THE BURYING PLACE

I'm back at work now and digging in on book six.  In the meantime, though, I know everyone is curious about the fifth Jonathan Stride novel, THE BURYING PLACE.

Book five will arrive in U.S. bookstores in April 2010.  Readers in the UK will get a head-start, as the hardback edition is due out there in September 2009.  Both publishers have developed tremendous -- and very different covers -- for this book. The U.S. cover, shown here, has a stark 1950s IN COLD BLOOD feel to it.  It captures the late fall loneliness of a novel in which much of the action takes place in the farmlands north of Duluth.

What is it about?  Well, I'll tell you that the action follows closely on the heels of the fourth novel, IN THE DARK, and for those of you who have read that book, you can imagine that the events will shape Stride's life as he tackles his next case.  It's shocking and intense, with deep characters and twists and turns.  I'll give you more hints in the months to come.

My sixth book, which I'm starting now, won't arrive in stores until early 2011 in the U.S.  This is my first stand-alone (unless you count THE AGENCY by Ally O'Brien), a novel in my classic psychological suspense style, but with all-new characters.  If you love the Stride books, I feel confident in saying you'll love this one, too.  Don't worry, though...Stride will return in book seven.

Looking Ahead

I will be offline for much of June as Marcia and I head off to celebrate our 25th anniversary.  When we return, I'll be digging in on my sixth suspense novel.

I'll also be giving you a look ahead at the fifth Jonathan Stride novel THE BURYING PLACE, which may be the most shocking and intense novel I've written to date.  THE BURYING PLACE arrives in the UK and much of the world this fall and will be released in the U.S. in the spring of 2010.  I'll have more details to share soon.

In the meantime, thanks to all of you who have given me such wonderful feedback on IN THE DARK (a.k.a. THE WATCHER).  I know that the more books I write, the more readers will have their personal favorites, because certain characters and plots will resonate with their own experiences.  Even so, my goal is to raise the bar with each book -- and so I'm delighted by the number of readers who have told me that the latest book is the best one yet.

That is, until you read THE BURYING PLACE...

Finality

In IN THE DARK, Tish Verdure asks Stride if there's anything of which he's afraid.  With some hesitation, Stride admits that he's afraid of loss.  "I hate endings, goodbye, funerals, everything like that," he says.  "The end of books.  The end of movies.  The end of vacations.  I like it when things keep going, but they never do."

This comes to mind because Marcia and I are at the end of an agonizing week in which we had to say goodbye to our friend and companion of more than 19 years, our cat Disney.  His health has been going downhill for several months, and he had a particularly bad day on Monday.  We're leaving town for nearly three weeks soon for our 25th anniversary trip, and we knew he was in no condition to survive without us, and we hated the idea of him dying of a broken heart, feeling alone and abandoned.  We struggled with the decision all week, but when we saw him at peace yesterday, we knew we had done the right thing.

As I said to Marcia, it's hard to imagine a better way to spend your last hours than to rest in a sunbeam on your mom's lap, with a belly full of tuna fish, and then to go to sleep with your friends whispering how much they love you.

So we know we did the right thing by him.  The suffering now is ours.  For almost two decades, it's been just the three of us, and the house feels empty and lonely.  We know there are many other cats out there that need a good home, and soon several of them will move in and take over, as cats do.  But for now, we simply miss our little guy.

Dear Reader

The online book club at www.dearreader.com is featuring STALKED this week in its Audio Book Club.  Readers have a chance to preview the audio edition of the book and post comments.  I'll be checking in and joining the Forum to chat with readers, too.  If you haven't heard Joe Barrett reading any of the audio editions of my books, this is a good chance to get a flavor for his narration.  I hear wonderful things about him from "listeners."

Dear Reader has over 367,000 members and works with libraries all over the country that support its online book club program.  For avid readers, it's a great program. 

