Thursday, September 25, 2025

Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity 2025

 The 2025 edition of the Creatures, Crimes, and Creativity conference is in the rearview. I can’t think of a conference with a more welcoming atmosphere, or where you’ll get more bang for your buck if you’re looking to meet and talk with authors while learning about the craft. As an example, I have as many notes from the two half-days and one full day of C3 as I have from the two half-days and three full days of Bouchercon.

 Kudos go to Austin and Denise Camacho, Cynthia Lauth, and everyone connected with putting on this gem of a conference, including Susan McBride for her adept handling of the book sales. Additional shoutouts to keynote speakers Tom Straw and Jody Lynn Nye, as well as special guests Ellen Crosby and L. Marie Woods. Their speeches and interviews were entertaining and enlightening.

 What follows are the comments that stuck with me most from conference panels. If no credit is given, the comment belongs to the most recently mentioned author.

 Tom Straw: If you pitch an idea for a TV script, they may buy it for you to write, or pay you for the outline and have someone else write the script.

 John le CarrĂ© once said a book is to a screenplay as a cow is to a bouillon cube.

 When arbitrating who gets credit for a script, dialog is the last thing considered.

 Thomas A. Burns: There is a difference between factual distortion and fiction.

 Wendy Gee: Let your cops cry. (At appropriate times, of course.)

 Bryan England: Cops who speak to each other in 10 codes are more than likely part-timers or auxiliaries.

 Brian Paone: Tem codes are going away, as every jurisdiction has their own and the possibility for confusion is too great.

 Bryan England: Cops always have their own codes for dead bodies so people monitoring scanners don’t suddenly start showing up, making the investigation difficult. (Tony Knighton: Ditto for firefighters.)

 Tony Knighton: Firefighters don’t ‘pull hose;’ they ‘stretch lines.’ They didn’t ‘go to a fire;’ they ‘made a job.’’

 Philadelphia firefighters do not respond to ‘cat in tree’ calls unless called by the ASPCA. Even then, all they do is set the ladder. It’s the ASPCA who climbs the tree.

 Wendy Gee: Interference with a firefighter is a felony. Interfering with law enforcement is typically a misdemeanor.

 Tony Knighton: Fire and police departments may have no direct means of communication. He cited an example where he had to get the fire dispatcher to call 911 so a police dispatcher could direct a cop to him when the cop was standing a hundred feet away.

 Wendy Gee: The only sense not used at a scene is taste.

 Bryan England: Vapo-Rub in the nose only works a little in a smelly death scene, and even then only until you open your mouth.

 First responders are actors, not ponderers. They evaluate as they act.

 John deDakis: A good 911 operator will pick up on a situation and adjust their questioning accordingly. Example: if the threat is near to the caller, she’ll ask only yes/no questions.

 Bradley Harper: Some people who have an experience in an altered state – drugs or alcohol, for example – may remember what happened only while in a similar state.

 Glenn Parris: Alcoholics may fill gaps in their memory with fabrications.

 Bradley Harper: Medical examiners may cover the face and genitals of a corpse out of respect while doing the autopsy. There is a way to get the brain out through a relatively small incision in the back of the head if the family wants an open casket funeral.

 Glenn Parris: Even transplants between identical twins require some form of immune system repression.

 Bradley Harper: Identical twins may differ in minor ways due to how their RNA interprets their DNA.

 Louisiana coroners are elected officials who pay others for autopsies out of appropriated funds; they keep anything left over at year’s end.

 Mike McLaughlin, Glenn Parris, Bradley Harper (consensus opinion): The most realistic medical shows ever are The Pitt, ER, St. Elsewhere, M*A*S*H, and Scrubs.

 Next year’s conference will be September 18 – 20, 2026. I’ll be there and, if you read this blog at all regularly, you ought to be there yourself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunday, September 21, 2025

Summer's Favorite Reads

 This is a longer post than usual, but I had an excellent summer of reading.

 

On Tyranny, Timothy Snyder. I bought this during 45’s administration but didn’t get around to reading it until now. Only about sixty pages long, Snyder shows the similarities of authoritarian takeovers, most of which have a disconcerting resemblance to what we’re going through now.

 

Way Down on the High Lonely, Don Winslow. Few writers have the ability to write such consistently excellent books that are each so different. This one takes us into the mountains, where what started out as the search for a missing child turns into PI Neal Carey finding himself in the middle of a war with white supremacists. All the Winslow touches are here, which means I liked it a lot.

