Criminal Intent in Culver City

Last weekend I attended the California Crime Writers Conference, a biennial event put on by Sisters in Crime Los Angeles and the SoCal Mystery Writers of America. (See here for my blog about the 2013 CCWC in Pasadena.)

Pinch Me, Am I Dreaming?

Today—after years of writing; rewriting and revising; querying literary agents; and then more revising once I found the agent of my dreams—I signed a publishing contract. It’s a two-book deal with Crooked Lane Books, a brand new crime fiction imprint out of New York City.

Yes, I am thrilled to death—an apt euphemism for a mystery writer, no? But I’m still having a hard time believing it’s all real.

Crooked Lane Books was started last year with former Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press editor Matthew Martz as editorial director and former St. Martin’s publisher-at-large Dan Weiss as chief publishing consultant. Nike Power, who has interned at St. Martin’s, as well as Knopf/Doubleday and Lippincott Massie McQuilkin, is my new editor at CLB.

As noted on their website, Crooked Lane Books is

a crime fiction imprint that publishes today’s most gripping mysteries, thrillers, and suspense novels. From high-concept thrillers and white-knuckled suspense to traditional mysteries and literary crime, our titles consistently deliver driving plots, engaging characters, and stunning twists from the most talented authors on the scene.

Their initial list of titles will be released starting this coming August, and my book, Dying For a Taste (previously known as A Matter of Taste), the first of my Five Senses mystery series, is set to be published in the spring of 2016 and its sequel the following year.

I’ve already been working with my new editor (!), Nike, and I think we are going to get along swimmingly as a team. Her ideas for tweaks/additions/revisions have been terrific and she is wonderfully enthusiastic about my manuscript.

So here’s a huge thank you to everyone who has helped me reach this point, especially to my agent at Folio Literary, Erin Niumata, who truly believed in me and got me the deal!

Check here for updates as I navigate my way through the revisions, design, printing, and publishing of my very first novel!