The Annenberg Diamond

The Annenberg Diamond, a 32.01-carat emerald-cut diamond, sold for $7.7 million to an anonymous buyer at a Christie's auction held Wednesday, October 21st.

The diamond went for a world record price of $240,000 per ct. for a colorless diamond.

According to the AP, the diamond was donated by billionaire philanthropist Leonore Annenberg's estate. Annenberg had purchased it for her 90th birthday.

Sales from the entire auction totaled $46,513,050 million. — (AP 10/22/09)

Who says crime doesn’t pay? Read my next book in the Jimmy O’Brien Series, DETOUR TO MURDER, coming out in 2010.

Send me an email to get on my mailing list: jeffsherratt@aol.com

Town Hall Meetings

Dignified citizens gather at a town hall meeting to discuss the heath care issues.

10 Fabulous Things about Being a Writer at a Book Signing

1. You get to meet pretty girls, and
2. Pretty girls tell you how great you are.
3. Pretty girls think you’re smart.
4. Pretty girls send you emails after the event
5. Pretty girls sometimes gush.
6. Pretty girls once in a while give you a hug
7. Pretty girls listen when you speak
8. Pretty girls smile and laugh at your corny jokes
9. Pretty girls buy your book and ask you to autograph it
10. You get free coffee from the bookstore staff.

Judd Strikes Again

For 35 years, television-radio consumer reporter and crusader, Judd McIlvain has fought for the "Little Guy". Now scam artists, crooks and dishonest companies who cheat hard-working Americans have even more to worry about with LA Talk's exciting new program "The Troubleshooter"!

Need some straight answers? Consumer Advice? Help defeating a company who is taking you to the cleaners?

Fear not! Just bring your problems to Judd McIlvain, the winner of 2 Emmys and 8 Golden Mike Awards for his tenacious investigative reports seen on television.

“Sure, it’s a compelling read,” he said. “But there are no pictures.”

Here's Proof

Former astronaut: Man not alone in universe
CNN

“Edger Mitchell, who was part of the 1971 Apollo 14 moon mission, asserted Monday that extraterrestrial life exists, and that the truth is being concealed by the U.S. and other governments.”

I know a lot of you doubt the existence of flying saucers, but here’s a picture I snapped while flying my Cessna over Wyoming in 1992. The photo speaks for itself.




After extensive research I found this picture. Look closely and you'll notice a flying saucer hovering over the Battle of Antietam during the Civil War. Notice the similarity to the one in the 1992 photo.

Rock 'n Roll is Here to Stay

My granddaughter, Isabella, came over this evening and we started playing old Rock ‘n Roll on my iPod. She’s only thirteen, but she’s a big fan of sixties and seventies sounds, such as the Stones, Neil Young, and of course the Beatles. Music runs in her family. Her aunt is married to the composer and actor, Paul Williams and her uncle, Joe Escalante started a punk rock band back in the eighties called the Vandals.

I played a few of my old favorites that I thought she might enjoy, Joe Crocker, Van Morrison, and a couple of cuts from Hair. She picked up on Bob Dylan right away, especially “Like a Rolling Stone.”

We talked a little about the meaning of the lyrics in Don Mclean’s “American Pie.” I remembered a quote of his when a reporter asked him, “What does the song mean?” He answered, “It means I never have to work again.” I thought that was cool.

I reached back through the years and with each song I turned the volume up. I wanted her to get a feeling of how it sounded to be at the Inglewood Forum back in the sixties when Nick Jagger, in his twenties at the time, jumped around on stage like a hummingbird on speed performing his hits.

I mentioned that the Beatles and the Stones both took inspiration from the legendary Chuck Berry. The greatest and in my opinion the originator of the Rock ‘n Roll sound. When I clicked on “Roll Over Beethoven” we jumped up and stared to dance. It was a gas . . .

BSP

Author Dudley Dinkwell mentions the title of his novel, "To Hear the Bell Toll" at a hootenanny.

The guests react to such blatant self promotion.

TEN STRANGE THINGS PEOPLE SAID TO A WRITER AT A BOOK SIGNING

If that’s your real name on the book cover, what’s your pen name?

This is a free sample, isn’t it? (Asked while the writer was inscribing the book.)

Did you draw the cover?

I don’t like books with a lot of words.

Was this book printed, or did they use POD?

Did you make it all up, or did someone really kill you?

I just came to the bookstore for a latte.

I wrote a book once. It was about a duck.

I love books. I just don’t read them.

