Laurien Berenson sent us a happy item: Well wouldn't you just know? I suddenly have some news. The fourth book in my series, HAIR OF THE DOG just won the Maxwell Award from the Dog Writers Association of America for "Best Fiction 1998".

Robert Ferrigno has a new book out soon: My next southern california thriller, HEARTBREAKER, will be published by Pantheon in May, 1999. Optioned to 20th Century Fox, foreign sales to Germany, UK, Italy and Norway.

Jaqueline Girdner has this news: In my new hardback, MURDER ON THE ASTRAL PLANE, Kate Jasper attends a psychic soiree to overcome a karmic impairment (stumbling over dead bodies) only to, of course, stumble over a dead body. And if that isn't enough, last year's hardback, DEATH HITS THE FAN, is coming out in its first paperback edition. Come enjoy an author signing on an entirely human plane:
Wednesday, April 7 at 7 PM, The Depot, Mill Valley (415-383-2665)
Saturday, April 10 at 2 PM, "M" is for Mystery, San Mateo (650-401-8077)
Sunday, April 11 at 5:30 PM, Book Passage, Corte Madera (415-927-0973)
Wednesday, April 14 at 6:00, Internet interview, http://www.talkcity.com/mystery
Sunday, April 18 at 2 PM, Sisters in Crime Soiree at a Clean Well LightedPlace For Books, San Francisco, (415-441-6670)
April 30-May 2, Malice Domestic Convention, Renaissance Hotel, Washington, D.C. (http://www.erols.com/malice)
Saturday, May 8 at 2 PM, Capitol Crimes and Coffee, Davis, (530-758-7358)
Sunday, May 16th at 2 PM, Crown Books, Walnut Creek (925-945-6616)
Tuesday, July 6 at 7 PM, Copperfields at 4th and D, Santa Rosa

William Manchee has a great offer for readers! He has a stock of slightly blemished copies of the first Stan Turner mystery, UNDAUNTED. If you'd like on, e-mail him at billmanchee@msn.com. Thanks, Bill!

Lise McClendon has this to share: My newest mystery will be out later this year. Walker & Company is publishing this third mystery in the Alix Thorssen series set in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Alix owns an art gallery on the square in Jackson, and in this outing titled NORDIC NIGHTS, helps organize a winter carnival featuring a Viking muralist, randy ice sculptures, rune casters, and guys in lycra. Plenty of norsky intrigue, the death of an artist, and family struggles for Alix. Books one and two, The Bluejay Shaman and Painted Truth, are out in both hardcover and paper.

Lev Raphael is also hitting the road: Readers might like to know that last spring there was a bidding war (or skirmish!) between St. Martin's and Walker for my Nick Hoffman mystery series and I moved the series to Walker. Walker is sending me on a 6-city tour starting April 8:
April 8, Border's, 2817 N. Clark Street, Chicago, 7 PM
April 9, San Francisco Mystery Book Store, 4-5 PM, 4175 24th Street
April 10, A Different Light, LA, 8853 Santa Monica Blvd. 8 PM
April 11, Mysterious Galaxy, San Diego, 2-3:30 PM, 3904 Convoy Street
April 12, Poisoned Pen, Scottsdale, 7100 D East Main Street, noon-1 PM
April 12, Obelisk, Phoenix, 24 W. Camelback, 7 PM
April 13, U/AZ Hillel, 1245 E. 2nd Street, 7 PM

Peter Robinson has a busy spring ahead: "In April, Inspector Banks returns in IN A DRY SEASON, which is a bit of a departure from the series in several ways. To begin with, it's longer. We find out more about Banks's past, and there's a first-person narrative set in a Yorkshire village during the Second World War, told by a young shop-girl called Gwen Shackleton. As Banks's investigation into the discovery of a buried skeleton progresses, Gwen's story gives us the people and events leading up to the murder over fifty years ago. Also, Banks has a new sidekick in the shape of Detective Sergeant Annie Cabbot, a slightly eccentric, strong-willed young woman with a troubled past.

This book received a starred review in the February 22 issue of PUBLISHERS WEEKLY and has been selected as a Featured Alternate by the Mystery Guild. I'll be touring in the US to promote it from mid-April to mid-May. Stops include San Francisco, San Diego, San Mateo, Los Angeles, Houston, Dallas, Washington (Malice Domestic), Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Madison, Milwaukee and Chicago.

The short story collection published by Crippen & Landru last October, NOT SAFE AFTER DARK AND OTHER STORIES, is doing well, and the 250 signed and numbered harcover edition has sold out. A story I wrote especially for the collection, called "In Flanders Fields" is also due to appear in ELLERY QUEEN'S MYSTERY MAGAZINE very soon."

Connie Shelton writes: My exciting news this week is the Tri-Laurel Productions has just renewed the option on my Charlie Parker mystery series for a set of made-for-TV movies. They've had two major studios and a well-known star express an interest in being involved with the project. My four books are doing well nationwide. The fifth in the series will be out this fall.