It was just five years ago today when it was revealed to most that those dudes you went to high school with who kept posting lunatic conspiracy theories 24/7 were, in fact, that fucking stupid.

When I'm not really paying attention in this Zoom meeting, please know it's not you, it's that I had to quietly weep in bed last night watching Train Dreams.

You're sitting at home, thinking about your favorite historical outlaw, Jesse James. There's a knock on the door and your dad tells you there's someone here to see you. The man at the door is 85 years old. And he wants you to know: Jesse James killed his father: youtu.be/aw55xIGi7-k?...

Thing is, turning on a Raider game with no context, this seems like a perfectly reasonable down & distance.

Mark Wahlberg has just optioned the amazing story of how one tough American liberated Venezuela's oil from tyranny. The Bostonian will tell the story of an American fighter pilot who stared down an entire country for Exxon's bottom line.

ONLY WAY OUT has been out for a month and I’ve been overwhelmed by the kind response from readers. I’ll be heading out to some festivals and doing some events in 2026. Hope to see you! a.co/d/fCT4agg

You know what's gonna be cool? Getting these dipshits out of power this year.

I keep meaning to sneak into one of these online book clubs to see what they say about Lee’s porn story…

Holiday vibes and winter feels. ❄️✨ Explore our Season’s Greetings Showcase for festive reads, cozy mysteries, classic films, and stories that reflect many traditions: buff.ly/DXwpFSS

Spoiler: !!! www.altaonline.com/books/g69701...

President Obama asked me to make my top music picks, too.

Proud of my anthology of Seattle-centric crime fiction, THE KILLING RAIN, and especially its afterlife—three of its stories were chosen for best-of collections. (Congratulations, Tod Goldberg, Robert J. Binney and John Bosworth—and thank you, Steph Cha, Don Winslow, Michael Bracken and Matt Coyle.)

Among the most interesting recent crime and thriller releases are works by Con Lehane, Valerie Wilson Wesley, Ace Atkins, Val McDermid, Tod Goldberg, and Cara Black. therapsheet.blogspot.com/2025/12/revu...

On the 7th night, we have Chipotle, dayenu.

I've been trying to write his piece about my mentor Tom Filer for at least a decade. I was finally able to put it all together for @altajournal.bsky.social though I'm not sure it's all together yet in my head. www.altaonline.com/books/a69503...

A few years ago, I was asked by the LA Times to write a piece on Hanukkah. I ended up having a few things to say. www.latimes.com/opinion/stor...

"Com­posed of 11 sto­ries writ­ten by heavy­weights in the crime fic­tion genre, EIGHT VERY BAD NIGHTS is a thrilling col­lec­tion that touch­es on the breadth of what noir can offer." Read our review of this gripping noir collection below, edited by Tod Goldberg. bit.ly/3VFuAlh

ME: Started the new @todgoldberg.bsky.social the other day ROX: Yeah, what's it like? ME: You know, it's like he creates all of these interestingly shady characters and then slams them together like billiard balls. ROX: .... ME: Just to see what happens.

@todgoldberg.bsky.social, the master maker of @ucrlowresmfa.bsky.social has a new book out and it just landed on my front doorstep. I wish I could be in Palm Desert with all my UCR friends, but this is a pretty good consolation prize.

This conversation between @bradlisti.bsky.social and @todgoldberg.bsky.social was great company during one of my long drives this week! Can't wait to dive into my copy of ONLY WAY OUT.

Let me take up several posts talking my hometown of Palm Springs...moved to Palm Springs in the middle of 8th grade, though our family (through generations) had been coming here since the 1950s and had owned homes here almost as long.

A great conversation!

Great fun talking to James DF Hannah about all things big and small.

Did I take a nap so I can stay up and watch Jason Isbell and @drivebytruckers.bsky.social on Colbert tonight? Look, there's nothing more punk rock than sleeping in your jeans on the couch while your wife watches Hallmark Christmas movies so you can stay up beyond midnight to watch the rock show.

