CRAZED

A couple of recent lists recommending The Caretaker of Lorne Field

It was nice to see The Caretaker of Lorne Field join Paul Tremblay's sick+twisted+very excellent A Head Full of Ghosts on this list from BookRiot. Those darn Aukowies also showed up on on this Book picks for Halloween.

Play casting agent and win a free copy of MALICIOUS!

Read CRAZED, have some fun playing casting agent, and win a free ebook copy of the 3rd Morris Brick crime thriller MALICIOUS! But that's not all! One lucky winner (if he or she wishes) will also be immortalized in a future Julius Katz mystery story that will be published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine by having a suspect named after you.

Send me your dream movie cast for the following characters in CRAZED, and I'll send the best 5 a free ebook for the upcoming MALICIOUS when it's available: Morris Brick, Natalie Brick, Philip Stonehedge,Sheila Proops, Griffin Bolling, and Allen Perlmutter. If you want to include actors to play other characters in the book, feel free!

All entries must be received by Oct. 22.

Small Crimes to Crazed

I sold my 3^rd novel Small Crimes to Serpent’s Tail in 2006. Back then we had a different publishing and book world. Hell, ebooks didn’t exist, self-publishing was a dirty word, and it was chain stores putting pressure on independent bookstores, not Amazon. When I was first starting out, I was writing crime noir, then later horror and books that were a mix of horror and crime. All standalones. During this strange journey, I’ve been reviewed in major newspapers, both in the US and abroad. I’ve seen my books translated into six languages, and one of them made into a movie. 

Now in 2017, I’ve just seen my second Morris Brick thriller and 13^th traditionally-published novel, CRAZED, be released. There’s not much chance I would’ve been able to write this series when I was first starting out. As long as you’re trying, you can’t help but grow as a writer, and that’s a big part of the reason. My publisher requires these Morris Brick thrillers to be at least 90k words long, which means I need to be able to outline plots where I know how long the book will be while not adding any fat or filler. The books need to be fast, and the complex puzzles I’m constructing need to tightly fit together regardless of the word length. That’s a skill that takes time to learn. Also, I understand the business side much better than when I started. If you’re writing a series, you need to play by a certain set of rules. It doesn’t mean you can’t have fun, or you’re not proud of the books—because I’m damn proud of these Morris Brick thrillers—it just means you’re more aware of writing within the genre’s boundaries.

13 books published, dozens of short stories, at least three more Morris Brick thrillers coming, three books self-published, one more noir novel that’s so far only coming out in Germany, and things are looking good for two more movies. It’s certainly been interesting so far. I’ll see how much longer I can keep this ride going.

Making a 'Crazed' Cocktail

To celebrate the publishing day for my second Morris Brick thriller (and 13th traditionally published novel) I'd like to offer up a recipe for a 'Crazed' cocktail: one lunatic wheel chair-bound serial killer who escaped prosecution for her previous crimes, one serial killer hell-bent on gaining notoriety, one desperate wannabe filmmaker who'll do anything to achieve his big break, one investigation firm headed by an ex-LAPD celebrity detective who will doggedly pursue his quarry, and one bacon-loving bull terrier. Sprinkle in some vicious Ukrainian mobsters, con men, and a few other unsavory sorts for seasoning. Mix until highly combustible, then pour.

Read Shamus-nominated story ARCHIE ON LOAN

My first Julius Katz mystery story titled simply JULIUS KATZ was published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2009 and later won the 2010 Shamus Award. Now with ARCHIE ON LOAN, my 10th Julius Katz mystery, I've received my second Shamus nomination! Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine has made this story available free on their new and improved website, and it can be found here.

Win a copy of CRAZED

 The good folks at Kensington Books are giving away 100 copies of my second Morris Brick thriller CRAZED. This is one that I'm particularly fond of and might have my favorite character from all my novels. Not the killer, but a desperate and wannabe filmmaker named Perlmutter. While thus crime thriller is a different genre than my crime noir novels, I'd also put this one up against SMALL CRIMES. The book will be published Sept. 5th, so if you win this will give you a chance to read it sooner.

PI sidekicks

Sherlock had his Watson, Nero Wolfe his Archie Goodwin, Julius Katz his own version of Archie, Morris Brick's sidekick? A bull terrier named Parker.

A complete Julius Katz case history

I've updated my website to bring the Julius Katz case history up-to-date.

Julius Katz news

I'm happy to report that my Julius Katz mystery story 'Archie on Loan' which appeared last year in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's 75th anniversary issue was nominated for a Shamus Award.

This year's nominees:

"Keller's Fedora" by Lawrence Block (e-publication)
"A Battlefield Reunion" by Brendan DuBois (June 2016, AHMM)
"Stairway From Heaven" by Ake Edwardson (Stockholm Noir)
"A Dangerous Cat" by Mickey Spillane & Max Allan Collins (Feb/May 2016, The Strand)
"Archie On Loan" by Dave Zeltserman (Sept/Oct 2016, EQMM)

When you look at the competition I'm up against, this is a case where in all honesty I can say it's an honor just to be nominated!

And that's not it for Julius Katz news--the latest Julius Katz mystery 'Julius Katz and the Terminated Agent' is available now in the July/August issue of Ellery Queen.