Thriller nominees

You can find the nominees for the 2007 Thriller Awards here.

Max Allan Collins: DEADLY BELOVED

Comic book detective Ms. Tree makes her prose novel debut in Deadly Beloved (Hard Case Crime):

TILL DEATH DO US PART...
Marcy Addwatter killed her husband—there’s no question about that. Shot him dead in the motel room where he was trysting with a blonde hooker. Shot the hooker, too.

But where the cops might see an open-and-shut case, private eye Michael Tree—Ms. Michael Tree—sees a conspiracy. For Ms. Tree, digging into it could mean digging her own grave ... and digging up her own murdered husband’s ...

The December 2007 book is written by co-creator Max Allan Collins, with a cover by co-creator Terry Beatty.

Was Houdini Murdered?

In the headlines this morning:
Conan Doyle linked to Houdini murder theory ic Wales, UK
Relative of Houdini wants body exhumed ... USA Today
Houdini exhumation aims to resolve murder myth Appleton Post Crescent
Murder mystery surrounds Houdini Sydney Morning Herald

Feisty Crime Novel Skewers 'Left Behind' Generation

Check out the new press release:

End-times mania has generated a booming industry ever since Hal Lindsey tagged 1988 as the year Jesus would return in his 1971 bestseller, The Late, Great Planet Earth. The legacy continued in Edgar Whisenant's 4.5 million-copy bestseller, 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Could Be in 1988, and reached its zenith with the 60 million-copy best selling Left Behind series (which had the good sense to admit to being fiction).

Unfortunately, date-setters throughout history have always ended up with egg on their faces, because Jesus has steadfastly refused to follow their timetables.

Author Chris Well gleefully reminds his readers of the trouble that follows when we forget that "of that day and hour no one knows."

Chris Well, the undisputed master of the feisty crime novel, takes aim at the ultimate mystery in his latest novel, Tribulation House. Set for release in May 2007, Well skewers the Left Behind generation with a wink and smile in this laugh-out-loud funny mystery complete with high rollers, mobsters, loan sharks, and Apocalypse-predicting preachers.

What Others are Saying about Tribulation House:

"With an engaging cast of characters and a plot that clips right along from start to finish, this book is a satisfying crossover novel that pokes fun at some of the farther-flung fringes of Christianity while remaining, like the best classic mysteries and comic books, a morality tale in which crime doesn't pay and justice -- as well as grace -- prevails." -- Dru Pagliassotti, The Harrow

"A powerful cautionary tale." -- Harriett Klausner

"A must read for fans of quality fiction full of powerful spiritual themes." -- Jake Chism, Armchair Interviews

Tribulation House
By Chris Well
ISBN: 978-0-7369-1741-4
$11.99, Trade
Harvest House Publishers

Interview with Sandra Ruttan

Mystery novelist and KILLER YEAR: Class of 2007 member Sandra Ruttan has been interviewed by Mouth Full of Bullets.

Related: KILLER Q&A: SANDRA RUTTAN (Suspicious Circumstances)

The Black Orchid Novella Award

Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and The Wolfe Pack, the official Nero Wolfe society, are partnering for a new annual writing prize: the Black Orchid Novella Award will honor an unpublished mystery novella (15-20,000 words) written in the tradition of the Nero Wolfe stories, emphasizing deductive skills and eschewing overt sex and violence.

The winner gets $1,000 and publication in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. The first Black Orchid Novella Award will be announced at The Wolfe Pack’s annual Winter Banquet in December. Deadline for submissions is May 31, 2007. Here are the press release and the rules.

Thriller Workshop, Part Five

New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds' workshop on writing thrillers at the International Thriller Writers' 2006 ThrillerFest:

PART FIVE

Thriller Workshop, Part Four

New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds' workshop on writing thrillers at the International Thriller Writers' 2006 ThrillerFest:

PART FOUR

Thriller Workshop, Part Three

New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds' workshop on writing thrillers at the International Thriller Writers' 2006 ThrillerFest:

PART THREE

Nifty new TRIBULATION HOUSE banner

Richard Cooper was kind enough to create a web banner for Tribulation House. (See it on my MySpace page, or scroll to the bottom of this very blog.) Find Richard online at http://satorikick.com.

Thriller Workshop, Part Two

New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds' workshop on writing thrillers at the International Thriller Writers' 2006 ThrillerFest:

PART TWO

Thriller Workshop, Part One

New York Times bestselling author Gayle Lynds' workshop on writing thrillers at the International Thriller Writers' 2006 ThrillerFest:

PART ONE


PART TWO
PART THREE
PART FOUR
PART FIVE

The Poetry of Crime Fiction

This is instructive: Killer Year member Derek Nikitas blogs about Walter Mosley's (seemingly) outrageous claim that "eighty-percent of fiction is poetry." And then picks apart mystery greats like James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard (among others) to discover the truth of the matter. (Great. Now I have to rethink how I write.)

Tribulation House update

Some updates regarding my upcoming end-times(ish) comedy-thriller Tribulation House:

Our tour with the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is April 18-20.

We got some excellent endorsements this time around: I zeroed in more specifically on Christian suspense writers, and we ended up with the likes of COLLEEN COBLE, ALTON GANSKY, and a bunch more.

And if anyone feels like making a nifty Web banner for Tribulation House, I won't stop you.*

*(Well, if it's cool.)

Things That Make You Go, "Huh?"

From the Keep Me In Suspense blog:

Have you ever been reading a book or watching a movie or television show, and a character says or does something that makes you go, “Huh? Where’d that come from?” That’s the bane of being a writer. There’s an internal editor in your head that often threatens to ruin any book, TV, or movie experience. That editor's often hard to turn off ...

Whole item here.

Law & Order: Paris

The Wall Street Journal reports on a spin-off of Law & Order created especially for French viewers:

PARIS -- To create a French version of "Law & Order: Criminal Intent," writers had to do much more than simply translate scripts from the hit TV show. They adapted scenes to reflect the Napoleonic legal code. They agonized over the set, trying to make it gritty like the American one, but also sleek, like modern Paris police stations. The French set designer cluttered desks with papers and trash, but built curving walls meant to evoke the feet of the Eiffel Tower. "We took out any reference to the mob," says writer Franck Ollivier. "We don't really have that here." He jokingly adds: "Unlike Americans, we are all nice people."

A preview of the show's opening credits (same theme, different actors):

Launching THE BIG THRILL

International Thriller Writers has reinvented its newsletter as the spiffy new webzine The Big Thrill. Check it out!

Jan Eric Volz's Plea For His Son--You Can Help!

An update on what you can do to help Eric Volz.

Related: Outrageous verdict for Eric Volz