Edgar Award Winning Author

Welcome to my website!

If you're new to my work, please feel free to explore what's up here. I've uploaded a sample of each of my novels to give you a taste of what I'm about as a writer. If you like what you see, there are links to take you where you can order the book.

This website isn't just a standalone advertisement for one writer's books, though. This website tells a story, and while it's my story, it's also the story of a lot of writers and what we've been through in the 21st century.

Fifteen years ago, I was a writer on the cusp of what I hoped would be a real breakout and the beginning of a long and successful career. I had won an Edgar Award, a Shamus Award, and had a New York Times Notable Book. I'd been hired to write an ABC-Television movie and earned membership in the Writers Guild Of America. My books were translated into French, German, Japanese, and later, Mandarin Chinese. After years of struggling to gain publication in the first place, I thought I'd finally made it.

Then, something happened.

Some of it was personal. I divorced, remarried, then divorced and remarried again. I became a parent. Three years later, I became a parent again. At the same time, in the late Nineties and the early part of this century, the publishing business began to implode and my writing income--like that of so many other writers--began to go down. I'd been teaching adjunct for years and, out of nowhere, an offer to teach full-time came to me. The steady paycheck and benefits suddenly seemed a lot more atractive...

At first, I deluded myself into thinking I was still a full-time writer, part-time teacher. But as the years passed, teaching took up more and more of my time and there was less and less time and energy to write. I continued, however, to observe the industry, to keep in touch with other writers and friends in the business, and what I saw scared the hell out of me...

Over time, the writing career slowly ground to an agonizing halt. My last novel, By Blood Written, came out in 2005 hardcover, 2007 paperback.

Then, five years ago, I was appointed Chair of The Film School at the Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, here in Nashville, Tennessee. While I found the job challenging and, most of the time, enjoyable, the truth is that now there was no time to write.

None.

After five years in that job, though, I've decided to leave it behind and revert to my faculty position. I'm older now--maybe a little bit wiser--and am determined to resurrect that once-promising writing career. I've turned in a manuscript to my agent and have recently published a short story. I'm planning and working on my next book, and am applying for a couple of grants. I'm taking a journey now, a journey to become what I once was and ought to be again.

So that's the story--the work-in-progress--that I want to tell in this website. It's an exciting journey and a terrifying one. I'll write regularly about the trip. There'll be lots of postcards.

So I invite you to check back in from time to time. In the meantime, thanks for stopping by.