It was a beautiful day for book-browsing, book-buying, and schmoozing at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books. I vowed not to buy any books, so of course I bought so many I had to make three trips back to the car. Among my signed book purchases: YOU SUCK by Christopher Moore, KIDNAPPED by Jan Burke, KISS HER GOODBYE by Robert Gregory Browne, LOS ANGELES NOIR, and THE DAYS IN THE HILLS by 
Jane Smiley. I chatted with lots of authors, including Joseph Wambaugh, T. Jefferson Parker, Cara Black, Laura Lippman (that’s her on the left with my brother Tod), Jan Burke, Jerrilyn Farmer, Steve Cannell, Denise Hamilton, Terry Erdman (author of the "Official MONK Episode Guide") Kevin Roderick, Barney Rosenzweig, Ron Hogan, Eric Lax, Brett Battles, Robert Gregory Browne, and I stalked Daniel Woodrell some more. Laura Lippman admitted to me that when she met Woodrell on Saturday, she turned into a complete "fangirl" and couldn’t speak (my brother Tod, who witnessed the encounter, confirms her account). I saw Mike Farrell 
wandering around — the way he looks now, he could play Jimmy Carter in a TV movie. Sean Penn was roaming around, too. I spoke to an actor who has played villains in lots of TV shows, including some of mine, but I couldn’t remember his name. I saw Phil Rosenthal, creator of EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND, standing in line at the Green Room buffet behind a guy who won the Nobel Prize and a Los Angeles Times Book Award last night. Tod thought it was tacky of the Nobel guy to mention his prize in his Book
Award acceptance speech. If I won the Nobel Prize, I’d find a way to bring it up in every conversation, even in the drive-thru line at McDonalds ("Of course I’d like to supersize that Quarter Pounder meal…I won the Nobel freakin’ Prize"). I ended my day with a signing at the Mystery Bookstore booth with Christopher Moore, who shared with me some of his Hollywood misadventures. Tomorrow I head back to Germany for three months to shoot FAST TRACK…
