Hilary Davidson's Blog, page 18

New Facebook Page… and Giveaways!

Guess who’s got a shiny new Facebook page? It doesn’t seem right to launch it without a book giveaway, so I’m hosting one today: just “like” the page and comment on the giveaway post, telling me which of my books you’d like to win. I’ll pick the winner before midnight tonight. I think this could be the start of a great tradition. More giveaways planned for the next few weeks!

Left Coast Crime 2013

What a whirlwind! Left Coast Crime started in Colorado Springs last Thursday, and it’s been crazy. Where do I begin…

The view from my room at the Cheyenne Mountain Resort. Words fail me.

The social media panel (L to R): Patricia Stoltey (grabbed by a fan who wouldn’t let her be in the picture), Janet Rudolph, Jen Forbus, me, Kiffer Brown, and Maddee James.

Hanging out with Jen Forbus.

Dinner at MacKenzie’s Chop House with a fantastic group of people. So grateful to Sandra Brannan and her husband, Joel, for a wonderful night!

The “Foreign Affairs” panel: G.M. Malliet, Ragnar Jonasson, Edith McClintock, Catriona McPherson, me, and Lourdes Venard.

At the awards banquet with Brad Parks and Chantelle Aimee Osman.

With newlywed Twist Phelan, who got married in Denver the day before Left Coast Crime began.

Award winners Rochelle Stab (who won the Watson) and Brad Parks (who scored the Lefty).

My fellow Criminal Mind Catriona McPherson with her Bruce Alexander Award.

Look what Brad Parks does when you give him an award. Bet Rochelle and Catriona were better behaved…

At the bar after the awards with Jess Lourey, Elle Lothlorien, and Dan (my surprise guest at LCC!).

Crimespree Giveaway!

You know who I love? The amazing people at Crimespree Magazine. There are plenty of reasons why, but here’s the latest: Crimespree is hosting an EVIL giveaway. Subscribe to the magazine (or renew your current subscription) and you could win one of two signed copies of EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES. Deadline is March 20th. More details here. Good luck!

The 2013 Tucson Festival of Books — in Pictures

I spent this past weekend at the Tucson Festival of Books, and in spite of the rainy, chilly weather on Saturday, I had a fantastic time. Here’s why!

Hanging out with J.A. Jance at the Mostly Books booth. Realized that I first read one of her books in high school. She was so lovely to talk to.

I wasn’t the only Canuck who snuck into the festival — that’s Canadian YA author Joanne Levy on the left. Sweet Tricia from Mostly Books doesn’t seem to mind that she’s surrounded…

With wonderful Susan Friese, a festival volunteer. Not only did she pick me up at the airport when I arrived, but she came to one of my Saturday panels and bought my books! So glad I got to meet her.

Somehow I forgot to get a photo of my “Strong Sense of Place” panel on Saturday morning with Andy Gross, Donis Casey, and Michael McGarrity. Didn’t make that mistake again, though. With my “Other Cultures, Other Crimes” co-panelists Simon Wood, Alan Jacobson, and Donis Casey. They were terrific.

Last year, my friend Peggy Bendel told me I had to come to Tucson for the festival, and I did. This year, she said, “Next time, you have to bring Dan!” That sounds like a great idea…

Hanging out at the Sisters in Crime booth with Travis Richardson and Teresa Wong. I knew I was going to see them in Los Angeles this week, but this was a wonderful surprise!

At Gentle Ben’s for the author reception with Andy Gross, Daniel Palmer, Michael Palmer, and Chantelle Osman.

Reception was followed by Chantelle’s birthday dinner at Maynard’s, a fantastic restaurant that happens to be across the street from the Congress Hotel, where John Dillinger was gunned down.

Almost didn’t include this shot (could I be any squintier?), but one of the highlights of my TFOB weekend was meeting Isaac Kirkman. (Thank you, Joe Clifford, for introducing us online!)

At the Poisoned Pen booth with Kim Fay and Susan Vreeland. One of the best things about the TFOB was meeting awesome new-to-me authors. (BTW, Kim’s debut novel, The Map of Lost Memories, is up for an Edgar Award!)

Finally met Mysterious Galaxy’s fabulous Maryelizabeth Hart in person!

At the Clues Unlimited booth with Elizabeth Gunn and Donis Casey. Can you tell we’re having fun? We spent most of the time laughing.

Talk about saving the best for last. The “Strong Female Sleuths” panel on Sunday afternoon was hilarious, thanks to Jenn McKinlay, moderator Simon Wood, and Becky Masterman.