Today on the program: @todgoldberg.bsky.social is the guest. His new novel, ONLY WAY OUT, publishes this week on Thomas & Mercer. A riveting work of crime fiction from one of our finest and most twisted purveyors of the form. A corrupt sheriff. A one-time child prodigy... 1/

Big thanks to the OC Register and the Southern California News Group for splashing me across their Sunday papers this morning. I’m still a proud print Sunday paper reader, so this makes it feel real. (Also? Maybe first photo of an author in a Replacements t-shirt to grace said pages?)

Today in @ocregister.bsky.social, I talk books and criminal inspirations: www.ocregister.com/2025/11/28/a...

Come join me this coming Monday, November 24th, for my exclusive LA appearance — the launch of ONLY WAY OUT, already an instant Amazon bestseller. I’ll be chatting with Liska Jacobs, which will be awesome. Come visit!

I sat down with the folks from Super Fan to talk all things noir: open.substack.com/pub/spfanpod...

If by “Christmas” they mean: not at all about Christmas, like on a conceptual level in re: Jesus, the birth of, etc.

I am delighted to tell you that ONLY WAY OUT is a November Amazon First Reads selection! Prime members can get the ebook for FREE for the entire month while everyone else can get it for just $1.99, a month before the book -- in all forms -- is available everywhere. a.co/d/b30D4nQ

I've been doing a bunch of pre-media for Only Way Out and I keep getting asked a variation of: How did you get like...this? A few years ago I wrote this essay for @crimereads.bsky.social to explain it in granular detail. crimereads.com/the-killer-o...

You’re cordially invited:

Here I am hanging with my homie Justice Sotomayor.

If the Rapture comes tomorrow please know that I always meant to post things here.

Kudos to my brother @todgoldberg.bsky.social on the STARRED Kirkus review for ONLY WAY OUT! "Goldberg does an uncanny job of keeping multiple plot elements in the air with cutting humor. Internecine noir, done just right." www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews...

Congrats to my brother @todgoldberg.bsky.social on the great @publisherswkly.bsky.social review for ONLY WAY OUT. "With comic flair, shocking violence, & a capacity for surprise, this recalls the noir-tinged films of the Coen brothers." www.publishersweekly.com/9781662534089

Incredibly moving essay from Heather Scott Partington in Alta: www.altaonline.com/california-b... Through the Lens of Solastalgia

I’m of the opinion that Ivy Pochoda is one of the best crime writers alive, so this makes me very happy.

Sometimes, an email arrives and you just know, intuitively, someone’s about to reply-all.

Elon Musk has announced he’s leaving the Trump administration to spend more time in his lair deep inside a hollowed out volcano.

POV: The front seat of your dad’s Gran Torino, 1976, six months after the divorce, when he tells you about his new special lady in the parking lot of Farrell’s.

I’m doing a talk at a library tonight about a book I wrote 13 years ago. If I am asked anything other than about the basic plot, I am unlikely to know the answer. And yet I know all the lyrics to every Jason Isbell song produced in that same period. This means something. I don’t know what.

The only pope I recognize is the one from Greenwich Village.

I promise that when I die, you will not receive any more notes on your pages. www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

May critique my MFA students like they’re in the NFL draft: Suzy is a great novelist, all the intangibles, but her short arms were a real problem at AWP. Her use of adverbs in dialog tags? That’s teachable but you gotta wonder if she’s even aware of it. 5 years, this could be an Aimee Bender-type.

In line at the Target closest to Stagecoach. Three women in cowboy hats put cases of White Claw on the conveyor belt. Dude in a trucker cap is between us. Dude, whistles, then: Females love White Claw. Woman 1: We need it to deal with men like you. And that’s why shopping in person is edifying.

My brother @leegoldberg.bsky.social's new novel Hidden in Smoke drops today! a.co/d/izgslhj

Trump signs new Executive Order making the singing of "Pancho and Lefty" illegal as it provides material support for a criminal gang.

BREAKING: Pete Hegseth sent an Evite to the entire Sigma Chi mailing list.