Did Oprah like it?

TEN ODD THINGS PEOPLE SAY TO WRITERS

You wrote a book? Did they give you a million dollars?

I like murder mysteries, but not if there’s a murder in it.

I only read non-fiction novels.

Does it have a lot of sex? I don’t like sex.

I don’t need a book. I already have a book.

How did you get them to publish someone like you?

Does it have too much plot?

I could write a book, too. I just can’t think of anything to write about.

I read a book once. (Said, nodding.)

I guess writing a book is not as easy as it looks.

THE JAIL REGISTER

This is the city, Los Angeles California, Saturday, June 7^th 2008

"Sign the jail register," the man standing next to me said.

I took the pen and with my trembling hand signed the book. I signed on the line right below Joseph Wambaugh's signature.

The belated launch party for my mystery novel, THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS, at the Mystery Bookstore in Westwood had been going well when Bobby McCue, manager of the greatest bookstore in Los Angeles, pulled a thick book from behind the counter and explained that I would be inducted into the "Jail Register." At first I was puzzled, but then I was honored and at the same time overwhelmed when I turned the pages of the old Sacramento Jail register and saw the names of the other mystery authors who had signed it before me. There had to be hundreds of signatures in the old book, dating back to when the store first opened. It's a tradition for authors having an event at the classic store to sign the register. And when I did I felt I'd arrived as a mystery writer.

A lot of my current favorite mystery novelists were in the book, Sue Ann Jaffarian, Christa Faust, Michael Mallory, Robert Crais, and Paul Levine to name a few. (Bestselling author, Paul Levine, just happened to drop in the store while the party was in progress and bought a signed copy of THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS.) But when Bobby pointed out Mickey Spillane’s signature that’s when my hand started to shake.

"You’re asking me to sign my name in the same book that Mickey Spillane had signed?" I asked Bobby.

"Yes, and Ray Bradbury, Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Michael Connelly..."

You can see why my hand shook a little as I scribbled, Jeff Sherratt in the Jail Register on the line below Joseph Wambaugh’s signature.

Next time you’re in Westwood stop in at the Mystery Bookstore, 1036-C Broxton Ave, buy some books, and ask Bobby if you could see the "Jail Register." It's worth the trip just to get a glimpse of the priceless treasure.

My name directly below Joseph Wambaugh's


Mickey Spillane's signature in the "Jail Register."


The newest "jailbird" signing the book while Bobby looks on.

NO SAFE HARBOR

PART TWO

Eugene Izzi’s first published novel, THE TAKE, brought him a low five figure advance. No bad for the times. But like a lot of midlist writers, his career had its ups and downs. With dogged determination, he hung on and soon his situation began to improve. He finally moved out of Hegewisch into a decent neighborhood and nurtured visions of becoming a well known, successful mystery writer.

Sadly in 1987, after penning several hits in a row, his latest novel, THE TRIBAL, failed to garner favorable reviews. When the book tanked, his publisher refused to publish anything with his real name attached. If he wanted to make a living as a writer, he’d have to start over with a new identity and build a readership from scratch.

He became despondent, quit writing for awhile, but later emerged with a manuscript written under a pseudonym. The publisher accepted it, the book sold well, and after several more hardboiled novels written by “Nick Gaitano,” Izzi started using own name again. Sales of his books continued to climb, a few of them landing on the bestseller lists. It appeared as if his career was about ready to explode. He even wrote a couple of screen plays and his book, THE TAKE, had been the basis for a movie.

At the time of his death, Izzi had been working on a big novel apparently based on reality. The book threatened to expose a Chicago Police murder squad that supposedly tortured and killed black political activists. Insiders say that the “militia letter” found on Izzi’s dead body had been a sham, planted by a person or persons unknown in an effort to hush-up the idea that rogue members of the Chicago PD were somehow involved in his death. They say Izzi had been murdered. They say the FBI pressured the police department to cover it up.

We may never know the true story behind the life and bizarre death of Eugene Izzi, but we can explore his mind through his work. His books are still in print and are climbing again and one or two may even hit mystery bestseller lists.

Paraphrasing Jack Taylor, I guess he couldn’t “live with the paranoia.” I just ordered a copy of SAFE HARBOR.

Jeff Sherratt

THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS

www.jeffsherratt.com

No Safe Harbor

PART ONE

I just finished reading Ken Buren's excellent novel, THE PRIEST. I not going to review it or delve into the plot. But here's some good advice--buy it; read it, you won't be disappointed.

