Murder most foul! I’ve always loved that opening to the show Murder, She Wrote. It’s both descriptive and to the point—someone (or maybe more than one) is murdered, the puzzle is set, and the chase is on.      
     There’s nothing better than a good thriller with a murder to solve attached to it. I’ve been getting lost in them ever since I started browsing through bookshelves in the library, or the local bookstore, to pick out my own stories to read. Back then it was  something a bit more subdued than I read now-- (I don't think Nancy Drew ever chased a serial killer), but the idea was still the same.   
     It was after I grew into Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes, and Perry Mason, that not only were a variety of murders added to the puzzle, but the chase became the larger focus, making it a thriller along with a good dose of suspense, and even a bit of romance. Once you pick up that book and open it to the first chapter, in the words of Sherlock Holmes, “the game is afoot.” And between those pages the stakes are high, as we, the readers, can become both the hunter and the hunted.  And what I especially like, is that I'm the author as well, so I get to choose when my character is on the hunt-- or when they are being hunted.

     Right at the moment, I'm putting pen to paper (or hands on a keyboard) from my home office in the San Francisco Bay area (across the bay. . . in the suburbs. . . where you raise kids).  From here I can easily go to the mountains for the perfect “relax and rejuvenate” getaway, or sit on a beautiful beach, where I can plot murder while enjoying some of the most spectacular scenery on the planet. And every day I give thanks for you. Every time you open one of my books, you go with me on a hunt for a killer, and I’m always glad to have the company!