 

A Few Days Away, Tony Knighton. This is the first of Knighton’s books I’ve read, but I’ll be back. Knighton’s Nameless Thief draws a little from Hammett’s Continental Op and a lot from Richard Stark’s Parker to create a story that is as tightly-written as the plot is explosive. A great read from start to finish.

 

Get Shorty, Elmore Leonard. I’ve read this at least half a dozen times and it still makes me laugh. Leonard’s funniest book and still my favorite, though I’ll admit several have more compelling stories. (Such as? Hombre, City Primeval, Glitz, Swag, and probably a couple of others that aren’t coming to mind right now. None are more fun.)

 

Fog City, Claire M. Johnson. A 1930 San Francisco PI leaves town, placing the agency in the hands of his young secretary. She wants to do more than keep the lights on and continues to accept cases, one of which puts her well in over her head. Johnson captures the aura of Prohibition-era San Francisco as well or better as anyone since Hammett, and Maggie Laurent is a character whose diligence and enthusiasm make her easy to root for.

 

November Road, Lou Berney. I re-read this as part of preparing to moderate a panel at Bouchercon and liked it even better the second time. Not so much an alternative history as a ‘what if’ story of what could happen when two very different people both decide to leave their old lives behind. Berney can make a grocery list fun to read, and here he has a lot more material to work with. An outstanding book that deserved the acclaim it received.

 

Inverse Cowgirl, Alicia Roth Weigel. I rarely feel the need to read memoirs of people less than half my age, but Weigel’s account of growing up intersex came to my attention as part of researching the current Nick Forte project. A frank and unapologetic look at what life can be like for the intersex community and the problems it brings, as well as ideas for how to avoid them in the future. A powerfully personal, yet eminently readable book that I highly recommend for anyone who wants to learn about this too often neglected group.

 

Money, Money, Money, Ed McBain. It’s Ed McBain. What else do you need to know? This is one of the later books, after Fat Ollie Weeks came around for comic relief. McBain wrote 57 87th Precinct novels and they all rate at least four stars out of five. This one has drug dealers working behind an unusual front, counterfeiters, and a dead woman eaten by lions.

 

Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon, Micheal Lewis. Lewis happened to be working on a book about Sam Bankman-Fried when the whole FTX operation went tits up, so he got a lot of inside scoop. I have the feeling the publisher wanted to get this one out while SBF was still in the news, so we’re left with no good conclusion, as the legal situations had only just begun to play out. The least satisfying of Lewis’s books I’ve read, but the world of crypto is so shady and built on such a sandy foundation not even he could get me to understand it.

 

By the Dawn's Early Light, Lawrence Block. A long story; not a novel, this is an excellent episode in the Matt Scudder oeuvre. Here he gets a casual friend out of a jam without knowing what exactly the jam is and inadvertently causes more harm. Scudder does find a way to help even the score.

 

Rain Dogs, Baron Birtcher. I’ve been watching Birtcher on panels for years and always promise myself to read one of his books. I finally got around to it and will definitely be back. Rain Dogs is a remarkably complicated story that comes together without artifice or allowing the reader to see what’s going on behind the curtain until Birtcher is ready to show him. Trigger warning: there are a couple of gruesomely violent scenes, but they are not gratuitous, as they provide insights into character and future motivations..

 

Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, Bill Bryson. An entertaining and informative examination of how America has added to and changed the English language. The book covers far more than language alone, which makes for interesting lessons in both history and sociology. Bryson has a dry wit that makes the book a lot of fun to read.

Thursday, September 18, 2025

Bouchercon 2025

 A busier than usual September has delayed my Bouchercon wrap-up. Do not let that lead you to think this year’s event was anything other than a success. For me, on multiple levels. (I’ll have more to say about the ‘multiple levels’ business in the coming weeks.)

 I used to break down every panel I attended. I’m not doing that this year because

·       I didn’t go to as many panels as I used to

·       I didn’t garner as much new information from the panels I did go to

This is in no way a criticism of the program. I’ve been attending conferences since 2008 and have published sixteen novels since then. I still look forward to learning ways to make my writing better and more fun for everyone, but much of what I hear now is, with notable exceptions, a variation on something I already know. That’s to be expected when one gets to be my age and has the same level of experience.

 What follows is a recap of the things that struck me as most noteworthy. I credited the speakers when I could, but there were times I’d be finishing one note and something else I wanted to record was said and I didn’t get a chance to see who said it. If your name has been omitted from a comment, please accept my apology. No slight was intended.

