I watched The Red Violin last night, again, for the uncountedth time…such a beautiful film.

So last night’s cold open on SNL—pretty good overall, but DAMN did any of us know that James Austin Johnson could sing like that??

November: when one starts perusing Ravelry and contemplating all the knitting projects one would love to make for self/family for Christmas, fully aware that one is probably never going to actually begin a single one… (Or is that just me?)

Damn. But it’s true.

Criminal Element is hosting a sweepstakes giveaway of SIX EARLY COPIES of crime novels set for release in winter of 2026--including mine! Sweepstakes entry can be found at this link: read.macmillan.com/promo/crimin... Closes November 4--please share with anyone you think might be interested!

Recipes for things like “Cauliflower Mac-n-Cheese.” Stop. Just stop trying to make cauliflower in cheese sauce sound like other than what it is. It might be good, but there’s no “mac” anywhere in sight. It’s insulting to the noble pasta. (File also under zoodles and cauliflower rice)

Controversial take? Just watched the finale of Only Murders season 5. Didn’t think they played fair. If I found ONE person who was able to work it out using the actual clues (and not just tropes), I might re-think. Anyone? #OnlyMurders (That said, it’s still a delightful show.)

That moment when you’re about ⅔ of the way through a @ruthwarewriter.bsky.social novel and you are pretty sure you’ve figured out the twist and you’re feeling super smug and pleased with yourself… I should stop reading now; I’ve been here before and she still always catches me out in the end…😆

So…we know about plotters and pantsers…but is the intermediate sort-of-outlining-type a “plantser” or “plantster”? Inquiring minds.

In this season of Spooky Fiction, this question of the distinction between genres keeps coming up. My take: In MYSTERY we outwit the villain and bring them to justice. In THRILLER we defeat the villain and save lives. In HORROR we escape the monster and avoid a fate worse than death. Thoughts?

I’d be happy to start well before the end of the day, but…well, yeah.

So the @nytimes.com morning newsletter has this #MelissaKirsch piece about “down time” and how hard it is to spend a whole day doing nothing, and I’m like…oh sweetie, it’s really not hard, or maybe you’re doing it wrong. Or maybe I just have a gift? 😆

Important note for this time of year:

It’s the first alpaca sweater morning of autumn. This gives me joy.

I kind of love how the new Superman movie skips the origin story and accepts that we all know who Superman is—instead they’re like “ok so there are these meta humans, and there’s this war, and Superman, and now we’re gonna pick up in the middle of this battle Superman just lost…” and just carry on.

I feel like there should be a long German word for “the split second after you leave the Zoom meeting when your public team player smile drops abruptly from your face like a used tissue.”

Omg AMAZING GRACE your book came today! (2 pages in and I’m hooked, my God your voice is awesome)(y’all buy this book please buy this book) @gracedalyauthor.bsky.social

So, I really enjoy @harlancoben.bsky.social, and Richard Armitage is lovely, but… …maybe they should stop casting him in the Harlan Coben Netflix adaptations? because the minute you see him you’re like, “oh yeah, he’s mad shady!” and it becomes spoilery…😆

I really really hate it when movies require every single character to be completely brainless in order for the plot to work. The crew of the #LastVoyageOfTheDemeter deserved to be eaten by vampires.

Just Watched #TheLifeofChuck …what a lovely rich piece, from an equally lovely story… It might just be the perfect movie. Thank you, @stephenking.bsky.social and @mikeflanaganfilm.com for this treasure.

I feel like “Mrs. deWinter” would be a fantastic name for a dog. What breed would she be, I wonder?

Off to #bouchercon2025 and for some reason leaving the gloriousness of perfect Chicago early September weather for 85 degrees in New Orleans... (I'm just pretending to be blase; I'm super excited! My first Bouchercon, and my last as a not-yet-published author!)

OMG the ARC copies arrived today and they are so so so pretty it’s a real book now I’m allowed to freak out a bit right?? (#MurderWillOut, a mystery set on a fictional island off the coast of Maine, for sale 2/17/2026 from @MinotaurBooks—available for preorder!) us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

See, this reminds me of the time I was in a little French bistro on the Upper West Side with a bunch of opera singers, & we joined in when the next table sang to grandma, & the owner brought us free drinks to keep singing. (Apparently I’ll happily trade self-respect for another glass of Malbec;-))

Listening to the “uf dem anger” (on the green) movement of Carmina Burana from the lawn of the Pritzger Pavilion while little kids dance around in the grass is delightfully meta and I love it. ❤️

News for the day: a spoonful of sun butter with a sprinkle of Really Good Chocolate Chips makes a very satisfying snack.