In the book Buren mentions a gritty mystery writer named Eugene Izzi who, as Bruen says, "If ever a noir writer died a noir death, it was him." He goes on to explain how Izzi's body had been discovered dangling at the end of a rope, hanging out of his fourteenth floor window. His pockets held
Brass knuckles
Tear gas
Threatening letters from a militia group.
A loaded gun rested on his desk inside his locked apartment. Jack Taylor, Bruen's protagonist, reflected, "I could identify with the paranoia."

Bruen adds nothing more about Eugene Izzi in THE PRIST. So I thought I'd talk a little about his life and work here.

The authorities ruled Izzi's death, on that freezing Chicago day in 1993, a suicide. He was only 43 at the time. But the story doesn't end there.

As a child, Izzi had lived in a bare-knuckled neighborhood of Southeast Chicago called Hegewisch. After a rough childhood, he dropped out of high school and enlisted in the army. To escape the tedium of military life, Izzi started writing crime stories, basing his characters on people he knew from his life on the streets of Chicago, including his father, a convicted felon.

Completing his army stint, he returned to his old neighborhood and secured a blue collar job working in a steel mill. He wrote part time, finishing six rejected novels. It wasn't long before he quit writing, lost his job, and took up drinking full time. After a period of carousing and hanging out in bars and gambling joints, and after many brushes with the law, he quit boozing, and with the help of his wife, crawled out of the gutter and cleaned up his life. He also began to write again, determined to build a successful career as a novelist.

PART TWO, coming soon.

The Irish in Me

I received a message from Myspace today. And when I opened and read it, I beamed, shouted hooray, and murmured a silent pray of thanks...well, maybe I'm laying on the blarney a bit, but I was moved. A fine writer from Ireland, named Pat Mullan had posted a blurb about my book, THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS on Amazon and sent it to me via my Myspace email address. Naturally, Pat's remarks were very complimentary.

After reading it several times, sending it to my friends, printing it out for my wife, and smiling inside about my international status, I thought about my maternal grandfather, Edmund Cullen. He was as Irish as they come. Around the end of the nineteenth century his family migrated to North America from County Cork and settled in Newfoundland. Later as a young man, he made his way to Denver where he’d started a mining company. My mom and her siblings had been born there. When the mining venture petered out during the depression, he packed up his wife and six kids and moved to Los Angeles were he found work as an accountant, auditing sales tax returns for the State. He died in 1946 under suspicious circumstances, going out his eight floor office window during, or immediately after, a meeting with the owners of a used car syndicate.

I barely remember him. I was only four when he died. But I remember sitting on his lap, snuggled against his little round belly, listening as he told me funny stories. Maybe that’s why the hero in my books has an Irish surname and an Irish sense of humor and compassionate feelings for the common man. And maybe that’s why I have a touch of the blarney myself.

If you'd like to see Pat’s review, log onto Amazon and type in THE BRIMSTONE MURDERS.

Slan go foill.

Jeff Sherratt
www.jeffsherratt.com

Guest Blogging

I'm a guest Blogger toady on the Cozy Chicks Blog--don't ask--so head over there and check it out. www.cozychicksblog.com.

How to Write a Bestselling Book

There are hundreds of seminars, how-to-books and writers' guides that advertise "How to Write a Bestselling Book." Well, here are the facts: You don't write a bestselling book. You write a good book, then promote like crazy.

My new mystery novel doesn't come out until February, but already I've designed and ordered about 5000 bookmarks, postcards, and brochures. I've set up appearances and signing venues and made commitments to attend book events, all of which are scheduled well into 2008.

And starting in October my publicist--yes I’m hiring a publicist--will be mailing out press-release kits to the media and ARCs (advance review copies) to book reviewers, booksellers, libraries, and, I guess, to anyone else who'll read the book and post something nice about it on Amazon.

I've contacted media escort extraordinaire, Ken Wilson, and immediately following the release of "The Brimstone Murders," Ken will hustle me around the Southern California area, taking me on a two day whirlwind tour of about fifty bookstores where at each stop I'll sign stock, greet the staff, and maybe hand sell a few while I'm there.

As you know--after all, you're reading this--I have an Internet presence, but maybe you didn't know that my book cover is posted on about ten or fifteen social network sites, which I check every week or so. I belong to several professional writers' organizations and I'm a member of about a dozen Yahoo groups. I'm signing up more and more of these things as time goes on.

