Jane Haddam

Okay. So here I am, almost done with this thing, which is good, because it turns out this is not going to be a truncated version of the old cold.  I’m just sick. That said, I’m at a place where I know all my decisions are, so I’m not going to stop to take it…

So, it’s Saturday of what turns out to be Easter week–American Easter week, as we would have said when I was growing up–and I have yet another sore throat and yet another stuffy head. They’re not terribly awful yet, so I have my fingers crossed.  Usually I think my students are trying to kill me. …

One of the problems with writing this blog when I am finishing a Gregor is that I often find myself wondering–when I’ve actually got the time to write it–if I’ve got anything left to say. I tend to follow the things I’m interested in most of the time less when I’m trying to cut a…

Every once in a while, I wonder if this thing about being born on Friday the Thirteenth isn’t having more effect on my life than I’d like to think. And this week was one of those times. At the bottom of this post, I intend to talk about a book, which is much more interesting…

So, yes, I know.  I’ve been less than diligent about the blog.  But the Gregor is going fine, and is likely to actually be handled in when promised, and I’m happy. Right now, I want to address a question: When reading mysteries–all kinds of mysteries, where you don’t know who the perpetrator is from off–does…

As for the title, don’t ask.  It’s one of those days. But I’ve been looking over the comments from the last post, and two things struck me. First, pace Mique, Harold Robbins never wrote an explicit sex scene in his life.  Even Grace Metallious (Peyton Place) only informed her readers that some kind of bizarre…

When I write mysteries, I often also read mysteries.  And I tend to read older mysteries, at least as much because it’s hard to find the kind of mystery I like being published today.  We are in an era of “thrillers,” and thrillers don’t thrill me very much. But we are also in an era…

Here’s the thing. I almost never know who the murderer is going to be whenI start writing a book, and I almost always change my mind several times over the course of writing. What’s more, I almost always change my mind again when I’m doing the cut from the first draft, and sometimes I change…

So try this http://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2012/02/neo-atheism-atheists-dawkins It was on Arts and Letters Daily today, about the “new Atheism” and that sort of thing.

So, okay.  My head is still full of Gregor, as it’s going to be for the next couple of weeks.  And when my head is full of Gregor, I tend not to be able to really focus on anything else. That said, some observations from my week: One of the reasons I like Perry Mason…