WRITERS BORN TODAY - BILL PAXTON

 It's the birthday of Bill Paxton, born this day in 1955. His fame stems from his career as an actor in several blockbuster films, including The Terminator, Aliens, and Twister. But very few people know that he also wrote two important books. The Hidden Adventures of Sherlock Holmes II explores a story with Sherlock Holmes on the island of Malta in pursuit of hidden treasure. Unfortunately this gem is out of print. 

The second book, a work of non-fiction, is a biography of an obscure but important boxer from Pittsburgh, PA named Harry Greb. Harry was a lightweight and middle weight champion who fought between 1913 and 1926 and assembled a spectacular record. Greb died after an operation for a minor injury, a fate that ironically would also claim the life of his biographer, Bill Paxton, who went under the knife in 2017 to repair a heart valve and died shortly afterwards.

Paxton's film career as an actor is well known, but my favorite movie of his is a lesser known crime caper that shows his acting chops in a way that few other performances can. 

In 1998 he appeared in the film, A Simple Plan. which exposed the fates of three ordinary folks who stumble across a plane filled with millions of stolen dollars. The men's plan is...simple. Hide the money and wait a few months to see if anyone comes looking for it. Then, if no one does, they split the loot and live happily ever after. As you may have guessed, it doesn't quite work that way. Greed takes over, and by the end of the film, almost everyone involved in the theft has been killed. Bill Paxton's character and his wife survive, but are forever changed by the crime and it's aftermath.

WELCOME! ( TO YOUR NEW CRIME SERIES )

 Voracious readers of crime novels suffer from two curses worthy of the labors of Hercules. The first curse is "What to do when you come to the end of an author's series?". The second curse is "What do I read next?".

The solution to both questions? Read award winning Mike Faricy's "Jack Dillon" crime series. Jack Dillon (known as "Dildo" among his friends) is a U. S. Marshall assigned to fly to Ireland and return with a multi-million dollar fraudster. It's not a glamorous job. His boss, who despises Jack, only gives it to him because there's no one else available. It should be a easy assignment.

It isn't. The Russian Mob has other plans for a witness against their criminal operations. But Jack Dillon comes prepared for any outcome. Along the way, Jack falls in love with his police escort, and the prisoner transfer results in a no holds barred shootout that will leave you eager to read the next book in the series.

 The story moves fast and has a generous amount of action and humor. Except for a shot of Irish whiskey or a pint of Guinness, what more could you want?

P.S. There are 16 books in the series. Enjoy! And you can check out the rest of his work at https://www.mikefaricybooks.com/

WRITERS BORN TODAY - JEFFERY DEAVER

 It's the birthday of Jeffery Deaver, born May 4th in Chicago. As befitting someone who was born in Chicago, he has been fascinated by crime from a young age. This led him first to a career in journalism, and then to the legal profession. 

Both of these choices provided ample opportunity for criminal activity, but at some point he must have determined that the risk/reward ratio was not in his favor. Thus, he turned to writing.

Fortunately for us, his interest has been used to create over 40 novels as a best selling crime writer, including one of his best known novels, The Bone Collector. One of his biggest inspirations was Ian Fleming, creator of the James Bond novels. He has also credited Alfred Hitchcock, Raymond Chandler, and Agatha Christie as models. 

But he hasn't limited himself to the old masters. Some of his work has been inspired by changes in technology, resulting in the frightening novel, The Blue Nowhere, where his protagonist pursues a murderous hacker who kills using the internet.

His most famous hero is Lincoln Rhyme, a quadriplegic detective, who has been described by critics as a modern day "Sherlock Holmes", due to his intellectual skills. This character, along with his partner Amelia Sachs, has appeared in 16 novels, and has a special appeal for his creator.

Although his novels have been described as a "ticking-clock" while the story races to the end, Deaver's writing process is anything but seat-of-the-pants. He spends several months outlining his novel, and can wind up with 200 pages in his outline before he even starts to write Chapter One. Then when he is finished, he rewrites the book as many times as needed to create his award winning novels.

In 2021 he received the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of his contributions to the crime writing genre.

Photo Credit: Niko Giovanni Coniglio

"As Hemingway said, there are no great writers, only great rewriters."  - Jeffery Deaver

WRITERS BORN TODAY - SUE GRAFTON

It's the birthday of crime writer Sue Grafton, author of the Alphabet series, which featured wise-cracking P. I. Kinsey Millhone. The first novel in this series, A Is For Alibi, was nominated for a Shamus Award for Best Novel, but lost to Lawrence Block's Eight Million Ways To Die.

Sue's writing career started long before her award winning series took off and led to best sellers and critical acclaim. The story starts with her birth in Louisville Kentucky to a mother who was a teacher and a father who was a lawyer (with a two year stint in the army during WWII). It was her father, C.W. Grafton, who planted in her the writing bug. He wrote crime novels at night and published four during his short career. His first novel, The Rat Began To Gnaw The Rope, won the Mary Roberts Reinhart Award in 1943.

Her father taught her vital writing techniques and inspired her to start her first novel at age 18. Sue wrote seven novels in those early years, two of which were published, but these did not bring her commercial success.

