Showing posts with label Book 'Em Foundation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book 'Em Foundation. Show all posts

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Jean Keating - Feb. 13, 2009

If you've ever read my books or looked at my website or met me at a book or networking event, you'll know that I'm a cat person. I like dogs, as long as they're well-behaved and they belong to somebody else and they don't drool on me. But I am a confirmed cat person.

Jean Keating, though, has just about convinced me that I need to make an effort to meet the tiny show dogs called Papillons. Jean's books have taught me so much about these little butterfly dogs of the show dog circuit.

I met Jean several years about when we were both presenting at the Cape Fear Crime Festival in Wilmington, North Carolina. One of her Papillons is now trained as a hearing-assist dog, so she takes the dog with her to booksignings and conferences. I can't wait to meet him at the next Book 'Em Foundation event!

Mark Kearney - Jan. 30, 2009

My friend and fellow mystery writer Trish Terrell, who writes as p.m. terrell, suggested months ago, when I first came up with the idea of Mystery Matters, that I call Mark Kearney, a police officer in Waynesboro VA. The two of them co-founded The Book 'Em Foundation, and Mark had recently written his first mystery.

Of all the people who ended up on the Mystery Matters schedule, I have to admit that I was the most nervous about interviewing Mark. One reason is that just the title of his book, Twisted Obsession, scared the you-know-what right out of me. I'd made a commitment to read what my guests had written, so I could ask intelligent questions, but I was not looking forward to being terrified. Instead, I found that the book presented the case of a cop gone bad in a way that, while it gave me pause to wonder, did not result in too many sleepless nights.

And the conversation with Mark was a delight. A listener emailed the question: "If your children said they wanted to follow your steps into police work, what would you tell them?" What a wonderful question followed by an amazingly wonderful answer. You simply have to listen to his thoughtful recommendations that started with finish school and read, read, read.