As it is with any modern publisher, my publisher, Echelon Press--though big on promotion--can only do so much. It's up to me to promote my book if I want it to become, not necessarily a bestseller, but any kind of seller.

Sounds like work, doesn't it? It is, but I love every minute of it. Most authors write books because they're compelled to write. Some because they figure they can make money at it. But I write because I enjoy hearing people tell me how wonderful I am. Hitting the road on my book tour next year, I'll hear that a lot and some people may even mean it. I didn't write a bestseller, but I did write a damn good book. It's up to you to make it a bestseller.

One more thing, if you happen to bump into me somewhere on the road you can bet I'll have a few copies of "The Brimstone Murders" in the trunk of my car. Ask me to sign one for you. I'll be happy to do so.

The Brimstone Murders
By Jeff Sherratt
Echelon Press, LLC
ISBN: 978-1-59080-552-7
February, 2008
www.jeffsherratt.com

Will the Real Writer Stand UP?

I just took a peek at the New York Times fiction bestsellers. Here's a few of the authors on the list with their writing partners.

James Patterson and Michael Ledwidge
James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
W. E. B. Griffin and William E. Butterworth IV
Clive Cussler with Paul Kemprecos.

All the above are in the top-ten list. Do you wonder who actually did the writing? You guessed it, the person after the big name. But no one is guessing who'll be on the talk shows and get the bulk of the royalty checks.

Hey, maybe the authors who really write the words in the books released in their names should let readers know they wrote the darn thing. I'll be the first. “The Brimstone Murders” by Jeff Sherratt, really written by Jeff Sherratt.




Coming from Echelon Press, February, 2008

Baseball, Beauty and Brains

Thursday, I spent the day with a terrific guy, Mike Sirota, my book editor. He's an avid baseball fan and the Padre's are his team. Mike, a season ticker holder, invited me down to San Diego--I live in Orange County--to accompany him to a game at Petco Park, the Padres' home field.

The weather was perfect but, alas, the Pads weren't. They lost to Baltimore, 6 to 3. Mike took the loss like a man and only cried when I wasn't looking. To be polite I faked my disappointment when the home team lost, but being a Dodger fan with the boys in blue behind San Diego in the standings, I smiled inside.

One of the highlights of the day took place miles from the ballpark. Before the game Mike took me to brunch at a Mimi's restaurant located somewhere close to a shopping center named Fashion Valley. He had arraigned it so that the lovely mystery writer, Michele Scott, would meet us there. She's a charming person and her books are immensely entertaining. We talked about mystery writers we both know and book promotion and sung Mike's praises, an editor extraordinaire, who edits both of us.

In the picture below, I'm holding a copy of her first book, Murder Uncorked. Here's a link to Michele's website: http://www.michelescott.com/

No Crime Unpublished

Last weekend the Sisters in Crime, Los Angeles Chapter threw a bash at the Embassy Suites in Pasadena, their semi-annual conference, "No Crime Unpublished." I was there along with about 150 others, eating the fabulous food and hobnobbing with my favorite people, mystery writers. Literary agents attended and listened to pitches from those authors who had a manuscript ready for publication. Also, I sat in on several informative and highly entertaining panels staffed by bestselling authors who gave tips on writing the next breakout novel. The highlight of the event was when the president of Sisters in Crime/National, Rochelle Kirch, gave her poignant and exhilarating keynote address. She told of her childhood, her struggles getting her first book published, and her father’s horrible life as a persecuted Jew living in Nazi Germany. The speech will be remembered for some time to come by all who heard her story. I was moved and I know everyone else in the room was too.

President of Sisters in Crime/National Rochelle Krich

I highly recommend participating in the next conference, which will be held in two years. I know I’ll be there.

Sisters in Crime, Norcal

I'm a member of an organization called Sisters in Crime, a group dedicated to eliminating discrimination directed at women mystery writers worldwide. Yes, they accept men in their wonderful organization. The group boosts of having thirty-five hundred members with chapters located throughout the U.S. I’ve been a member of the Los Angeles chapter for some time now and I wanted to expand my participation in this worthwhile outfit, so I recently joined an additional chapter, Sisters in Crime, Norcal. Norcal stands for Northern California.

Below is a photo of Simon Wood, the president of Norcal, and yours truly. Simon is the guy with short hair and large smile. The snapshot was taken at the September meeting held in the quaint little town of Larkspur, CA. If you love mystery novels as much as I do, check out Simon’s Web site. He’s one of the best: www.simonwood.net




Now, here’s an interesting fact I discovered. Take a peek at the chart above and you’ll see that book sales in the Northern California area are almost twice that of Boston, Chicago, and Washington, and are about equal to that of New York.