 BOUCHERCON NOTES 2025

 Alex Kenna: Neo-noir is an ‘endless smorgasbord of pain.’ (I will definitely use this line in a blurb someday, and told Alexx so.)

 Brian Thiem: Increased reliance on technology has lowered the Oakland homicide clearance rate from 70% to below 50% because of the investigators’ increasing reliance on the tech, and waiting for the results to come in, when they should be knocking on doors.

 Bruce Coffin: The ending of an action scene is the beginning of a sequence based on the consequences of the action.

 Carter Wilson & Bruce Coffin: The diner scene between Pacino and DeNiro in Heat has more suspense than any of the violent action.

 Mandy Miller: It’s the writer’s job to make interesting things that could be boring. (In other words, don’t let ‘this is boring’ be an excuse for improper procedure.)

 Mandy Miller: Knowing the law is less valuable than knowing the procedure.

 Sherry Lewis Wohl: Cadaver dogs can detect cremated remains.

 (Uncertain): DNA taken from a service member can only be used to identify a corpse, never to bring charges.

 

(Uncertain): Some experts will spin evidence so they’ll get hired again. Some never even look at it.

 

Katherine Ramsland: Forensic meteorology is the study of how weather affects a crime scene. (This is actually a thing.)

 Sherry Lewis Wohl: Search & rescue dogs and their handlers are volunteers.

 John deDakis: Cable doesn’t answer to the FCC, so there are no consequences for inaccuracy.

 (Uncertain): Reporters may do a lot of their long-term investigations on their own time. They’ll complete their assignments as quickly as possible so they can work on the other things.

 

Jordan Harper: Writing should be hard the way playing a sport is hard, not ‘lifting a car off of someone’ hard.

 Gary Phillips: Private eye novels are really about the PI looking for themselves. (That hit home for me, given the book I’m working on now.)

 Christa Faust: Location and character are not distinct. POV means everything.

 Kristin Perrin: Explore how a person can change a place as well as how the place can change a person.

 Thanks to everyone we met and spent time with, both old friends and new acquaintances. I don’t want to list names here because I know I’ll leave someone out. Special thanks to Lou Berney, Diana Chambers, Lee Matthew Goldberg, Claire Johnson, and Boyd Morrison for making our panel a joy to moderate. Suffice to say it was great to return to Bouchercon after five years away. We’ll miss Calgary next year, but 2027 in Washington DC is already on the schedule.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Friday, August 29, 2025

Bouchercon Advice from a Ten-Time Attendee

 Readers are generally introverts. That doesn’t mean we don’t like other people, and it’s not that we don’t enjoy spending time with others who share an interest, but we’d have to leave the house to meet them and that cuts into our reading time.

 

While Bouchercon provides a golden opportunity to get spend time with like-minded individuals, it can be intimidating. Over a thousand readers and several hundred writers are a bit much for someone with little or no experience in such things. No worries. There is no more welcoming atmosphere than Bouchercon and I can personally attest to that.

 

My first Bouchercon was 2008, in Baltimore, several years before I was published. I was standing on the walkway between hotels with Peter Rozovsky, one of about three people I actually knew then, when he asked if I was having a good time.

Me: Sort of.

PR: What’s wrong?

Me: I don’t really know anyone here.

PR: (Looks around) Do you know Scott Phillips?

Me: I know who he is….

PR: (Waving) Scott! Come here a second! (Scott Phillips comes over.) Scott, this is Dana King. Dana, this is Scott Phillips. He wrote The Ice Harvest. (Peter does not know I am head over heels for The Ice Harvest.)

SP: (Extends hand) Hi, Dana.

(We chat for five minutes and Scott has to go to a panel.)

PR: See? Now you know Scott Phillips.

 

One year later. Indianapolis. I’m on the periphery of the crowd at the bar looking for anyone I know. I see Scott with a group of people, but I only met him for five minutes a year ago; he’s not someone I know. Scott notices me and waves me over.

 

SP: Hi, Dana. We’re going to get something to eat. You want to come?

 

 That’s what Bouchercon is. It’s like Vegas for introverts.

 

See you next week. I’ve made more than one good friend because they read my similar posts in other years and we got together at the conference.

 

I do have one caveat: My eyesight has deteriorated due to macular degeneration in one eye since my last Boucheron. Mostly it’s a nuisance, but a large conference exacerbates the problems. We take recognizing faces for granted, but the level of small, specific detail that goes into such recognition is remarkable. The problem is, picking up small details is what AMD costs me most.