Sue Grafton's Alphabet Series got it's inspiration from a bitter divorce and custody battle with her husband. While she fantasized about creative ways to kill him in order to preserve her sanity, she started writing down her thoughts. As she later described it, she wrote out her frustrations because she didn't want to spend the rest of her life in prison wearing a drab outfit.

Over the next 35 years the series extended through the alphabet all the way to Y is For Yesterday, published in 2017. Sue Grafton passed away on December 28, 2017. This left her last planned novel, Z Is For Zero, unfinished.

In  2009, Sue Grafton was awarded the Grand Master Award by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition of her contribution to the crime genre.

"Ideas are easy. It’s the execution of ideas that really separates the sheep from the goats." - Sue Grafton

Writers Born Today - Laura Lippman

It's the birthday of journalist and crime writer Laura Lippman, born January 31, 1959. From a very early age she knew she wanted to be a novelist, though she confessed once that she didn't know "how anyone became a novelist".

It didn't stop her. Her first novel was written at age five, and was illustrated by the author. It was about a caveman, written in his native language. Sales were modest. She still has the original. (One wonders what this first edition is worth.)

He writing career began with small newspapers in Texas, She moved form there to Baltimore Sun, where she was hired as a journalist in 1991. Her first novel, Baltimore Blues, was written in her spare time and published in 1998. It was a finalist for the Shamus Award. Several more novels followed, and by 2004, she had published eight more novels, and had won multiple awards, including the Agatha, Anthony, Barry, Edgar, Macavity, Nero, and Shamus Awards (some of them twice). Not everyone was thrilled, however.

Her bosses at the Baltimore Sun resented her "spare time" writing success and demoted her to a small bureau office away from the fast paced downtown Baltimore newspaper office. Lippman left to become a full time novelist, and crime readers have been deeply grateful ever since. After more than two dozen novels and several short story collections, Laura Lippman is still writing crime novels, still winning awards, and still making history.

And those editors who resented her success and told her she couldn't write? No one will remember their names down the road. Kinda makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, doesn't it?

Credit and Thanks to Crime Reads and the Hoover Sun for their assistance in writing this post!

Writers Born Today - Julia Buckley

 This week we celebrate the birthday of crime writer Julia Buckley, born on December 30th. She's the author of over 20 mysteries, including several series. My favorite? Her Undercover Dish books which feature an adorable chocolate lab, delicious recipes, and devious murders. If you're a fan of death by poison, and Murder She Wrote, you'll love this four book series as much as I did. I recommend reading them in order, starting with The Big Chili.

A lifelong reader, her mother (a librarian herself) took here to the library at an early age and encouraged her to read. During this period, Julia was introduced to dozens of writers, including Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, Patricia Wentworth, and Dorothy Sayers. 

Julia later became a teacher, and has taught in Chicago schools for many years. Her first book, Madeline Mann, appeared in 2007, a three part cozy series. Her latest series, the Hungarian Tea-House Mysteries, features a woman who solves crime in her family's tea shop. The first book in the series is Death in a Budapest Butterfly. All the books in this series show the influence of Hungarian folklore and the cozy writing style which has made her books adored by fans.

Julia holds a special place in my heart, as she was the first writer to interview me on her blog after the publication of my cozy mystery, way back in 2008. You can learn more about Julia Buckley through her blog, Mystery Musings.

Considering how productive  and popular Julia has been, shouldn't there be a TV pilot by now? Anybody have Hallmark's phone number?

WRITERS BORN TODAY - SEAN CHERCOVER

 It's the birthday of crime writer Sean Chercover, who burst onto the writing scene in 2007 with an award winning novel, Big City, Bad Blood. After winning the Shamus Award for his debut novel, Chercover followed this up with Trigger City, which won the Dilys Award.

Since that time he has published 8 more novels and a collection of short stories. He has received Ten Major Award Nominations and Three Awards, including the Anthony Award for Best Short Story.

Before becoming a crime writer, Sean was a private investigator in Chicago, the setting for many of his stories. His resume includes stints as a scuba diver, a truck driver, a magician, and a salesman. Needless to say, he's been around the block. All of this has helped to infuse his stories with a gritty reality born of experience.

Besides his stories, Sean's advice to his fellow writers has inspired countless scribblers to follow in his footsteps. Some of his best advice can be found here.

1. There’s no secret formula. The main thing is, you write Sounds obvious, yet it amazes me how many people say they want to be writers but don’t write. Odd, that. Anyway, you write, and then you write some more. You revise, and then you revise some more. You show your work to others and you learn from their reactions.
2. You read. I’m even more astounded by people who claim they want to write, but they don’t read. Can you imagine a musician who doesn’t listen to music? Of course not. So you read a ton, you read constantly, and you read critically, with an eye to the workings of the craft. I don’t mean reading books about how to write – I mean reading fiction.  Should go without saying, really.
3. Don’t confuse reading books on the craft of writing with the act of writing. You must write. And while it’s essential to learn the craft, in the end you must write your own story in your own voice.