An Uncommonly Delicious Book

Every once in a while, I run across a book that's uncommonly delicious, and I want to tell you about it.



I began reading Least Wanted by Debbi Mack yesterday afternoon. I would have finished it last night but my eyes got tired. I finished it this morning.





This is Mack's second novel featuring attorney Sam McRae, and I liked it. A lot. She took risks with this one. Any time an author tries to reproduce dialect, there's a challenge. Mack does it well in this book. Least Wanted takes on some topics most writers would steer clear of, but she handles them with just the right amount of reality and compassion, without dwelling in judgement.

It's an e-book, and for a grand total of 99 cents, you have hours of solid entertainment. There is no better deal.

If you haven't discovered it already, not all e-books are created equal. The technology to format and keep the editing solid is still getting the kinks worked out. (And between you and me, I'm pretty sure there's a slew of e-books out there that haven't met an editor who knew what she was doing.)

Mack delivers it all. A great story, developing characters, excellent writing and an e-book experience that sets the bar.

For those of you who received a Kindle for Christmas, treat yourself to a Mack for the New Year.



CR: Secrets to Die For by L.J. Sellers

It's all better with friends.

Post-Holiday Fog

I'm having a bit of trouble getting refocused. From November through the first week in January, we go from one celebration to the next. All of them important. All of them filled with love. All of them mentally staggering in their consumption of available attention.

Half of me loves to be carefree and willing to take off on the spur of the moment. The other part of me needs structure. Routine, and a good schedule, go a long way in helping me stay disciplined and focused. Disciplined and focused helps me feel good about what I've accomplished at the end of the day.

So. Part of my post-holiday plan (and I'm including everything post-Christmas) has to be making a schedule to get back on track.

What about you? Do you have trouble refocusing? What tricks do you use to get back where you want to be?




CR: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz.

It's all better with friends.

Colorado Christmas, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band!

There are parts of Colorado where people are wearing shorts and playing golf, I'm sad to report. Here's my wish, on so many levels:







It's all better with friends.

Enya - Silent Night (in Irish) Christmas

Merry Christmas.








CR: The Spellman Files by Lisa Lutz.

It's all better with friends.

O Holy Night - Susan Boyle

Merry Christmas.

Kirby Larson Interview

Believe in yourself.

E-Book Reading

This quote was posted on the Sisters-in-Crime loop recently and I loved it:


"Technology is not a barrier to depth, to engagement, to the cultural discussion, and that perhaps we want the same thing from our reading as we always have, regardless of the form it takes.... The issue is not what we read on, just as the issue is not what we read. The issue is that we read, that we continue to interact with long-form writing; by altering the conditions of the conversation, e-books and e-readers have already served an essential purpose.... This, I think, is what e-books have to offer: the promise of immersion, enhanced or otherwise, just as their analog counterparts have always done."
--David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times book critic, in an essay that will appear in Sunday's print edition of the paper


If you're debating whether or not to get an e-reader, maybe you should wait. It doesn't matter . . . as long as you read.

Some amazing new books, as well as a large number of out of print books, are only available electronically. A Kindle is my best entry into their pages. The application is available free for dozens of venues, but I vastly prefer reading on my Kindle to reading on my computer.

For me? I love my Kindle 3. I gifted my Kindle 2 to my husband, who has yet to finish off his pile of DTBs (Dead Tree Books) to familiarize himself with the wonders and benefits of electronic immersion into words. I'm not worried. He will. And I will continue to read DTBs. Because I love them as well.

It's the words that are important. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. It's the stories. The worlds. The magic.




CR: Skin Deep by Timothy Hallinan on my Kindle

It's all better with friends.