One of the most frequent questions that I have been asked since signing with Penguin Publishing is what is it like to go from being a self-published author to a published author? When you self-publish, you are in charge of everything.  I would have never thought it possible to write, design, format and completely build a book by myself.  I have learned more about formatting and design than I ever wanted to know! Probably one of the first things that an aspiring author does is open up a word processing program and start writing.  That is exactly what I did.  Only later did I figure out that I should be formatting the text a certain way for a book in e-book form.  Also, when I first started writing, I didn’t worry a lot about the grammar or the spelling.  Hey, I figured you could always go back and fix those things later.  What you don’t think about at that point is how hard that will be when you have written several hundred pages.  It soon becomes apparent as you attempt the editing process that you will need some serious help because you will never be able to do it on…

When we think of the struggle for women’s rights, the rights we most often think of are the right to vote, the right to property and the right to work and equal pay. These are all phenomenally important rights, and ones that women in the West have fought hard to secure. However I would argue that the most important right of all is the right to love. Many of the novels I’ve been most drawn to in this life – JANE EYRE, ANNA KARENINA, PRIDE & PREJUDICE, MIDDLEMARCH – have had at their heart these incredibly strong and courageous women; women who’ve battled the popular perceptions of their time and have courageously loved despite the obstacles and scorn flung their way. Now 150 years later, it may seem as if their struggle is antiquated. But what these women fought for in the nineteenth century is exactly what so many women in the Muslim women are struggling for now. 20 years ago I spent 12 months as an idealistic, young aid worker teaching in a school and an Afghan refugee camp on the outskirts of Peshawar, Pakistan. It was one of the most eye opening experiences of my life. I had…

Killing people on paper is terrific therapy.  We mystery writers are very, very lucky that way.  If anyone dumps us, hoses us, lies to us, annoys us or is rude, hostile or so much as gives us a dirty look in line at the supermarket we have a coping mechanism that most people who live outside of the federal penal system don’t have.  We can bump them off.   My newest Berger-Mitry mystery, THE SNOW WHITE CHRISTMAS COOKIE, is my ninth novel to feature the mismatched romantic duo of pudgy Jewish film critic Mitch Berger and beautiful black Connecticut State Trooper Des Mitry.  All of the books in the series take place in a picture postcard historic village on the Connecticut coastline that I call Dorset.  I’ve also written eight mysteries about the dapper celebrity ghostwriter Stewart Hoag and his faithful, neurotic basset hound, Lulu, including my Edgar Award-winner, THE MAN WHO WOULD BE F. SCOTT FITZGERALD, as well as a pair of thrillers. You know what? I just did the math and I must have bumped off at least forty people by now.  Pretty amazing, isn’t it?  I’ve shot them, stabbed them, bludgeoned them, nail-gunned them, poisoned them, drugged them,…