Around the World

It's a busy season for international editions.  In addition to the US and UK, my fourth novel has now been released in Germany (under the title Tödliches Blond or "Deadly Blonde.") and the Netherlands (until the title De Voyeur...I think you can translate that one for yourself).  You can link to more information about those editions by clicking on the country.

The Italian edition will be released on July 14 under the title Polvere e Sangue, or Dust and Blood.  I've got a wonderful community of supportive Italian fans.  You can find a big special on me and my books right now at the Italian blog and crime web site Corpi Freddi.  Other editions will be released around the world over the next few months.

Ally O'Brien and THE AGENCY will be appearing in other languages soon, too, including the Netherlands (under the title Ploeteren op Pumps) and Germany.  More on that very soon.

Reader Power

One of my readers posted the following note on my wall on Facebook:  "After my suggestion, the manager of Houston Borders read your new book "In the Dark" and loved it so much that she ordered several extra copies for the store."

There couldn't be a better example of the power of reader referrals.  Booksellers and librarians help readers find new authors every day -- but they struggle with the sheer volume of books and have to prioritize what they read themselves.  That's why they pay attention when a customer or patron makes a recommendation.  When an avid reader tells them, "You HAVE to read this author!", they listen.

I always suggest to readers who write to me that they spread the word to local bookstores and libraries.  That's why.  Be sure to let me know, too, if you recommend my books and one of your local managers or librarians becomes a fan.  I'll drop them a personal note to say thanks.

Thunder Bay

We drove north last weekend along the Minnesota shore of Lake Superior and into Canada, where we had events on Saturday in Thunder Bay.  I spoke to a writer's workshop in town and then stopped in at the local Chapters bookstore.

I was surprised at how much Thunder Bay resembled Duluth.  When you're up on the hillside overlooking the city and the lake, the look and feel of the region is very similar.  Of course, it also has its own distinctive character, with steep rock formations dwarfing the town like desert mesas.  Then there are the signs warning you to beware of moose on the highways at night.

One of my long-time readers, Lyle, arranged the visit.  He and his wife also took me and Marcia to lunch at the Hoito, a wonderful Finnish landmark in Thunder Bay.  Since we just sold THE AGENCY in Finnish, that seemed an appropriate place to go.  I didn't want to tell them that I was unable to tell the difference between Finnish pancakes and Swedish pancakes....maybe they should just call them Scandinavian pancakes.

Speaking of THE AGENCY, I'm in Ally O'Brien mode this week, busily working on the plot for the next book.  Then it's back to the sixth suspense novel.

In Fair Shape

I'm back home from sunny London to rainy Minnesota -- talk about an upside-down universe -- after my fifth visit to the London Book Fair.

I still remember walking into the Fair for the first time in 2005.  I didn't know a soul, and I was confronted by a mass of exhibition booths stretching as far as the eye could see.  It was probably one of the most intimidating experiences of my life.  Now it feels like coming home and seeing old friends.

What do I do at the Fair?  First, many of my overseas publishers attend, so I have an opportunity to catch up with them, review materials for upcoming editions, and talk about marketing support I can provide.  This year, among other meetings, I was delighted to find out from my Dutch publisher that they had sold nearly 40,000 copies of STALKED in the Netherlands.  That's tremendous progress in that market.  He also showed me the cover for the Dutch edition of IN THE DARK/THE WATCHER, which will be released as DE VOYEUR on May 25.  And yes, it's quite the cover!  You can see the whole catalog spread, including the cover, by clicking here.

I also visit during the Fair with export reps that sell the English editions of my books in countries around the world.  It's very common both for expats and natives in other countries to buy books in English, rather in the language of that country, so I discuss my books with reps from places like India, Singapore, Scandinavia, Hong Kong, and most of the European countries.  The shelf space for English editions is often limited, so it's a competitive market, and the personal touch helps.

Finally, my UK publisher Headline usually takes advantage of my attendance at the Fair to schedule meetings with UK book buyers, reviewers, and booksellers, in order to raise my profile there.  It seems to be working:  THE WATCHER was #3 on the "Heat Seekers" list of UK book sales last week.

