Mark Rubinstein's Blog, page 7

Madness and Death

On October 18, 2016, Deborah Danner, a 66-year old woman, was shot to death by a police sergeant. Along with his fellow officers, he had responded to 911 calls from neighbors because she had been acting strangely. Records show the police had been called in the past to deal with Ms. Danner who had been tormented by schizophrenia since her twenties.

When the officers arrived on the scene, they encountered an agitated Ms. Danner brandishing a pair of scissors. When told to drop the scissors, she...

You’re Invited to Dinner with Famous Authors

Over the years, I’ve interviewed many well-known authors, and we’ve discussed their writing careers as well as some aspects of their personal lives. One question I sometimes ask has been “food for thought” for many writers, and their answers often reveal much about them. Readers of my blog seem to especially enjoy this query, and the responses it engenders:

Here’s the question: You’re hosting a dinner party and can invite any five people, living or dead, real or fictional, from any walk of li...

‘Chaos,’ A Conversation with Patricia Cornwell

Patricia Cornwell, known to millions of readers worldwide as a bestselling author, has won many prestigious awards. She researches cutting-edge forensic technologies that inform her Kay Scarpetta novels.

Chaos is Patricia Cornwell’s twenty-fourth Scarpetta novel. Kay and her investigative partner Pete Marino receive a call about a dead bicyclist whose body reveals very strange clues. An anonymous cyberbully named “Tailend Charlie” has been sending cryptic communications to Scarpetta, and when...

‘Into the Lion’s Den,’ A Conversation with Linda Fairstein

‘Into the Lion’s Den,’ A Conversation with Linda Fairstein

Linda Fairstein, internationally bestselling author of the Alexandra Cooper novels and former Manhattan assistant district attorney for more than two decades, has combined her considerable talent, knowledge, and imagination to write Into the Lion’s Den, the first novel in a series for kids between the ages of 8 and 12.

Into the Lion’s Den introduces us to 12-year-old Devlin Quick, the daughter of New York City’s first woman police com...

‘Ruler of the Night,’ A Conversation with David Morrell

David Morrell is known to millions of readers worldwide as the “Father of Rambo,” the protagonist in his debut novel, First Blood. The recipient of many awards, David has authored 29 works of fiction that have been translated into 30 languages. A former literature professor at the University of Iowa, he now presents us with the last in his Victorian trilogy, Ruler of the Night.

Set in 1855 London, Ruler of the Night once again features the brilliant Thomas De Quincey and his daughter Emily wh...

‘The Wrong Side of Goodbye,’ A Conversation with Michael Connelly

Michael Connelly, the author of twenty-eight previous novels, including his internationally bestselling Harry Bosch and the

Photo: Mark DeLong

Lincoln Lawyer series, started his writing career as a newspaper reporter. His award-winning books have sold more than sixty million copies worldwide.

In The Wrong Side of Goodbye, Bosch, retired from the LAPD, is now a private investigator who does some part-time work for the San Fernando Police Department. He’s contacted by Whitney Vance, a reclusive...

Rereading the Classics

Okay, I admit to not having read many of the classics when I was a kid, and regret even more so bypassing these masterworks for all the decades I’ve been an adult. But there were a number I did read…you remember, all those assigned books we were forced to tackle in school. Among that number was The Old Man and the4 Sea.

This book, basically a novella, had rested on my bookshelf for years.

One day, it caught my eye and I decided to give it another read. My sole motivation was to see what had m...

Getting Away with Murder?

John Hinckley, the man who shot President Reagan, was recently granted a provisional release from Washington’s St. Elizabeth Hospital, where he’d been committed since 1982. He was hospitalized after having been found Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. [NGRI] This “convalescent leave” was granted because he is no longer viewed as a threat. He is under severe restrictions and most remain in psychiatric treatment in order to remain free.

As a forensic psychiatrist, I’ve written about this topic i...

‘Escape Clause,’ A Talk with John Sandford

John Sandford is the pseudonym for the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist John Camp. After turning to fiction, he’s written ma

The writer John Sandford (USA) by Beowulf Sheehan, July 9, 2015, New York, New York. Photograph Beowulf Sheehan

ny bestselling books, including twenty-six Prey novels, the most recent being Extreme Prey. He’s also written four Kidd novels; nine Virgil Flowers novels; three standalone novels, and three YA novels coauthored with his wife, Michele Cook.

Escape Clause, fi...

Re-Reading the Classics

Okay, I admit to regretting all the classics I never read as a kid, or even as an adult. There were many I did read, but was “forced” to as a school kid. One of them was “The Old Man and the Sea.” As I kid, I thought it was an “okay” story, and I sort of enjoyed the film with Spencer Tracy, too.

But I recently re-read the novel and realized something had changed within myself. I could actually feel and understand the depth of Santiago, the old man, and understood his feelings about the sea, t...