 

Where to Find Me at the Tucson Festival of Books

I’ve heard so many good things about the Tucson Festival of Books. This weekend, I’ll be attending for the first time. I have a jam-packed schedule, so it’s pretty easy to find me there:

SATURDAY

Panel: “Strong Sense of Place” — 10am-11am in the Mall Tent, with Daniel Palmer (moderator), Dana Stabenow and Christopher Reich

Book signing at the Mostly Books booth (#127-#130)  — 11am-noon

Panel: “Other Cultures, Other Crimes” — 1pm-2pm in the Bookstore, with Donis Casey (moderator) and Simon Wood

Book signing at the Sisters in Crime booth (West Mall #109-#110) — 3pm-4pm

SUNDAY

Book signing at the Poisoned Pen booth (#230-231) — 10am-11am

Book signing at the Clues Unlimited booth — 11am-noon

Panel: “Strong Female Sleuths” — 2:30pm-3:30pm in SU#2, with Simon Wood (moderator), Becky Masterman and Jenn MacKinley

National Post Feature About Me & EVIL

On my last visit to Toronto, I met up with the National Post‘s Books Editor, Mark Medley. In the middle of our lunch at a Mexican restaurant called Mariachi’s, a photographer showed up. That was the first clue I had that the piece Mr. Medley was writing was going to be substantial. The story — “Hilary Davidson’s Last Resort” — is in today’s National Post, along will a photo of me with a goldfish-bowl-sized margarita (thanks to Darren Calabrese for that).

UPDATE: There’s also a piece on the National Post’s website that I wrote for its “story behind the story” series: “Hilary Davidson on Evil In All Its Disguises.”

Release Day for EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES!

It’s March 5th. You know what that means! My third Lily Moore novel, EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES, is out today from Tor/Forge. Technically, it’s been on the loose for a few days — my first sighting of the book in the wild was at Barnes & Noble on Fifth Avenue last Friday. I guess it’s no surprise that a book like this is lurking in the shadows (or on the “New Mysteries”) display before its time. EVIL gets its own way.

Read an excerpt.

Check out the reviews.

Buy the book.

 

Derringer Nomination for “A Special Kind of Hell”

I’m gearing up for the launch of EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES tomorrow — and speaking at Saint Peter’s University in New Jersey today — but I have to share some wonderful news. On the weekend, I found out that my story “A Special Kind of Hell,” originally published in Beat to a Pulp: Round 2, is up for a Derringer Award. It’s a huge honor, especially because the list of nominees is phenomenal.

Here’s the opening of the story. (If you’d like to read the whole, it’s available online to members of the Short Mystery Fiction Society, and in print in the Beat to a Pulp: Round 2 anthology.)

A SPECIAL KIND OF HELL

“You understand this isn’t about sex, don’t you, honey?”

Paige hated it when her husband called her honey. It sounded so insincere as it rolled off his tongue. She bit the soft tissue of the wall of her cheek to tamp down her anger. “Yes,” she muttered.

“You’re sure you’re okay with this?”

“I’ve told you a hundred times. What more do you want from me, Derek?”

Her husband sighed and glanced around the bistro. It was late Tuesday afternoon and the place was empty except for the staff. Paige wondered what they thought of the fortyish couple refusing to relinquish their corner table. She caught their loaded looks as they set tables for the dinner crowd, murmuring subversively in Spanish.

“Dr. Shapiro says it’s a bad idea for me to go through with it if you’re not okay with it,” Derek said.

She gulped her third glass of chardonnay. It was an amazing trick Derek had pulled on her, really. He was forcing her to give him permission to indulge a twisted fantasy. If she didn’t do it, she was a bad wife. A fetish needs an outlet, Dr. Shapiro had told them when they’d gone for counseling. You can’t think them away. They need a channel so that you can have a satisfying life as a couple.

Bullshit, Paige had thought at the time. She hadn’t changed her mind about that. “I don’t understand why you want a dominatrix to torture you.” Her face flushed as the words gushed out.

“Dr. Shapiro explained it to you, didn’t he, Paige?” He took a sip of club soda, then steepled his fingers, taking on the serious, steady demeanor he assumed in front of juries when speaking on behalf of his shady clients. “Every day, literally hundreds of people look to me to take care of them. My employees, my clients. Charities I support…”

“I’m the one who helps charities,” Paige said.

“With my money.” Derek’s voice was even. “Our money, of course. But I’m the one who has to go out and earn it. I have so many people depending on me. Think of what the kids’ schools cost.”

That jolted Paige. Everything had seemed fine between her and Derek when the kids were at home. But then Derek had insisted on shipping them off to Swiss academies. Once it was just the two of them at home, minus the sunshine and cover the kids provided, Derek’s darker desires had flourished like poisonous plants. “But you’re the one who insisted…”

“I’m in control twenty-four seven, and it’s exhausting. I’m not complaining about how I live my life, but I need a release,” Derek went on. “You understand the dominatrix and I aren’t going to have sex, right? That’s why the dungeons are legal, by the way. No sex. You can legally hire someone to beat you with a whip, so long as there’s no sexual contact.”

