New Cover for Dust Devils

My novel DUST DEVILS has a nifty new cover that Livia designed. Check it out.

New Interview on Criminal-E Blog

There's a new interview with me this morning on Allan Guthrie's Criminal-E blog. Many of you know Al and know that he's a fine writer, but he's also one of the best editors I've ever had, and I've always thought that his suggestions on my novel DUST DEVILS (the focus of the interview) improved the book immensely.

More Books for the Nook

Several more of our books are now available on Barnes & Noble for the Nook, including all three of Livia's Lucas Hallam novels, WILD NIGHT, DEAD STICK, and DOG HEAVIES, my Western/World War I novel UNDER OUTLAW FLAGS, and DUST DEVILS.  If you have a Nook, check 'em out.

How I Came to Write This Book

You can find out all about it over on Patti Abbott's blog today.

Japanese Edition of Dust Devils

Copies of the Japanese edition of DUST DEVILS arrived in the mail today. I think this is a pretty good cover. Of course, I can't read any of the book itself other than the English stuff on the copyright page and some of the house ads in the back for Dick Francis books. Whenever copies of a foreign edition of one of my books show up, I still think, "Ain't that cool?" I love the idea that people in Japan will be reading what I wrote in my little, book-cluttered studio in Texas. Yesterday was one of those days when I thought, "Why did I ever want to be a writer?" Today is one of the days when I know why.

Bookgasm Top Ten

I'm pleased to report that DUST DEVILS has made Bruce Grossman's list of top ten crime novels of 2007, as reported over on Bookgasm. Bruce is, of course, a man of impeccable taste, and I'm very glad he liked the book enough to include it.

Dust Devils Review on Vintage Hardboiled Reads

I hope you'll forgive the blatant self-promotion on Christmas Day. August West over at the excellent new Vintage Hardboiled Reads blog has some very nice things to say about DUST DEVILS. It's always very gratifying to know that people have enjoyed something I've written. And of course I have to mention that the deadline for voting on the Spinetingler Awards is coming up soon. The details can be found here.

Dust Devils Nominated for Spinetingler Award

DUST DEVILS has made the shortlist for the Spinetingler Awards in the Best Novel -- Legend category. You can read about it and see how to vote here. Considering the competition -- Ken Bruen, James Lee Burke, Laura Lippman, and Ian Rankin -- you can be sure of two things: I'm tremendously honored to be included, and I don't expect to win. There are some very worthy nominees in all the categories, so you should definitely go and vote. I would tell you to vote early and vote often, especially if you're voting for DUST DEVILS, but, uh, they don't allow that, drat the luck. There's even a category for Best Cover, and all five of the nominees are great. Voting ends December 30, so get those votes in.

Booklist Likes Dust Devils

I just noticed on the Amazon page for DUST DEVILS that a starred review from BOOKLIST has been posted. I don't know if the review is available on-line, but you can read it on the Amazon page if you're interested. One big word of warning, however: the review gives away pretty much EVERY plot twist in the book . . . and DUST DEVILS is a book that has a lot of plot twists. So please, don't read the review if you haven't read the book yet. Still, I'm very pleased that the folks there think it's a good book.

My Internet service is still intermittent, but it's supposed to improve any day now . . .

Independent Crime Review of Dust Devils

Nathan Cain of the Independent Crime website has some very nice things to say about DUST DEVILS. You can read his review here.

Publishers Weekly Likes Dust Devils

Publishers Weekly has given DUST DEVILS a starred review. You can read it here.

This is seriously cool.

(Thanks to Scott Cupp for the heads-up on this.)

Dust Devils Review

A lot of writers will tell you that if you're going to ignore the bad reviews, you really ought to ignore the good ones, too. That's probably sound advice . . . but golly, that's a nice review of DUST DEVILS from Bruce Grossman over on Bookgasm:

"Many authors have tried to duplicate the feel of the old Gold Medal classics, but usually are slightly off the mark. Not James Reasoner; his new one from Point Blank Press – DUST DEVILS – hits the bull’s-eye from page one. What starts out innocently enough takes some jaw-dropping turns in a taut 150 pages."

High praise indeed in my world, and I'm human enough to feel great about it.

Dust Devils in the Forecast

No, I'm not talking about the weather. This is the cover for my novel DUST DEVILS, which will be published soon by Point Blank Press. I think it's pretty snazzy. Al Guthrie did a great job editing the book, and JT Lindroos put together a very attractive package. If you click on the picture, you should be able to read the back cover copy. This is the first book with my name on it in quite a while, and my first real crime novel, and I'm pretty proud of it. I hope some of you will read it and enjoy it.