the 4 queens of crime - when women ruled murder mysteries

Growing up I consumed a lot of Agatha Christie novels - but I met my favorite author from the "locked room mystery" genre when I was a junior or senior in high school - Ngaio Marsh.

She was born in New Zealand and split time between there and London. She wrote 32 crime novels and was considered along with Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, and Margery Allingham one of the "Queens of Crime." Women novelists dominated the genre in the 20s and 30s. (They don't do too bad today either.)

the most important step is the first step (and the hardest step)

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

The first step is often the hardest.

I am a very productive person and can work for hours without interruption. But only when I get started. Some days I start earlier than other days.
Often for me - and perhaps you - the first step is the hardest.
You have things you should do. Things you can do. Things you want to do. Things that will make your life better and improve the life of those around you. Things that will improve your self esteem. Things that will make you healthier. Things that will improve your relationships. Things that will deepen your spiritual life. Things that will make you smarter and more interesting. Things that will help you fulfill a dream in your heart.
Things that maybe you've given up on because ... well, because you never got started. You simply haven't taken the first step.
One of my annual rituals is that the first time I go to a pool that has a high dive, I head straight there first. Why? I know it is harder to go head first off a ten or twelve-foot spring board every year and I want to serve notice up front - to no one else but me - that I can still do this.
What do you want to do today? This summer? Before the year is over? In the next decade? Before your life is over?
The most important step to get there, to do it, is the first step. Begin it. Be bold.
What one step can you take even today?

Jerusalem: A Biography - reviewing Montefiore's history of the holy city

Most of us know that in 1493 Christopher Columbus sailed the "deep blue sea." But one of his key motivations for sailing west to secure the riches of India never made it to our childhood textbooks. It can be found in a section of his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella that is often redacted: "before the end of the world all prophecies have to be fulfilled - and the Holy City has to be given back to the Christian Church." It is usually taught that the Spanish monarchs commissioned Columbus to beat the Portuguese in the search for the west route to India. But what is left out is that the drive behind the commissioning was they felt exactly the same way as Columbus - they needed more gold to fund a new Crusade to the Holy Land.

Jerusalem: The Biography
by Simon Sebag Montefiore

That is just a tiny sampling of the fascinating history found in Jerusalem - from King David to
the Six Day War; from the birth of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam to the concurrent rise of Jewish and Arab nationalism to the Israel-Palestine conflict - woven throughout Montefiore's

why do authors use initials instead of full name?

When Cuts Like a Knife was first introduced, my sister Susan asked me, “What’s with the initials on the cover of the book instead of using your full name?”

My first response was it seemed to have worked out fine for Joanne Rowling—and no, no one has been able to confirm whether her middle name is Kathleen or Katherine. (Do you know why?)

 That raises a bigger question then why I went with M.K. rather than Mark. Why did Joanne become J.K. To my knowledge she’s never answered that question directly.

So I’m left to assume that she used initials to make her author name gender neutral, which sort of makes sense for the launch of a series categorized as children’s literature.

john rebus: the literary character I hate to love

The literary character I hate to love is Inspector John Rebus. Rude, arrogant, churlish - his brilliance in solving Edinburgh murder mysteries is matched only by his self destructive love for booze, cigarettes, and conflict with authority.

I'm a bit like those few who are close to him in Rankin's novels - loyal and able to see past his coarse exterior - but always wondering what he will do next to get in trouble with the bosses - and drag me along with him!

In Exit Music, author Ian Rankin finally put Rebus into retirement and introduced a new series character in The Complaints. I can only assume fan reaction won the day as Rebus made his typically messy but triumphant return in Resurrection Men.

3 secrets of working with an editor

SECRETS OF WORKING WITH AN EDITOR from Mark Gilroy