Howdy!

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Hi folks!

So sorry I haven't been as attentive to the blog as I should have - touring tires a thrillerchick out. I've been running with Erica Spindler, author extraordinaire, out here on the Left Coast. We started the week in San Francisco, with a great signing at M is for Mystery (signed books available from Ed!) and moved down to the City of Angels. We've signed at 21 stores over the past several days, and after our panels tomorrow, we are off to Denver - my hometown. 

San Fran was awesome, the weather put on a show and it was stunningly green, and Los Angeles has been so amazing - I had lunch with a friend from elementary school who's a big wig voice over actor out here, and tea with a writer/director/producer friend who is the height of cool. We dined at the most wonderful Cicada tonight, the fine Italian restaurant that's been the scene of so many movies, like Pretty Woman (who can forget the escargot escapade?) and after dinner the delightful manager snuck us into the penthouse, formally the home of James Oviatt. From the Cicada website:

The Penthouse was designed by some of the most distinguished architects and artisans of the Jazz Age. It was built for James Oviatt, a haberdasher whose luxurious shop once occupied the ground floor of his namesake building. Oviatt’s ambition was to create a spectacular residence that would showcase the Art Deco design he’d admired at the 1925 Exposition in Paris.

It was so utterly surreal... I'll have pictures to post later. The photos on the wall, signed by the likes of Cecile B Demille and Errol Flynn, were truly unique. Suffice it to say I felt like we saw the ultimate insider view of some old-school LA histoire.

The Left Coast Crime bar is packed with the greatest folks - too many to name, but a veritable who's who of crime fiction. It's become sadly apparent that I haven't done enough social networking about my new book, but you know, I think that's okay. Sometimes we need to make sacrifices, and I have to tell you, I think giving up Facebook and Twitter for Lent was a good idea - I haven't felt this creative in months. I've been excited to sit down to work every day, which translates, of course, to more books and short stories for my readers. You'd rather me do that Tweet my fondness for cappuccino. Right?

Anywhoo, it's time to crash, but I wanted to say hi, tell you I miss you, and hope you're having a fabulous week. We have many blessings in this world, and I hope that several rain down upon you tonight.

xo,

JT

January Magazine on THE COLD ROOM

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Jim Winter takes a look at THE COLD ROOM.

J.T. Ellison’s latest Nashville-based novel, The Cold Room (Mira), finds her series homicide detective, Taylor Jackson, chasing an unusual serial killer. He starves his victims to death, violates their bodies and then poses them in elaborate re-creations of famous paintings. What bothers Jackson and her FBI profiler boyfriend, John Baldwin, is the scope of these slayings. It appears he has struck also in London and in Florence, Italy.

Ellison doesn’t hide this murderer from her readers, nor does she obscure the existence of a second serial killer, this one in Italy, called Il Macellaio (“The Butcher”). Our Nashville slayer is a graphic artist named Gavin. Nice guy. Drives a Prius. Admires the hell out of Il Macellaio. Also admires a famous photographer known simply as Tomasso. Gavin imitates the latter in his art work, and the former in his style of killing. So similar is his technique to that of his Italian counterpart, that Gavin’s crimes attract a British profiler to Nashville, one James “Memphis” Highsmythe. Memphis would be welcome on the investigation, if he didn’t have the almost pathological hots for Detective Jackson.

The Cold Room combines The Silence of the Lambs with The Wire. Jackson is a strong, capable investigator who, as we see in several subplots, is having to cope with institutional dysfunction. She’s been demoted from head of the Murder Squad and placed under Lieutenant Elm, a former New Orleans cop obsessed with administrative detail and with a hair-trigger temper. In the meantime, she and her former teammates are dealing with the aftermath of events in Ellison’s last novel, Judas Kiss (2009). She’s been reduced in rank from lieutenant and saddled with a new detective, Renn McKenzie, whom she suspects isn’t worthy of her trust.

Jackson is hard-nosed and a workaholic. Walking into a room, she is immediately in charge, her fellow officers snapping to, not really accepting her lowered status. I like her new partner, too. At first, McKenzie seems to be a stereotypically green upstart, but Ellison fleshes him out as he is exposed to two bizarre murders and a third attempt in less than five days. McKenzie evolves nicely as a result, and will probably make a welcome addition to this series.

The Cold Room character I found grating, however, was Memphis Highsmythe. He could have been an amazingly complex figure, someone dealing with his own grief. Instead, the New Scotland Yard detective came off as a self-centered jerk, unfortunately gifted with investigative talents rivaling those of Jackson and Baldwin. He was supposed to provide a complication for that couple, but in almost every scene, I wondered when Jackson was going to whip out the mace, the taser or the Louisville Slugger. Highsmythe is the kind of guy women find it easy to strike out at in return for their advances.

But if Highsmythe is the low point, then this novel’s mystery, and Taylor Jackson herself, represent its high points. The case of Gavin and his online friend, “Morte,” grows increasingly complex as this tale moves along. Jackson handles the investigation smoothly, sweating more over her relationship with Baldwin than her woes in Homicide. If anything, pursuing her quarry revitalizes the detective.

Author Ellison has done a fine job chasing serial killers. Now, if she’d just learn to throw a drink or two at annoying British detectives...

Live link to Saturday night's Nashville Signing

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The fine folks at Sherlock's Books have devised a live link for the signing I'm doing with Jennie Bentley Saturday March 6 from 6-9 p.m. Nashville is having its usual first Saturday Art Crawl, so there should be lots of cool things to see, and of course Jennie and I will be saying hi! This is Sherlock's new downtown Nashville location, so if you can stop by and give them some love, please do so!

Come see us virtually!! Questions left on this blog will be answered on camera!!!

Here's the link to the site:

http://bit.ly/aXjA0X

The link for the live feed Saturday night starts about 6pm and will run until 9pm. Hope to see you online!

Getting to Know You...

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The indefatigable and brilliantly talented Zoë Sharp has interviewed me over at Murderati - it's a glimpse into the working mind of an author, the challenges we face writing thrillers, and of course, the correct term for an upper-class British erection. Check it out!

 Also, my dear friend Erica Spindler's new novel came out Wednesday - BLOOD VINES. You must get it! Erica and I have several events together over the next week, and we hope to see some of you there!

M Is For Mystery
86 East Third Ave., San Mateo, CA, 94401
Monday, March 08, 7:00 PM
Left Coast Crime
 March 11-13
Barnes & Noble Booksellers
8374 S. Willow St., Lone Tree, Co 80124
Sunday, March 14, 2:00 PM