We were there for Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Week, when my husband, Bill Pronzini, was given MWA's Grand Master award. We had a great time seeing old friends, agents, and publishing people, and we managed to get the award--a ceramic head of Edgar Allan Poe--through airport security after being x-rayed only three times. I kept thinking of that film about heads in a dufflebag....

So now we have two of those heads in the household, making us the only living married couple to have been graced with this honor (the other being Margaret Millar and Ross Macdonald, whose work we both admired). It's a wonderful experience, but also a humbling one to be on a list with so many writers whose work inspired us.

Back to reality. Doing the laundry, cleaning the cat box, running errands.

I'm at work on my next Sharon McCone novel, THE LOCKED-IN SYNDROME, which will be published a year from October. BURN OUT, McCone's most recent adventure, will be published by Grand Central Books (formerly Warner) this October. Look out for some big changes in both.

For those of you in Arizona and Oregon, both Bill and will be at the Poison Pen in Scottsdale and the Salem Public Library in June. Please check the "Tour Dates" page under "About Marcia" for details.

Hoping you all have a lovely summer. Back to you in the fall.

Marcia

Traumatized by a recent life-or-death investigation, Sharon McCone flees to her ranch in California's high desert country to contemplate her future. Deep depression shadows her days and nights, and a chance encounter with a troubled, highly secretive Native American woman begins to haunt her dreams. Even though she is determined not to investigate anything during her stay--and perhaps not ever again--McCone is drawn into the plight of the young woman and her dysfunctional family. A murder and traces of violence at a deserted resort lead her across the desert and into Nevada, and finally to a remote and isolated ranch, where danger lies closer than she expects--and where her future and life itself may hang in the balance.

Sharon McCone is hired by her husband's security firm to track down "the ever-running man," a shadowy figure who has been leaving explosive devices at their various offices. She doesn't have to search for long. When McCone narrowly escapes an explosion at the security firm's San Francisco offices, she catches a glimpse of his retreating figure. The ever-running man is dangerously close -- and anyone connected to the firm seems to be within his deadly range. To complicate matters, McCone is forced to question her intensely private husband, Hy, about his involvement in some of the firm's dark secrets. The history of corruption may jeopardize their marriage, but uncovering the secrets of the firm may be the only way she can save her husband's life, and her own.

Read an excerpt here.
Pre-order the book here.

Subscribe to my newsletter by September 30, 2008 and you'll be entered in a contest to win a paperback of VANISHING POINT.