When I joined Norcal I found out they are going to have a booth at the Northern California Independent Booksellers Association (NCIBA) Trade Show, which will be held in the Oakland Convention Center on October 6th and 7th.

So, all of you mystery authors out there here's how you can get involved. One: Join the Sisters in Crime—dues for the National organization and the Norcal Chapter combined are sixty-five dollars per year. Two: Let me know if you would like to sign your books at their booth in October. If so, I'll contact the person in charge at Norcal for you.

You'll have to donate some books, twenty-five is the minimum, but just think of the many contacts you'll make with the independent booksellers who come from all over California to meet authors like you.

Next Post: "No Crime Unpublished Conference."

Trip North

This weekend I left my DNA all over the place in a few book selling establishments in Berkeley, CA, fingering classic mystery books of the past.

Cody's, the legendary bookstore on Telegraph, is gone now but the smaller branch on 4th is still alive and seemed to be doing well. Black Oak Books at 1401 Shattuck, with their eclectic selection, was quiet but it might have been the time of day I was there, dinner time. And my personal favorite, Moe's Books on Telegraph down the block from the closed Cody's was busy when I stopped by later that evening.

As I wandered thorough row after row of books, old and new, rare and common place I asked myself how long these wonderful stores will be able to survive in today's Internet environment, and how sad it would be if they all disappeared. In the window of Mrs. Dalloway's Books—a charming shop next to a great ice cream store—was posted a reprint of an article that appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. The article lamented the closing of so many Bay Area stores in the last fifteen years. Although book sales are increasing, independents are going under at an alarming rate and the big box stores are selling more and more non-book items, teddy bears that talk and financial guides such as Suze Orman's how to become a billionaire in ten easy steps, or some such nonsense.

I have no solution just a suggestion. When you buy a book, buy it from an independent seller. And be sure to sign up for their informative newsletters, which most have.

Think about it. Where would you rather be on a quiet Sunday afternoon, browsing in a cozy bookstore in the company of great old mystery books written by the likes of Raymond Chandler, David Goodis, and Charles Bukowski, or at the Cineplex sitting there munching your five dollar popcorn while some inane spectacle flickers on the screen?

Remember, independent bookstores, guardians of America's literary riches, will be gone if we don't support them.

Photo Above: Shakespeare and Co., 2499 Telegraph Avenue. No, the man is not reading a Jimmy O’Brien mystery, I’m sad to say.

Next Post: Sisters in Crime, Norcal.

On Blogging

"D.J. Waldie, among the finest of our part-time scriveners, said, 'Remember, blogging is a form of speech, not of writing.' "

I picked up that apt tidbit from an article in today's New York Times, written by Richard Schickel. The piece was titled "Not Everyone’s a critic."

Let's keep the above in mind when reading Blogs, even a Blog written by a professional writer. No one is going to spend the time needed to hone a Blog post to the point that print publications require, and Blogs will be posted without the watchful eye of an editor scrutinizing the piece. So why do we bother to read them, or better yet, why do we bother to write them? Aren't our lives busy enough without wasting a few precious minutes on yet another Blog?

I don't understand it.

Maybe if God had a Blog spot we'd care, but a Blog written by just another novelist? I doubt that it makes a difference to anyone. So why am I adding to the clutter?

Let me think...

Well, people in the know say that authors who Blog sell more books. Least that's what I've heard. And anyone who knows anything about publishing knows that writers will do almost everything to sell a book or two. Now, since this Blog is about selling books—no, make that selling my books—I'll talk about the other side of being an author, the promotion side. My new book will be released next February and in this spot, from time to time, I'll post my activities doing just that, promoting my next mystery novel, "The Brimstone Murders."

Oh, one more thing. Don't feel you have to post a comment about my remarks on this site. That would be nice, but I'll probably be the only one to read it, so why bother? However, if you feel compelled to vent privately about something that I've said, or may say, send me an email. The address is posted here somewhere. But first a warning: Anyone sending an email about my Blog posts will automatically be added to my mailing list and will receive updates about my book tour.

That's all for now...

But Wait

I've just signed a book contract with Echelon Press Publishing. My new novel, The Brimstone Murders, will be released in February, 2008.

It's a good one, better than my others. Stay tuned for more information and go to my Web site (www.jeffsherratt.com) for details about my up-and-coming book tour.