 

So if I know you, or you want to meet me, and I appear to be walking right by you, it’s not because I’m an aloof asshole. I am an aloof asshole, but I’m not blowing you off; I just don’t recognize you, and I probably can’t read your name badge , either. Stop me and say hello. Don’t be shy about reminding me who you are if I’m slow to do so. I’ll appreciate the courtesy.

 

Friday, August 22, 2025

Underworld Available in October

 The seventh Nick Forte novel, Underworld, drops on or about October 1. In this story, Forte’s ex-wife believe she’s being followed by persons unknown, including when their daughter, Caroline, is in the car. This is unacceptable.

 

Below is an excerpt:

 

We ate an early supper to leave time for a drive to Arlington Heights for the high school football game. Caroline would change into her marching band uniform at school and we’d meet up after the game.

She didn’t say much on the drive north. I got a glimpse of why when she asked if I had a girlfriend.

“Nope.”

“How come? You’re smart and funny.”

Apparently I wasn’t all that good-looking. I guess two out of three ain’t bad. “You have to go out to find a girlfriend.”

“So?”

“I don’t go out much.”

“Why not?”

“You go out, you come across a lot of people you don’t know.”

“Isn’t that the point?”

“Yeah, but I hate people I don’t know.”

So ended a conversation I didn’t want to have.

We were early to the game, as usual. Diane sometimes referred to me as  “pathologically punctual,” and not as a compliment. Caroline never complained. Fourteen years in and never tired of seeing how parts of me combined with parts of Diane to create a young woman who fascinated me every day. When people asked what my favorite age was for Caroline, I always said, “Now,” and meant it.

I said hello to her friends Tyler and Joanna, reminded Caroline where I’d be after the game, and went to find a good seat. Arlington Heights – Hersey High School, actually – won 26 – 13 in a game that was closer than the score indicated, thanks to the dumbest coaching decision I have ever seen in a sporting event at any level.

Hersey was up 20 – 13 with 56 seconds to play. The visitor – I think it was Schaumberg, but the scoreboard said only VISITOR and I couldn’t hear the PA worth a damn – had the ball on its own 19-yard line. A run and two passes later brought them to fourth down and three yards to go.

They punted. With eleven seconds left in the game. Down seven points.

I have no idea what the coach was thinking, unless he had some secret play to force a fumble on the return. If he did, the play needed work, as Hersey ran the kick back for a touchdown as time expired.

I met up with Caroline and her buds outside the band room. The plan was for me to drive her friends home before Caroline and I made the 45-minute trek to Bolingbrook.

Caroline had a better idea. Even I thought so.

“Can we get ice cream?”

We’d made this improvisation before. “You girls know the drill,” I said to her friends. “Send your mom or dad a text to ask, then show me they said it was okay.”

Apparently they have me pegged as a soft touch; the requests were already approved. Both girls nearly broke my nose shoving cell phones in my face

Sundae School was busy, not packed. I bought sundaes for all three girls – typical, and a primary reason I’m so popular when it comes to giving rides – and a milkshake for myself. I always got milkshakes when I drove, on the off chance we’d have to leave before I was ready. It’s hell to eat a sundae and drive at the same time.

I took my shake far enough away for them to be sure no eavesdropping took place. Tyler’s father got himself busted six months earlier and had yet to redeem his reputation. I maintained a line of sight so they wouldn’t have to find me when it was time to go.

Twenty minutes later two boys/young men I’d noticed sitting in a far corner made a detour on their way out to pass near my charges. No big deal. The boys looked like high school seniors or college freshmen. For all I knew they were friends or relatives of one of the girls.

A couple of minutes later Tyler’s and Joanna’s body language stiffened. Caroline was still cool, but she knew I was close and would handle anything too uncomfortable. The other girls had no such assurance.

These were always awkward situations. My first impulse was to go over and sort these boys out, but the girls needed to learn how to deal with social dilemmas; my best role was safety net. I finished my shake and was watching the situation play out when Caroline peeked over her shoulder in my direction.

I moved with an unhurried stride. Tossed my empty cup in a trash bin on the way over. Took each boy by an elbow to steer them past the girls’ table and toward the door.

This produced the expected reaction.

“Hey! What the fuck, man?”

“Who the hell are you?”

I didn’t speak until we cleared the door. Kept my voice in the register Caroline calls menacing. “I’m conducting a survey and want to ask you a couple of questions.”

