This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. A little more than a week ago, I was lying in a darkened bedroom at 4 PM on a Friday afternoon—wracked with fatigue, weakness and thirst. The day had started splendidly. I’d driven about 40 miles to the Washington suburbs to visit with my new author friend Shauna … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Can you guess the name of this building? Recent travels, lots of book Zooming, and the vines in my garden are conspiring to make me a trifle overwhelmed. But there is beauty in the chaos, and the world is opening up… truly it is. My eye was caught … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Tonight I am feeling BOLD! Just a few hours ago, I ripped off my mask and greeted an audience on a packed patio at The Ivy Bookshop in Baltimore for a book-signing. Soho Press’s edition of The Bombay Prince, my first book in two years, has launched into … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. All over Maryland, there’s one sweet word I hear every day: cicada. The cicadas are here. Or, should I say, Magicicada? Or to be very precise—I can’t say it, but I can spell Magicicada septendecim, Magicicada Cassini and Magicicada septenecula, the three species making up Brood X which … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. On that morning, who says I’m not there? I’m in the stars, in the stars In the blades of the grass In the wind, in the wind In the blue of the sky. —Rabindranath Tagore My father read this comforting poem to me over Zoom last week, and … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Nev March lives in New Jersey, and I’m in Baltimore. Our only real life meeting was in New York City at the Edgars symposium in 2019. I was there to win the Mary Higgins Clark prize the following evening (though that day, I had no idea!). Nev already … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. It started with country-blaming. China flu, Wuhan Flu, Kung Flu. Donald Trump could only think of blaming outsiders, to deflect attention from his own disinterest in controlling a pandemic. Yes, coronavirus was first identified in China. Yet we’ve learned the virus was already in the U.S. and Europe at that … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. It seems all about Harry and Meghan this week. But they’ve made me think about some less glamorous people, too. An Oprah Winfrey interview of Britain’s Duke and Duchess of Sussex aired three nights ago and opened a rare, uncensored view of personal relationships within Buckingham Palace. Among … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. True tales of women breaking barriers to forbidden places, and bettering the lives of others, are inspiring. Mithan Jamshed Lam is one of these legendary women. Recently I chatted about this illustrious lady (who passed away in 1981) with another woman who is doing important civil rights work … Read more
This post originally appeared on Murder Is Everywhere. Someone who’s part of my inner circle is working on a novel. He made a richly detailed first draft and is engaged in getting feedback from a few trusted friends. Two early readers of his book commented the story had too many references to food. One even suggested … Read more