“Four Corners/One Book” Launches With Church of the Graveyard Saints

Six U.S. cities have selected Church of the Graveyard Saints to launch the inaugural “Four Corners/One Book” regional reading program for 2019-2020. The public libraries of Montrose, Cortez, Dolores, Mancos, and Ignacio (CO) and Moab (UT) have joined forces to invite all their residents to read the novel — hailed as “a lyrical, vivid tour of the West” by Publishers Weekly — starting in September of 2019, and to participate in public discussions with the author, slated for January of 2020, all with the goals of promoting literacy and building community through the shared experience of story. Formal launch events are scheduled for September 23 in Montrose and September 27 in Cortez. Check local listings for times and details.

Cover Reveal

Here’s a preview of the cover of my sixth novel, CHURCH OF THE GRAVEYARD SAINTS, coming in September, 2019 from Torrey House Press.  Environmental issues have always been important to me, and moving from Pasadena, CA (via Santa Fe) to the Four Corners and witnessing firsthand both the beauty of the landscape and the threats posed to it by the area’s extractive industries inspired me to write a novel that explores the tensions between economic prosperity and environmental stewardship, as well as the ties that bind us to our past and those that pull us toward what we hope will be a larger and brighter future.  COGS is a work of upmarket commercial fiction with elements of both eco-thriller and contemporary romance.  It is a book close to my heart, and one that I hope it will find a place in yours.

CHURCH OF 12.18E

GREEN-EYED LADY Now in Paperback!

Green-Eyed Lady, a taut political thriller and the second installment in the Jack MacTaggart series of legal mysteries, is now available in mass-market paperback exclusively from Harlequin Worldwide Mystery!  To order a copy of the novel that #1 NYT bestselling author Douglas Preston called the “wickedest read if the year,” you can follow this link.1216-9780373282234-bigw

TOM & LUCKY IS A MACAVITY AWARD FINALIST

Almost 80 years from the date on which the verdict in People v. Charles “Lucky” Luciano was returned (June 7, 1936), TOM & LUCKY AND GEORGE & COKEY FLO has been nominated for the 2016 Macavity/Sue Feder Historical Mystery Award from Mystery Readers International.  Needless to say, I’m deeply honored by this recognition, which comes on the heels of TOM & LUCKY’s selection as a Wall Street Journal “Best Books of 2015” and as a finalist for the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

 

Tom & Lucky is a 2016 Harper Lee Prize Finalist

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I’m hugely honored to announce that TOM & LUCKY AND GEORGE & COKEY FLO (Bloomsbury), my historical/true crime novel of gangsters, madams, and lawyers in Depression-era New York, which was previously a Wall Street Journal “Best Books of 2015” selection, has been chosen as one of three finalists for the 2016 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction.

The Harper Lee Prize was inaugurated in 2011 to coincide with publication of the 50th Anniversary edition of To Kill a Mockingbird, and is a joint venture of the American Bar Association and the University of Alabama School of Law that honors the work of American fiction that, in the spirit of Mockingbird, “best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change.”  The award will be presented in September of 2016 in conjunction with the Library of Congress National Book Festival in Washington D.C.

I want to congratulate my fellow nominees, and to thank my publisher, the selection committee, and all of my loyal readers for this fabulous career milestone, and for the opportunity to join the likes of John Grisham and Michael Connelly as Harper Lee Prize winners.

HUSH MONEY Now Available in MM Paperback!

Fans of the Jack MacTaggart mystery series, or readers who’ve yet to meet the wisecracking L.A. lawyer/detective, will finally have the opportunity to enjoy his exploits in paperback, starting with HUSH MONEY, which was a finalist for (among other honors) the Private-Eye Writers of America’s prestigious Shamus Award and the Audio Publishers’ Association’s Audie Award for the Best Mystery of 2012.  These mass-market paperbacks are available for less than $7.00, exclusively from Harlequin’s Worldwide Mystery imprint, and you can order them here.

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