Book News

I apologize for the lateness of this post. I had a medical appointment early this morning and it’s taken me awhile to get caught up. (I’m still not caught up, but it’s time I got this done and posted.) I have a medical condition known as psoriatic arthritis, an auto-immune disease, and every eight weeks I have to go get hitched up to an IV for a Remicade infusion. It takes about three hours, while I sit in a very comfortable chair and read. I would have brought my laptop along except it’s having battery problems – the charge runs out in minutes. I finished Dr. Bob Brier’s The Murder of Tutankhamen. It’s a wonderful book and I recommend it.

Saturday I had a publication party at Once Upon A Crime Mystery Bookstore in Minneapolis. Pat and Gary are wonderful to local authors, and we had a good turnout. There were Christmas cookies and hot chai tea for the customers. I don’t think any were new readers, though several were buying books as Christmas presents to introduce friends or family to my Betsy Devonshire series. And I bought some books myself: the well-reviewed Ellery Adams mystery, The Last Word. I don’t like starting a series in the middle, but since this got such a rave review I decided I’d take a chance. I haven’t started it yet. And since I finished Professor Huang’s marvelous take on Charlie Chan, I asked Gary if they had any of Earl Derr Biggers novels about the detective – and they do. Academy Chicago Publishers has brought all six out in trade paperback size, and they had all but number one on their shelves. I bought the remaining five, one of my Christmas presents to myself. They'll go on my TBR stack, probably near the top.

I have another signing this coming Saturday at Excelsior Bay Books in Excelsior, MN, where my Betsy Devonshire mysteries are set. They're the ones who found The Murder of Tutankhamen for me.

How many of you – unlike me – are all ready for Christmas?