Grim Goes to the Big Screen

It's official. Some of the best news ever: "Murder at the Back of Beyond," is going to become a movie. My script will be used (with some changes, eek). Casting has started. At the end of May I'm going to be in Sydney, Melbourne, and Alice Springs, for meetings.  After thirteen adventures with Peregrine Jones he's going to have a new outlet. I can't wait to see what happens. I'll keep you posted.

Second best news ever—on my way to Australia, I'm going to stop off for some vacation time!

Steal this Idea, Please

Well, I've pitched it to my editor twice, in two different configurations and each time she slaps me back. Most recently she told me that my readers didn't want to read a hard, gritty forensic book from me. "They expect your snarky tone." Yep she actually said that.

Remember back in 2006 when there were a bunch of horse shootings in a crescent pattern just south of the Twin Cities? It got my mind going in all the most conspiratorial and paranoid ways. I'm sure it got law enforcement thinking too.

But just because I can't go gritty, and I can't think how to bring snarky into it, doesn't mean it isn't going to be fruitful for someone else. So check out horse shootings, and plot on a map, and do a little thinking of your own.

My conclusion was pretty chilling. And it didn't involve the insurance scam my editor suggested.

My Wicked Mind

Click on the image to view an enlargement.

I went to the Mall of America yesterday (I know, I know, what was I thinking) and while I was there I came across a man living in a glass box. (I did not tap on the glass!) He had encouraged a line of pre-teen boys to play air guitar with him, shades of Jack Black in School of Rock. All the while he lept on furniture and bounced around. I wish this man and his experiment well, but I must admit my mind couldn't help but think this was the perfect situation for a closed-room murder. Wonder what it's like being at the Mall after closing?