News & Events

party wine in time for a party!

9/6/2022

My big dream was, after years of working on the manuscript, drafting, workshopping, and more drafting.... that I would be able to finish my new book, Party Wine, before attending Bouchercon, the big international mystery conference that takes place each fall. Well, I'm leaving for the conference tomorrow, and I finished formatting the book--with the help of a very patient friend--yesterday!

You can read about Party Wine here.

It's special to me because it takes place in Piemonte, in the fictional village of Monteleone, which is very strangely like--uncannily like--my cousins' village of Borgofranco d'Ivrea. Do any of the characters bear resemblance to people I met there?

I'd better not say! But if you want to read about Italy, wine, and troublemakers, this might be the right book for you. It's also a lot cheaper than a plane ticket to Italy.....

The Road to mariachi and creativity

7/27/2022

Last week I gave a presentation to the Chapter FU of the P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) Sisters in Springfield, Illinois. (Okay, I had an "in"--my mom is a member!)

This volunteer group dedicates itself to promoting women's education. The members were interested in my own education--how I became a mariachi player!

That road was a tough one. Learning by ear was probably the biggest challenge. However, I also had experiences with several difficult men who failed to meet my lowest expectations!

Hear the first part of my presentation here!

The best part is that mariachi, while curing my homesickness for my time in Mexico, led me to other creative endeavors. For example, I created a CD of revenge songs. Most importantly, I created Andy Veracruz. Now he's the star of five mysteries.

As a mariachi violinist, he has to play favorites such as "La bamba" five times a night. When that happens, he can't help himself. His attention wanders. He witnesses--well, find out more by reading Mariachi Meddler and the rest of the series!

Hear the second part here.

The international Carillon festival, june 4th, 2022

6/10/2022

I had a lovely time at the festival! I got to do a little book reading and talk to everybody about my book. Since not too many novels include scenes in a carillon, the novel was a hit! Read all about it here!

The international carillon festival

6/2/2022

Today starts the International Carillon Festival held in Washington Park, Springfield, Illinois. I'll be signing books there--my recent Carillon Chase centers its action around the bell tower!

If you're in Springfield, be sure to check out one of the concerts. They're at 6:30 and 7:20 tonight, June 2nd, Friday, June 3rd, Saturday, June 4th, and Sunday, June 5th.

Find out more on their website:

I get to do a reading on Saturday at 5:30!

Book launch for Brotherly love!

5/23/2022

Andy's new book is out! Time to party! If you're in Tucson on Sunday, May 29th, join the fun. Here are the events:

Sunday, May 29th
4:30-6:30 p.m.
Unscrewed Theatre
4500 E. Speedway

4:30 to 4:40 Intros
4:40-4:50 Interview with violin teachers Wynn & David Rife
4:50 - 5:00 The Bell Dimension Deux Preview
5:00 - 5:10 A few words about Brotherly Love
5:10 - 5:20 DC4U Storyboard
5:20-5:30 Book Signing
5:30-6:30 Mariachi time!

Carillon Chase to launch December first!

11/1/2021

I’ll be hosting a virtual book launch for my new novel Carillon Chase on December 1st—a month from now—3-3:30 p.m. Arizona time. The novel traces Gina Campanello’s latest travel adventures. (You last saw her in Thai Twist, although she made a guest appearance in Substitute Soloist.) In this novel, Gina is excited to win an internship for a travel company. She expects they’ll send her somewhere really cool; she’s hoping for Paris. But as an intern, she has to take what she can get…. The book will be available mid-November. Come to the zoom meeting and hear about Gina's new trip!
Zoom launch on December 1st, 3:00 to 3:30 p.m. Arizona time:
https://zoom.us/j/4955877647

Quarter finalist heaven!

9/27/2021

Two of my scripts made the quarter finals in competitions this month!

Loving Mariachi made it to the quarter finals of the Filmmatic Screenplay Competition. https://www.filmmatic.com/comedyseason6

Venetian Love Tricks made it to the quarter finals of Scriptation.

https://scriptation.com/blog/scriptation-showcase-script-competition-announces-2021-feature-shorts-quarter-finalists/

Fingers crossed for the semi-finals.... but at least these scripts got ahead of a lot of other ones.

Piano piano si va lontano. Slowly, we go far.

Desert Sleuthing

9/11/2021

Just out--the new Desert Sleuth anthology SoWest: Love Kills. The Phoenix Sisters-in-Crime group gathers its best stories every two years. This year my short story "Nightshift" made the list. The tale is Meli's backstory. It explains the reason she no longer worries about a confrontation with her no-good husband. The story includes Rachel, whose journey started with Amirosian Nights, and Kique, who becomes Andy's sidekick starting with Dizzy in Durango.

The stories were not only carefully chosen, but very carefully edited. We went through three rounds of revisions! But I'm happy to say I was excited with my final version. And in the anthology I'm in great company with other colleagues including Shannon Baker and Susan Cummins Miller.

For murdering fun, pick up a copy on Amazon.

Venetian love tricks

7/30/2021

My script Venetian Love Tricks is a quarterfinalist in the prestigious Scriptapalooza contest!

Out of 4024 scripts, I'm one of the top 541. It was also a quarterfinalist in the Atlanta Screenplay Awards. That's progress!

https://scriptapalooza.com/winners/2019-winners/

music in Literature

6/21/2021

Interested in ways music intersects with writing? Check out my recent talk for Kirk-Bear Canyon Library! I review a few uses of music in literature before reviewing how I've used music in the Andy Veracruz mysteries.

https://youtu.be/_SHEzV4h9qo