Krispy Kreme Christmas Donuts

For years, Krispy Kreme Donuts were an East Coast secret. You could even buy them at the Pentagon. When they first showed up in L.A., the lines were out the door and around the block. "Are they really that good?" my roommate asked me. "Oh yeah," I replied.
Krispy Kreme built a plant in Van Nuys that was open 24 hours and you could watch the donuts being bathed in that lovely sugar glaze. (And that's the only kind I ever bought--for me jelly filled and chocolate-iced were just gilding the lily. It was raised/glazed or nothing for me.)
The low-carb, Atkins diet craze kind of killed Krispy Kreme for a while and a lot of the stores that opened in the first flush of donut-mania closed.
But I'm glad to see that Krispy Kreme is still at it. I think these Christmas donuts rae adorable. And realize it's a REALLY good thing, there aren't any Krispy Kreme outlets anywhere near me.

Total Victim Theory is free today

I love this cover. It's graphic. It's striking. It grabs me. It has that pixilltated photo thing that you often see in comic books. I'm immediately intrigued.

Here's what it says on the sell page:

Six months have passed since a faded, black ledger mysteriously appeared on FBI Agent Jake Radley's doorstep. Puzzling over the document's sinister entries, Jake pieces together a story of mass murder near the Texas-Mexico border two decades before. If Jake's theory is correct, the names listed on the ledger's final page are the victims of a previously unknown serial killer. Leads are scarce until a gruesome new crime scene, deep in the Mexican desert, shows a chilling connection to the border deaths of long ago. . .

I don't know about you--but I'm hooked.

And it's free today, so I can indulge my curiosity. Find it here.

Author Roger Hobbs is Dead

I just saw the obit and it was one of those "Oh hell no" moments. He was only 28 and a talent to be reckoned with. His debut novel, Ghostman, got all kinds of praise and if you're a fan of "heist-gone-wrong" books, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

I (Heart) Joe Kenda

I don't read a lot of true crime. I remember reading Tim Cahill's book, Buried Dreams: Inside the Mind of a Serial Killer, and getting incredibly depressed. I later read that writing it depressed Cahill also. (I'm a big fan of his adventure essays, particularly the collection Jaguars Ripped My Flesh.) When I was researching Whipping Boy, I watched a lot of Forensic Files and Youtube videos on various subjects. But I had never heard of Lt. Joe Kenda, Homicide Hunter, until Thanksgiving last year when the family gathered to binge-watch the program.

In a world where so much crime goes unsolved, it's comforting to know that Kenda (retired from the Colorado Springs police department) had a phenomenal "clearance rate." He solved nearly 400 homicides during his career and watching the show is kind of like a master class in investigative procedure and criminal psychology. Plus, the man's bone-dry sense of humor tickles me and has inspired dozens of memes. I got caught up on Homicide Hunter this Thanksgiving. Can't wait until next year!

Having a hard time waiting for Beauty & the Beast?

It seems like 2017 is a long way away after you've seen the wonderful trailer for the Emma Watson, live-action Beauty and the Beast feature film. I feel your pain! While you're waiting, why not grab a copy of my retelling of the classic story, The Summer Garden.  It's free right now on Amazon.

Mega YA Book Giveaway Contest

There are plenty of freebie e-book offers out there right now. This one is a chance to win a box of 70 actual books by a number of best-selling authors, some of them signed. (I  love ebooks but I also have a fondness for "book" books.) Enter here.

The Resistance Reads: Stamped From the Beginning

Stamped from the Beginning, a history of racism in America, has just won the 2016 National Book Award for non-fiction. I hope that means a paperback edition is coming soon because my usual "go-to" book buying option (used) isn't really working here as on Amazon, the used version is twice what a new copy of the hardcover is. (How does that even happen?) 

Ibram X. Kenny, an assistant professor of African-American history at the University of Florida, also wrote a history of The Black Campus Movement.