Paige hated the way he slithered behind lawyerly arguments when discussing something personal. Did he really think that highlighting the technicalities of a morals law was going to make her comfortable with the fact her husband was going to go into a dark room with some leather-clad woman with a whip? Paige couldn’t put her finger on the part that bothered her the most. Her personal trainer liked to talk about trigger points in the body, and Paige felt that a bunch of hers were being hammered at the same time.

“I just don’t understand…” Paige started to say, but Derek had already opened his wallet and dropped several bills on the table.

“This doesn’t have to be a big deal, Paige, unless you make it one. This is about satisfying my needs.”

“But what about my needs?”

He stood without answering that. “Look, my appointment’s at three. I want to be on time.”

He meant his session at the dungeon, of course. It didn’t matter how she felt; he was going no matter what she said.

“Let me put you in the car.” Derek took her elbow. That made her feel older suddenly, like someone’s maiden auntie. “You’ve had a lot to drink.”

“I can get to the car.” She pushed him away.

Derek called his driver. Finally, the black town car turned the corner and double-parked in front of the bistro. Derek stepped off the curb and opened the door for her.

Paige started to get in. “Why did you tell me, Derek? Why didn’t you just do it quietly? I probably never would’ve known.”

Derek gave her that flat, broad smile that worked on juries. “I couldn’t keep secrets from you, honey.” He nudged her into the car and shut the door. When she turned to look at him, he was already on the sidewalk, his shoulders squared and his step swift, as if he couldn’t wait to get where he was headed.

“Home, ma’am?” the driver asked.

“Yes, please.” Paige sat back and rubbed her eyes. Had it really come to this? Seventeen years of marriage to a man who secretly craved dungeon paddlings? Whips and chains? A ball gag? Paige wasn’t even completely certain of the nature of his cravings. A couple of sessions at Dr. Shapiro’s townhouse hadn’t enlightened her about that. The doctor talked mostly about how trust is the most important thing in a relationship and how you have a responsibility to satisfy your partner, even if their desires don’t match up with yours.

I’ve been doing that for years, Paige had said.

I’m sure you think you have, the shrink told her.

The Next One to Fall, Now in Paperback

[image error]Wonderful news: my second novel, The Next One to Fall, is now available as a trade paperback from Tor/Forge. If you’ve seen my many llama photos on Facebook and Twitter (or if you’ve already read the book), you already know it’s a mystery set in Peru. If you can’t get enough of the llamas and other Andean camelids, I’ve made a slideshow of my own trip to Peru, with images from Machu Picchu and the Sacred Valley, Cusco, and Lima (not coincidentally, these are all settings in the book). There’s a Pinterest board devoted to The Next One to Fall as well. Read the reviews here. Want to buy the book? It’s available at Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Amazon, Indigo, and the iBookstore.

My debut novel, The Damage Done, is on sale as an eBook for $2.99 until February 27, 2013. It won the 2011 Anthony Award for Best First Novel, as well as a Crimespree Award. Read the reviews here. It’s available for Nook, Kindle, Kobo, and in the iBookstore. (By the way, I’m loving the iBookstore these days. If you take a look at the Canadian version of the store, you’ll see why.)

My third novel, Evil in All Its Disguises, comes out on March 5, 2013. I’m as giddy as I was when my first novel came out. Early reviews are coming in (I’m particularly grateful to Katrina Niidas Holm and Benoit Lelievre for theirs). I’ve got a fantastic tour planned that will take me to NYC, Long Island (Huntington, NY), Scottsdale, Los Angeles, Pasadena, Denver, Austin, Houston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, and Toronto. I’ll also be at the Tucson Festival of Books and Left Coast Crime. If I’m in your area, I hope you’ll come out to meet me. I also hope you’ll consider pre-ordering the book! You can get it from one of these wonderful indie bookstores, Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Indigo, or — of course — the iBookstore.

Announcing an eBook Sale!

Lily Moore gets around. The third novel featuring my travel-writing main character, EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES, will be published by Forge on March 5th. (Audiobook by Dreamscape will be out the same day.) The second book in the series, THE NEXT ONE TO FALL, will come out in trade paperback on February 12th (otherwise known as next Tuesday). That means… it’s time for an eBook sale on THE DAMAGE DONE! That’s the novel that launched the series, earning the 2011 Anthony Award for Best First Novel and a Crimespree Award in the process. For a limited time, the price of THE DAMAGE DONE is down to $2.99. Want to pick up a copy? Follow one of these links:

Apple iBookstore US store / Canadian store

Barnes & Noble Nook

Kindle 

Kobo

Macmillan

Don’t forget you’ve got a couple of chances to win a copy of the other books: there’s a GoodReads giveaway for THE NEXT ONE TO FALL right now. Also, I’m drawing names from my newsletter subscribers to win an advance copy of EVIL IN ALL ITS DISGUISES. Want to enter? All you need to do is sign up for my newsletter; if you win, you’ll need a mailing address in the US or Canada.