Gentle Readers:

Now Available!

THE LOST KEY cometh! I’m so excited to have the book out in the world at long last. September was full of social media campaigns and horn blowing and brilliant reviews, and now we settle in for the most important part — your reads. We had an absolute blast writing this book — Nicholas Drummond and Mike Caine are rich, deep characters who never cease to surprise us — and they’re on a mission to save the world from a madman, which makes for all sort of nail-biting hair-raising escapades.

The reviews were really great (we got a star from Library Journal and Gold Top Pick from Romantic Times — holy cow!) and the Associated Press said something delicious—

I use this quote here for a reason. The last line (which makes me tear up, BTW). This is a collaborative book. Catherine and I had a great idea, and we ran with it. We outlined and talked eleventy billion times a day and worked so hard to make it something really special. Now, that’s nothing different from every writer, with every book they release. But we had something they don’t. Each other.

When I signed on to co-write with Catherine, I had no idea what to expect. I’d read her from the beginning, since I was a kid, and when she shifted to FBI thrillers, naturally I read those too. She intimidated the hell out of me, because she knows what she’s doing. She’s one hell of a storyteller, one hell of a writer. She has levity and gravitas, all rolled together. Let’s not even go into the 74 books she’s written. And she welcomed me with open arms into this collaboration, and we haven’t looked back. Joining forces with her has created not only a partnership, but a dear friendship as well, one that I hope will see oodles of books come from.

Writing THE FINAL CUT, we realized that two brains are better than one. Writing THE LOST KEY, we hit a new groove, and found that while we both brought great ideas to the table, once we started playing off each other, those ideas grew and grew into something neither of us could have come up with on our own.

So to see that phenomenon mentioned in the review made me want to jump for joy, because I feel the same way. Together, we created something very special. I hope you think so too. Buy it, read it, and do let me know what you think, and write Catherine with your thoughts, too.

Tours

It’s time for Nashville’s annual Southern Festival of Books! I’m so excited that my buddy Laura Benedict is coming to town for the event. We have a panel on Sunday afternoon, and I have another one Saturday afternoon, and I’ll be signing THE LOST KEY and WHEN SHADOWS FALL after each signing on the colonnade. Here are the deets:

Saturday, October 11, 2014 — 3:00pm - 4:30pm - Room 31, Legislative Plaza
Mystery Writers of America presents: Changing the World One Mystery at a Time
with Stacy Allen, Sallie Bissell, J.T. Ellison and Steven Womack

Sunday, October 12, 2014 — 2:00pm - 3:00pm Room 12, Legislative Plaza
Somebody Lied, Somebody Died: Mysteries
with Laura Benedict and J.T. Ellison

And in November, I am honored to be attending the Military Book Fair in San Diego. See my tours page for all the details.

Get Thee to a Bookstore

This month, I’ve been reading books that aren’t out yet for blurbs and research titles, so those I can’t really recommend, because most of it is really dry reading on terrorism and explosives and you know, stuff. But for fun, I’ve been reading THE FURIES by Natalie Haynes, set in Edinburgh, which I’m loving and BLOWING MY COVER: My Life As A CIA Spy by Lindsay Moran, which made me laugh out loud in places.

I’m looking forward to SHEBA by Tosca Lee, THE MEANS by Doug Brunt and PERSONAL by Lee Child. Also, Deanna Raybourn’s newest is out — NIGHT OF A THOUSAND STARS. Need to reserve a few hours for that one!

October Contest

The October contest is live now, enter to win a hardcover of KILLER YEAR: Stories to Die for, featuring stories by my mates in Killer Year and several other brilliant authors, and a $10 online book store gift card to Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million OR iBooks (winner’s choice).

Enter here to win.

October Recipe — The Most Divine Queso Dip Ever
(Click here for printable PDF)

I have a sweet friend at my local grocery store who is in charge of cooking the day’s special recipes. She’s set up in the corner by the deli, and she’s a huge reader — we always end up chatting for several minutes about what’s happening in our lives and the book world. The other day, she was making a 5 Layer Dip. It caught my eye because I am NOT a fan of refried beans — and this recipe used black beans instead, which I adore. I tried it, it was delish, so I bought all the ingredients, popped home and put one together for the Titans game.

Except... I messed it up. I grabbed the wrong can of black beans from my pantry, overdid it with two of the ingredients, and ended up with something slightly different than what she was making — and it was incredible. We ate the whole pan. So here’s my screwed up version of the recipe (with appropriate ingredients in parenthesis). Though mine’s infinitely more fun.

Ingredients:

• 1 16 oz can of black beans (smashed seasoned black beans)
• Enough Kraft Ranch salad dressing to cover the beans well (1/2 cup Ranch dressing)
• 1 10 oz can Hormel chili — no beans
• 1 10 oz can Rotel tomatoes with green chilies, drained
• Lots of Tostitos salsa con queso dip (1 cup)

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees
• With a spoon, smash black beans in the bottom of a 9x9 glass pan (spread smashed beans from can)
• Cover thoroughly with Ranch dressing
• Layer Chili and tomatoes
• Spread a thick coating of queso on top
• Bake for 30 minutes
• Serve with Tostito black bean corn chips

Now, their version creates a normal 5 layer dip. Mine turns into a hot, gooey, runny mix of everything in the dish, so I spoon it into bowls and use the chips to eat it like queso. Enjoy!

I can’t wait to hear what you think — let me know if you like it!

Don’t forget to get your copy of THE LOST KEY, be safe with the ghosties and ghoulies, enjoy the cooler air, the darker nights, and the brilliant leaves, and read everything you can get your hands on. See you in November!

xoxo,

P.S. You can see all of my previous recipes and download them here.