopeless Case” on Monday, “Magpie” on Tuesday, and “The Siege” yesterday. Without meaning to, I took over the app’s start screen, which makes me proud, but also very grateful to the GJS team for their support.

I’ve been making plans to do more with the GJS crew, so stay tuned for developments. In the meantime, please download the app. There’s no downside: it’s free, and you get great fiction from a wide array of authors at your fingertips. Happy reading!

I’ve already mentioned how much I love Great Jones Street, the free app that has quickly become the Netflix of short fiction. Today, my story “A Special Kind of Hell,” is featured on the app. Read it now — for free — by following this link. (If you don’t yet have the app, it’s available for iPhones and Android; download it now.) Happy reading!

Have you heard about Great Jones Street? If you haven’t downloaded this free app yet, do it now (here’s the App Store link and one for Google Play). Billed as the “Netflix of short fiction,” GJS delivers terrific stories in a wide range of categories — crime, horror, romance, science fiction, and Western, to name a few — and lets you read them for free. What’s not to love? I was honored when they contacted me, and they now have four of my stories available on the app: “A Hopeless Case,” which won the Derringer Award for Best Short Story; “The Siege,” which was a finalist for the Anthony Award and the Arthur Ellis Award; “A Special Kind of Hell,” which appeared in a Beat to a Pulp print collection; and “Magpie,” which appeared in the first-ever print edition of Thuglit. Happy reading!