Celebrity sighting: <a href="http://secretdead.blogspot.com/2007/03/happy-birthday-parker.html"_blank">These guys</a> came to my book-signing today in West Chester, PA. Parker behaved beautifully. I wasn't sure if they'd be able to come, but I packed some gifts for Parker and his sister, just in case, and wore a shirt I thought he might like, one covered with silk-screened images of vintage cars. (And dating back to 1991, to continue the theme of "Laura keeps and wears clothes forever.")It Read more [...]

Things are getting a little kooky in Baltimore. That's all I'll say for now. Meanwhile, Espirit d'escalier, Part II. Here's a tough lesson: If there are people in your life who have consistently patronized you, there is nothing you can do or achieve that will change that. Trust me on this. Here, with names and details changed to protect the smug, is a recent exchange in my life. Man #1, a man who has previously said, more than once, that he hopes that one day I will write a "real" book: How are things Read more [...]

I will not be #11 on the New York Times list on April 8th. I'll be #10. Happy now, Bryon? Seriously, this is far more than I hoped for. I was hoping that I might hang on for a second week, at slot #15, but it seemed like a lot to ask. Lovely to see Barbara and Clair tonight. And thank you, my mystery benefactor -- you know who you are, but I won't out you without permission -- who left the kosher-for-passover Coca-Cola. Terrific signing at Politics & Prose, as always. Bonus -- my two sisters-in-law, Read more [...]

<a href="http://www.offbeat.com/artman/publish/article_1264.shtml"_blank">Davis Rogan</a>, a favorite musician and songwriter, introduced me to this expression, generally translated as the wit of the staircase. These are the things we think to say too late. In this case, it's not a lost opportunity for wit, but a missed chance at candor that bothers me. I was asked Monday night if I chose to use a real-life inspiration for WTDK because I thought it would help me sell more books. As a Read more [...]

I got up at 4:30 a.m. this morning to make my 6 a.m. call time at the set of THE WIRE, where I was to deliver a single line as Lippman, a rather obdurate reporter. Yes, I was typecast. I've been to set several times, but I was watching things through fresh eyes, mindful of my current work-in-progress. I longed for a notebook to jot down the jargon ("Last look." "Check the gate."). Among other things. THE WIRE takes 9-10 days to film an hour of television; today, there were two scenes, the first to Read more [...]

In my giddiness last week, I overlooked a corporate cousin also on the <a href=" http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/01/books/bestseller/0401besthardfiction.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1174915109-XuSigEQkxA/JNioZZNTCOQ" target="_blank">Times list</a>: Joe Hill. In fact, Hill’s debut novel HEART-SHAPED BOX has been on the list for five weeks. Hill happens to be the son of Stephen King, but as Morrow publisher Lisa Gallagher told the students at the Writer in Paradise Read more [...]

Yes, I seem to have a cold and today is my only day off for the next seven days. (Hooray for Passover, which means a couple days off, not because I'm particularly religious -- I am managing the trick of being nonobservant in two faiths, although I show up for all the meals -- but because most bookstores don't want to compete with Seders.) This weekend marked my third trip, in five years, to the Virginia Festival of the Book. Lee Child gave a really extraordinary speech at the Crime Wave luncheon, Read more [...]

This was a nice week, business-wise. If I had to compare it to a poker hand – remember, CASINO ROYALE was on the westbound flight, so I saw a lot of poker, and it was okay, but I prefer THE STING when it comes to poker, CASINO ROYALE for torsos – I’d say a straight flush. There was more good news today; WTDK is #14 on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list. Imagine me, living in a place where executives would never want to tamper*, on the WSJ list. But – well, I’ll be mulling that Read more [...]

I'm in the Denver airport, checking e-mail and a woman comes over and says, "I hate to ask you this, but are you Laura Lippman?"

And her daughter, a 4-year-old cutie that I had noticed while we were in the ticket line is named . . . Tess. Yes, that Tess. We just had our photo taken together and her mother, a lovely woman named Angie, claims it will be their Christmas card.

So, I'm in Edwards, Colorado, a little off, possibly from the altitude, and wondering where I'm going to find the energy to go to my reading, when my cell rings. And my editor -- dear sweet Carrie Feron, my editor for 12 books, and also my friend -- says: "Congratulations, New York Times bestseller." I'm #11, separated by an asterisk from Mitch Albom at #10, which means our sales are virtually the same for the week. I'm one notch up from Lionel Shriver, another HarperCollins author. (Meanwhile, Lisa Read more [...]