These were Arlington Heights toughs, which meant South Side ten-year-olds would steal their lunch money before pantsing them. The taller one said, “You’re not going to like the answers if you don’t turn us loose, asshole.”

“First question: do either of you know what it’s like to eat soup through a straw for…I don’t know. Six to eight weeks? However long it takes a broken jaw to heal.”?”

Not the question they’d expected. “Uh…no.”

“Second and last question: would you like to find out?”

For sure not what they expected. All I got were head shakes.

“Then fuck off.”

And off they fucked.

 

Saturday, August 9, 2025

Chapter 44

 The seventh Nick Forte novel, Underworld, is all but complete. The only thing left to do is the proofread, which can wait until after Bouchercon and C3 next month.

 

Except for Chapter 44, which is breaking my balls like a bastard.

 

Here’s the deal: Chapter 44 takes place right after a major plot development. Forte needs a break, and readers probably won’t mind taking a breath while they absorb what just happened. Forte stops by his favorite sports bar to unwind a little with the barmaid. It’s a light, entertaining scene that lays the groundwork for a relationship that unfolds in the next book. There’s no plot development; the book will make sense without it.

 

And it’s too long. It was half again as long as it is now, and it’s still too long. Lots of writers I respect would say to cut the chapter. Nothing truly important happens and it will streamline the entire book. This option is still on the table.

 

The thing is, the book is already just shy of 48,000 words. It’s already as streamlined a book as I have written.

 

And it’s a good chapter. It’s funny, and the dynamic between Nick and Wendy is exactly what I wanted. I’ve already killed about 33% of the darlings in this chapter. How many more can die before the chapters no longer worth keeping is a reasonable question.

 

I finished the other 63 chapters four days ago. Chapter 44 won’t let me go. I’ll take a look today to see what else I can cut without damaging the context of the parts I want to keep. Among the legion of benefits of not having to deal with publishers is I can take as long as I feel I need to fix this.

 

I have for years believed that if a sentence refuses to be edited into something better, the problem may well be it’s a shitty sentence; cut the whole thing and see if I miss it. I may apply that principle to Chapter 44 if it’s still vexing me in a few days.

 

Just when I think I have a book under control, I get Roseannadanna’d.

 

It’s always something.

Monday, July 7, 2025

Spring's Favorite Reads

 

Assassins Anonymous, Rob Hart. Who would figure a twelve-step program for professional killers would make for an entertaining book? Rob Hart did, then proved it. AA is violent, funny, and thought-provoking as Mark tries to stay on the path when everyone he meets seems to want to kill him. Rarely are high-concept stories this well executed.

 

Real Bad, Real Soon, Eric Beetner. This worthy successor to last year’s The Last Few Miles of Road shows what happens to Carter McCoy after he establishes himself as the go-to guy for off the record justice. Beetner has a gift for lending a familiar tone to a story that’s very much different from its predecessor while remaining just as engaging. I blew through this one and am already waiting for a third helping.

 

Survivor's Guilt, Robyn Gigl. With more ins and outs than the stitches in a quilt, Survivor’s Guilt tells the story of a millionaire’s murder. The cops pick up a suspect, who confesses right away. Attorney Erin McCabe has to be talked into taking the case, but when she does she finds things don’t add up any better than Forrest Gump’s algebra homework. There are elements of Ross McDonald in the buried family secrets. A riveting story with a taut, exciting ending.

 

Once You Go This Far, Kristen Lepionka. An experienced hiker has a tragic fall. Or does she? Her daughter engages PI Roxane Weary, who ranges from western Ohio, thorough Michigan, and into Canada to unravel this increasingly complex story. Weary is a realistic PI: a little unsure, and worried she’s in over her head. Her greatest virtue is a stick-to-it nature that can work for and against her. Lepionka has a Shamus to her credit (The Stories You Tell) and this book will only fortify her reputation.

 

Butcher's Moon, Richard Stark. Number 16 in the Parker series has several callbacks to earlier novels, but you won’t be lost if you haven’t read them. On the other hand, it will make you want to read them. Someone stole the stash from an earlier job and Parker wants his money back. As he’s shown before, this is unacceptable, and he takes on an entire corrupt town to get what he’s owed. Compelling from Page One.

 

Spade & Archer, Joe Gores. I’d heard about this prequel to The Maltese Falcon for years; finally got around to reading it. The anticipation did not lead to disappointment. Gores is Hammett-like enough to be entertaining for a devotee such as myself while not letting the book become a pale copy. Three stories strung together with a common thread, Spade and Archer should be on the menu of any Hammett fan.