So it's always busy and fun -- and always good to get back home.  Of course, we're not home for long.  This weekend I'll be driving up to Thunder Bay, Canada, for an event at the local Chapters bookstore on Saturday, May 2, at 2:00 pm.

Stride

The hero of my series is a Duluth police lieutenant named Jonathan Stride.

 

When I was creating Stride in my first book IMMORAL, I didn’t want a stereotypical, grizzled, emotionless detective.  I wanted someone who at his heart is a passionate man.  He struggles with his emotions, and sometimes they get the better of him, whether as a detective or as a man.  Sometimes his passions blind him to the truth of a case, and he makes mistakes as a result of it.  He’s not a super-hero.  He’s flawed and human, and I think that’s why readers relate to him.

 

Stride is obviously the glue that holds the series together, but he doesn’t dominate the stage.  Readers will occasionally tell me – approvingly – that Stride is sometimes a supporting character.  He lets other voices carry the book.  In that way, readers get pulled into the psychological suspense, by getting inside the head of the other characters, not just Stride.

 

On  the other hand, I tell people who are new to the series that my fourth book, IN THE DARK, is a great place to start.  That’s because this book, more than any other since IMMORAL, is very much Stride’s book.  I wanted a story that allows the reader to get to know Stride and the influences that shaped him.  So this story takes you deep into Stride’s past and to an unsolved murder from thirty years ago that involved people who were close to Stride’s heart.  That summer of violence was a big part of what made him the man he is.  In this new novel, he must confront those events and finally resolve them – and deal with the loss and grief he never fully accepted.

 

Can a suspense novel make you cry?  This one just might.  By the end, I hope you’ll feel close to Jonathan Stride and his past.

Speedos and Britney Spears

These days, authors sometimes seem to spend as much time talking about their books as they do writing them.  Not that that’s a hardship for us.  After all, how bad can it be to have a profession where people ask you to stand up and talk about yourself?

 

This comes to mind because I’m in Duluth – “Stride Country,” as I call it – for book signings for IN THE DARK, and I spent Friday morning doing radio interviews.  Being in the media sometimes feels like stumbling right into the middle of a Carl Hiaasen novel.  Case in point:  I arrived at the radio station at 7:00 am to find myself surrounded by a man in a swimsuit who was about to get a tattoo live on the air, a man dressed as Britney Spears carrying a Pomeranian (also dressed as Britney Spears), and a college girl who was going to get her hair cut by one of the DJ’s – who was blindfolded at the time.

 

And me.  As I mentioned when I was on the air, I was glad I had already got my hair cut before coming up to Duluth.

 

So book marketing is a time when you feel closer to the entertainment side of the business.  On the other hand, it doesn’t make much to ground you back in the darker side of life – the side that Jonathan Stride deals with every day in my books.  During the morning, I also had a chance to talk to a woman who had dealt with a stalker for more than twenty years.  I could see the tension in her emotionally and physically as she described her experiences.  She was hoping to get the message out in one of my books about the struggles that victims go through in those circumstances.  That’s when the line between fiction and reality tends to blur.  For me, it’s part of the variety of inspirations, many drawn from true crimes, that twist and turn and wind up in my plots.

 

Meanwhile, then it was back to the media.  I had two newspaper interviews on Friday afternoon and a video blog to film.  And then we got around to the real business of the day – signing books.  I visited one of Duluth’s indie bookstores to sign copies of IN THE DARK and chat with readers.  Nothing makes you feel better as an author than to feel the enthusiasm that fans have for your books and how eagerly they await each new novel.  I had a reader in Fargo who wrote to me earlier in the week to say she had braved flood waters to get to a bookstore to buy IN THE DARK – only to find that the store was closed because of the flood!

 

I told her I was flattered she had risked her life to get my book.  But next time, wait until the waters go down…