And a Happy New Year

My children and other family members have all left, back to their own homes and lives. I'll be alone for New Year's Eve but that's never a problem for me. I'll nibble on cheese and baguette and drink champagne and look foward to a brand new year. Here's to 2011 and may it be a good one for you and yours and provide you with plenty of good books! Happy New Year.

Merry Christmas

If you celebrate Christmas I hope you have a good one. And a very happy New Year to everyone. My family is all here, friends came over last night for games, the turkey will soon be in the oven, the mince tarts are made (and mostly eaten). For a change we're having our big Christmas dinner tonight (Christmas Eve) becuase Daughter #3 has to work first thing on Boxing Day so will be leaving early on Christmas evening. As well as having all of my children here, I had a couple of great Christmas presents already. A contract with Orca Book`s Rapid Reads programme to write a short easy-read adult book. Ì`m very excited about it, because it will take my writing in new directions. (Fear not, I`ll still be publishing with Poisoned Pen and with Rendezvous Crime). A great article in the London (Ontario) Free Press today that has the headline, I`ts a crime not to read Delany and my children and my mom are all sitting aorund reading ARCs of Among the Departed.

Life is good here at Chez Delany and I most certainly hope it is in your home also. Merry Christmas and may you have much happy reading in 2011.

Trying to Find Winter of Secrets

Listen to any writer these days and they'll be complaining at how in the modern publishing business it isn't enough that the writer write the darn book, they have to then be the promoter, the marketer, the sales person. All of which is, of course, extremely time consuming.

Case in point: I recently discovered that the paperback edition of Winter of Secrets has disappeared from Amazon.com. The book is out in paperback, it is in stock at Amazon, but it isn't on my author page or on the list of editions of Winter of Secrets. The reader has to go to some considerable trouble to find it. And I don't want them to have to do that.

Back and forths between me and the publisher and her and Amazon is generating a lot of bites and bytes but no improvement.

These days, Winter of Secrets is showing up on a lot of lists of Christmas mysteries and there is a big review set to come out in a California magazine, so I would like people to be able to find it quickly and easily. Right now, the best I can do is provide the exact link: http://www.amazon.com/Winter-Secrets-Constable-Molly-Smith/dp/1590587812/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1292593844&sr=8-2

The book, BTW, is easily findable at BN.com, Amazon.ca, Chapters.ca and other sources.

The Nutcracker and Me

Last night I performed in the Nutcracker. Yes, performed. As in on stage. In front of the audience. Now before you check my photo, no I didn't actually dance. I was invited by the Quinte Ballet School to be the guest celebrity at last night's performance in Oshawa. My role was to read a story at the beginning to my 'daughter' that would introduce the ballet. I was on stage for about two minutes tops. But it was so much fun. I loved going to a rehearsal and seeing those wonderful young people practice. I loved being backstage watching the excitement build. And, ham that I am, I loved having my own small part.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos as photography was not allowed and I was just wearing my own clothes so not much point in taking a picture off stage. However there was a photographer backstage, and I will try to get a copy of the pictures with me in them and some others to post here.

I snuck into the theatre after to watch the performance and just loved it. I can't say I've ever been to a ballet before. I'd love to go again. The costumes were just fabulous and the dancing superb. These students were on the verge of adulthood and going professional and the quailty showed. (Plus, of course the beginning students had small parts - so cute).

Earlier in the day I had a hugely successful booksigning at Books and Company, the Independent bookstore in Picton, Ontario. It's nice to live in a small community and to feel part of the community. One lovely woman said "I love you!" to which I replied, "Oh. I love you to." She'd read all my books and didn't even have to buy Negative Image because she had it already.

So all in all, a very nice day. But I'm glad the book tour is now over and I can try to remember that I am supposed to be a writer - not just a book promoter.

Silence of the Mid-List

Thinking about big chain stores and the detremental effect they can have, even unintentionally, on small companies I wrote about the issue of product placement for Type M for Murder. What do chocolate bars and bestsellers have in common? Quite a lot, it would seem. Click here.

Update to Below Post

Further to my post about the warehousing of new Canadian crime novels, Barbara Fradkin and C.B. Forrest wrote directly to the CEO of the bookstore company and, to everyone's considerable surprise, got a reply in an hour. They promise to rectify the situation immediately. That's just great, and we're really pleased. Now lets see how long it takes for the books to arrive.

Book tour almost finished, and a plea for Canadian crime writers

Two things to write about today. First, I'm finished with my marathon of booksignings at Chapters/Indigo stores. Shoes off, wine glass in hand. I had fun, met a lot of eager readers, sold tons of books. Many many thanks to those of you who came out to meet me or ran into me accidently. When I'm doing a signing, I'm kinda hard to miss. I'm in your face, but I hope in a friendly cheerful way.

Next weekend it's my two favourite stores: Books and Company in Picton and Novel Idea in Kingston.

My signings were great, as I say, and as always the staff at Chapters/Indigo were so welcoming and friendly, that I just hate to say but.. And then go on with a complaint.

Now this complaint has nothing to do with me, or with the fabulous sales staff at Chapters/Indigo but I've found out that several of the very best Canadian mystery writers who have new fall books are not getting their books in the stores. Come on guys, the books have been printed and shipped. And are now stitting in the Indigo warehouse. Where they have been since OCTOBER! While the shopping season passes them by. Barbara Fradkin is among the very top of Canadian mystery writers. I bought her newest, Beautiful Lie the Dead at an Indy weeks ago (Great book!). C.B. Forrest wrote one of the best books I read this year (Weight of Stones) and I am so looking forward to the new one, Slow Recoil. It will, apparently, be a slow day when I can buy the book in Canada's one big chain bookstore.

If you're a fan of great Canadian mysteries it seems that in some cases the store that has about 90% of the market can't serve you. Oh, but if you want to read the latest Sarah Palin, it's in stock.

Please ask your local big book store where these books are or shop at an independent.