Pet peeve of the day: when cookbooks with online samples waste the whole thing on some silly "how to stock your pantry" bit (why does every cookbook start there? It's unnecessary for cooks and intimidating for newbies. Put it in the back if you must have it) and don't show you ONE. SINGLE. RECIPE.

I was told the new War of the Worlds is “so bad it’s not even so bad it’s good.” I actually think it IS so bad it’s…well, not good, but…fun? It’s really, really terrible. Awful. Disastrously bad. But I’m a sucker for terrible disaster movies. And this IS a truly terrible disaster movie. :-)

My kids made me watch K-pop Demon Hunters last night. It was better than it has any right to be. I will die on this hill.

Sometimes no caption is needed. ❤️

We should all be this excited about the journey…😆❤️ (NB we were going slowly and he was well and safely restrained👍)

Peak 21st century energy: going into a zoom meeting on my iPad while following the Signal chat on my phone and simultaneously taking notes and multitasking on my laptop. Peak over-50 energy: frantically tapping the screen on my non-touch-sensitive laptop and trying to use the mouse on my iPad…

From 7/8-7/11, get a 25% discount on preorders ‪@barnesandnoble.com‬ with the code PREORDER25 for B&N rewards members--including MURDER WILL OUT 😀. It releases in February, just when we're all sick of winter and ready for June on a beautiful Maine island! www.barnesandnoble.com/w/murder-wil...

Does peanut butter and jelly count? So traditional we don’t even really call it traditional. (Always grape jelly, not sure why.) Hated it as a child, hate it now. I love peanut butter, and really good jam, but together? So very unpleasant.

Not much is more fun than visiting in real life the places my fictional characters like to hang out.

Writing a novel: fun. Copy edits: not as much fun Vacuuming the living room: much less fun than copy edits. Ergo, back to the edits. Sigh.

Had bad food service hamburgers with Paul Sorvino at a freshman orientation picnic the year his younger daughter started college. I had never seen any of his movies, so I got to just experience him as a proud dad. Lovely guy.

So my question is…if texts with periods at the end are considered “angry” or “passive-aggressive,” what does that do to us who often use dictation, which automatically adds punctuation? (I realize I’m old and thus get a pass, but this whole thing intrigues me…)

Writing acknowledgments is hard. That is all.

Grownup advice: If I had it to do again as a new adulting-in-the-world-person, I'd buy 1 decent enameled dutch oven and 1 decent stainless steel skillet and learn how to use them, rather than a big set of pans that seemed like a "better deal." They aren't. You can do almost anything with those 2.

Are there really so few actors in the world that we need to keep recycling old ones? Surely there is a new actor, somewhere, who could play the Doctor? Le sigh. I am annoyed.

It's really happening! My new book, MURDER WILL OUT, is on sale February 17th, 2026 from @MinotaurBooks, available for preorder now! Set on a fictional island off the coast of Maine, #MurderWillOut is a lighter, modern gothic mystery full of atmosphere and heart :-) us.macmillan.com/books/978125...

Fellowship of the Ring. When Gandalf fell into Moria, I literally put the book down, sobbed for half an hour, and then refused to read further. (Till I flipped through Two Towers and found dialogue of his and thought, well, okay I guess I should keep going…)

Cool things about being a writer #46: you can find the best remote offices.

Hmm…I think we may have passed “Actual Spring” (blink and you missed it—I think it was maybe 3 days?) and headed directly into summer… Sigh.

DAAA Pope! (Articles and moments like this are why I still have hope for the internet) www.nytimes.com/2025/05/09/u...

I hope this isn’t a sign of how interesting my book is NOT…he doesn’t seem engaged in the narrative…😆

Tuesdays are for Tulips. Michigan Avenue's display of spring colors this past weekend in Chicago.

I suck at baseball and I hated dating tho I got a great husband out of it. But poetry is cool, jobs are handy, and taxes are the worst but I pay them anyway. Now please excuse me while I go use the bathroom. Alone. (GTF out of here with this crap. Do we really have to talk about it?)