Welcome to my website!

If this is your first visit, please click on the book cover to learn more about my blues mystery, Sweet Man Is Gone.  It’s been out from Five Star/Gale/Cengage since last July and I just submitted the sequel, Got No Friend Anyhow.  That title was inspired by a Sonny Boy Williamson tune.

While you’re here, please take a look at my “Come On in My Kitchen” feature, the pies page.  The new pie, Strawberry Fields Pie, is up.  Just click on the Pies tab.  And for more music-themed pies, go back into the pie archives.

I’ve posted here before about my Jane Austen as Mystery Writer project, a talk I’ve given several times in conjunction with Jane K. Cleland, who discusses what constitutes a traditonal mystery.  Now I have an article, “Jane Austen, Mystery Writer: The Case of Emma,” in Gumshoe: The Internet Review of Books. Please take a look.

New! The Last Stand Band, the band that inspired Sweet Man Is Gone, broke up long ago. But I still get together with friends to jam every week. We call ourselves “Still Standing,” and we meet in the keyboard-player’s living room. Here’s a sample of what we’ve been up to, “Woman Got Me Blues,” with original lyrics by yours truly. It features Steve Wortman on keys, harmonica, and vocals; Howie Bowe on bass; Yuki Furui on conga and high hat; and me on guitar. The picture, minus Yuki, was taken when we performed at a party last year. That’s Steve on the left, Howie on the right, and me in the middle.

I have a lot of speaking events lined up for this year.  Check the Events page and, if you’re in the New York/TriState area, I’d love to see you at one of my talks.  If your group is looking for a speaker, just use the Contact page to get in touch.  I’m happy to talk about any aspect of reading or writing mysteries.  I recently had a lot of fun speaking to the Fort Lee Historical Society about Poe and the Mary Rogers murder case in Hoboken.  If your group is interested in history, I can do a reprise of that talk.  And if your group is interested in Jane Austen, how about a talk on Jane Austen’s mystery techniques in Emma ?

Librarians like Five Star books too. If you’d like to read Sweet Man Is Gone, but don’t want to buy it, please ask your library to order it–and be sure to mention that it got a good review from Kirkus.

I’m still giving away those cool salmon-pink Sweet Man Is Gone guitar picks.  If you’d like one, use Contact to email me your name and address. Postage is on me.

“My Life As a Rock Star” is still up.  It describes how a mild-mannered English professor (me) bought an electric guitar - a red Stratocaster - in mid-life, signed up for guitar lessons, and formed the band that inspired Sweet Man Is Gone.

Wanted: Blues CD’s to showcase on this site. If you’re a band with a new CD, use the Contact feature to email me and I’ll give you the details.