Books for Banter: You Talk. I Send Books.

"PI Richard Cole puts Emily Locke on a case that gives her a real workout in Brady's well-crafted second mystery to feature the 33-year-old single mom (after 2009's Final Approach). Brady's wry look at fashionista spa life and the spirited, down-to-earth Emily mark this as a series to watch." —Publishers Weekly

Win free copies ~ November 26th - December 4th.

DEAD LIFT is here! I'm celebrating with a contest to help spread the word. You can participate on Twitter, Facebook, at your blog, or by e-mail. Link to this post to be entered to win your choice of a signed copy of Emily's latest adventure, Dead Lift, or the first in the series, Final Approach.

Friday's winner (11/26): Tammy Kaehler
Saturday's winner (11/27): Beth Robertson
Sunday's winner (11/28): Laura Dealoia
Monday's winner (11/29): Ken Buxton
Tuesday's winner (11/30): Jenni Kershaw
Wednesday's winner (12/1): Brian Brady
Thursday's winner (12/2): Julie Hennrikus
Friday's winner (12/3): Lisa Keeling
Saturday's winner (12/4): Mary Langdoc

Four ways to play

1. Twitter

Tweet some variant: RT @Rachel_Brady New gym/spa mystery, DEAD LIFT, is here. Free giveaways this week! and link back to this post.

(The @Rachel_Brady is important because it's the only way I'll see your post to know to enter you.)

2. Your blog

Mention Dead Lift on your blog with a link to this post. Then comment here with a link to your blog. You're entered!

3. E-mail

Mention Dead Lift, with a link to this post, in an e-mail to your friends who enjoy crime fiction. Be sure to copy me at rachel(at)rachelbrady(dot)net so I know to enter you.

4. Facebook

Facebook gets sub-bullets because *I Heart Facebook*:

4a) Mention Dead Lift and link to this post on your Facebook page and you’re entered to win. Message me to let me know. (My Facebook feed gets kind of long and I don't want to miss you.)

4b) Add yourself as a "Liker" of my page and I will enter you because I like to be liked! Say hi on the Wall so I'll know to enter you.

Extra stuff

• Enter multiple times with any combination of the above.
  
• I'll collect names from Twitter, Facebook, blog comments, and my Inbox all week long.
• I'll draw a winner every day, up to and including Saturday, December 4th.
• Daily winners will be announced here at the blog and on Twitter and Facebook each evening.

More stuff

Are you a librarian? Do you belong to a book club? I send a complimentary signed copies to book club organizers and librarians who introduce Emily Locke to their reading groups.

Thanks for playing, and good luck!

Because I Feel Like It

Today at the Stiletto Gang: How my emerging attitude problem is ramping up the word count.

Did that kid just hit on me? A post by Mrs. Robinson.

This afternoon I was at the library (which is all this post has to do with books, sorry) and as I was leaving, two respectable looking young men came in the door. I'd put them in their late teens.

I did the door dance with one of them. You know the one. I swerve, he swerves, we both go the other way, no wait, after you, how about I go over here? Right. So that happened. I smiled at him because it was funny, and I left. Nothing was said.

Past that exit is a foyer before you get to the real exit that goes outside. In this foyer, I turned off into a corridor to stop at the ladies room, and when I was partway down that hallway, I heard someone behind me:

"Excuse me?"

I turned. It was the door dance kid: "Are you married?"

Huhwhaa?

I must say, though, his timing was impeccable. Just this very day I found another gray hair.

"I'm . . ." (trying to calculate your age, can you even vote?) ". . . married."

He gave me a warm smile and a polite apology, told me to have a nice afternoon, waved, and left. I went into the ladies room and wondered what the heck just happened.

I've been told a few times in lo, my many years that I'm fairly oblivious to come-ons. I tend to just assume everybody is friendly, and that's all. But, wow. "Are you married?" That's pretty clear, right?

But wait.

Maybe he wasn't a teenager. Could it be that he was really 25, not 18, and that I'm so old now that a 25-year-old looks 18 to me?

Or what if I'd said I was single, and then he'd said, "Super. Would you give me a hand with my tenth grade sociology project? I'm supposed to interview women in mid-life who have not found love."

I imagine many endings to the alternate conversation, and all of them end in embarrassment. I just don't see myself as the cougar type, although I would really like to have my own theme song.

Left Coast Crime from a librarian's perspective

You'll meet a lot of great people at writers' conferences. Last month at Left Coast Crime I met Terry Jacobsen, a librarian from California who wrote a nice piece about her conference experience. It's shared here in hopes that those of you who are setting out on your writing journeys will get your booties to the next conference near you.

Library Love, Part Deux. Thank you, Tomball, Texas!

It's no secret around here that I love my library. Now I love another library too. But it's okay. Libraries don't get jealous.

Last week I was invited to visit the mystery book club at the Tomball College and Community Library. Talking to book clubs is always fun, but this one was especially welcoming. I knew I was going to like it there when I walked in the door and Angela Hunter (left), from the Friends of the Library, told me I looked like a teenager. Fifty points to my new BFF.

Georgia Owens (right) planned an outstanding event. She even decorated with a parachute! I was greeted with a ginormous, laminated rainbow sign that said, "Welcome, Rachel" and a gorgeous bouquet of flowers that she later sent home with me. Thank you, Georgia! They are almost as lovely as you! :-) Her husband Mike, even catered for us. He makes great queso. Thanks, Mike!

Much as I was loving the decorations and food, the visit got even better once we started talking. What a great group of readers! We talked about lots of things, including, but not limited to:

• Final Approach
• My next book, Dead Lift
• How I write
• Cover art
• Where book ideas come from
• Life at NASA
• My hobbies and follies
  
• Our favorite authors
  
• Our favorite mystery series-es (is there a word for this?)
• Fashion trends of the 1960s
• Snobby women
• Women who wear too much make-up
• How Jerry Baker from the Houston Chronicle will one day make us famous
• Whether I could possibly move to Tomball so I could hang out with all my new friends, pictured here.

This was a fabulous group, one of the most fun yet, and I had the time of my life.

Sincere thanks to Georgia for setting this up, and to Angela for buying more copies for the Friends of the Library. See you guys in a few months for Dead Lift. Library Love!