My good friend, and now co-author, Janet Evanovich blogged today about how we ended up writing THE HEIST together…
“I’ve been a Lee Goldberg fan for a long time, so I was thrilled when he agreed to co-author a series with me. The decision actually took place over a pizza and a pitcher of beer when we realized we had the same vision. We wanted to write books about fascinating people who were involved in high stakes adventures set in glamorous, exotic locations …like Dajmaboutu, Indonesia, and Calabasas, California.
We had fun writing The Heist, and we’re still even talking to each other after twelve edits. We hope you have just as much fun reading our first co-authored effort.”
THE HEIST is the #10 bestselling ebook on Amazon…and #6 bestselling book on Amazon in any format… and it’s not even out until 6/18! I am stunned. Someone get me smelling salts…
Now you can get a sneak peek at the first chapter of THE HEIST, the new novel that I wrote with internationally bestselling author Janet Evanovich. It's coming out June 18. Click here to read Chapter One. A sneak peak of Chapter Two will be available next month.
A friend recommended a crime novel to me that came out a few years ago from a major publisher and that was also praised by some big-name authors (including some who have praised my work). I brought the book along with me on a short day trip for something to read while my wife & daughter were shopping. The book was awful, but some of the terrible writing was worth sharing. Here are some of my favorite examples:
“A sustained orgasm of flowers filled the strip between the driveway and right side of the house.”
This made me laugh out loud. So did some of the comments my Facebook friends made about it:
And on the other side of the driveway, a foreplay of hedges.
Haven’t you ever had a sustained orgasm of flowers?
Better than a multiple orgasm of concrete.
Not just an orgasm of flowers, but a sustained orgasm of flowers. I want to live in that neighborhood.
Here’s another excerpt:
“Staring at the picture, I had a clear sense of the living person whose image was cradled in chemicals on the bed of thick paper.”
Or as a less pretentious writer might say it: “I got a clear sense of the person from her photograph.”
“The girl in the picture had a glimmer of erotic fear in her dark eyes, waving like a thin, white arm of a drowning person.”
So fear that is sexually arousing… or perhaps fear of something to do with sex…is visible in someone’s eyes as a white glimmer that looks like the arm of someone who is drowning. Yeah, that makes sense.”
Her short black skirt clung like a high priest’s desire to the curves of her ass.”
I suppose this might make sense if anybody had any idea what a “high priest’s desire” is. A high priest of what? Tortured metaphors? Speaking of which…
“The night was filled with the exotic feeling California still evoked for me, surf shushing beyond the campfires, palm trees thrusting their composers’ haircuts up into the starry sky, swaying with the symphony of the wind.”
Surf shushing? Palms thrusting? A composer’s haircut? WTF? And am I the only one who thinks “a symphony of wind” sounds like another way of saying “a herd of cows farting”?
I've been fortunate that every one of my 15 MONK novels has earned a great review from author Bill Crider and, I am pleased to report that MR. MONK GETS EVEN, my final book in the series, has kept that record intact. He says, in part:
Goldberg managed to do a great job of giving the books clever mysteries and good characters, but he did something even more difficult. He gave them humor and heart. Not only that, but he took the characters beyond the television series and gave them lives of their own. They changed and developed over the course of the series in ways that were believable and intriguing.
[…] It's a fine conclusion to Goldberg's work with Monk and his friends and family. The title of the book, given Monk's proclivities and given the way that the story concludes, is perfect. I've mentioned before that I'm not a big fan of books that mingle first- and third-person narration. Goldberg does it so skilfully here that I have no complaints. I've never seen it done better. Heck, I've never seen it done as well. Congratulations to Goldberg on leaving the game as a big winner.
I spent the day Saturday in the company of a bunch of talented writers to plot a DEAD MAN novel…not just any book, but our biggest tale yet, both in page count and ambition. The story will be published next fall as a Kindle Serial (six to eight, 10,000 word "episodes" that will add up to one, cohesive novel). The project is being written by Phoef Sutton, Lisa Klink and Kate Danley from a shared outline. So series co-creator William Rabkin and I, along with DEAD MAN author David Tully (THE KILLING FLOOR), got together with them and we all spent the day cracking the story in a "writer's room" setting.
Bill, Phoef, Lisa and I are all experienced TV writer/producers, we are very comfortable with the "writer's room" process of hashing out the story as a group, analyzing every character motivation and story beat until we come up with all the moves of the story, which we layout on a white, dry erase board. It was a new experience for Kate and, to a lesser extent, for David, who has been part of a writer's room on some television projects in Germany (where his wife was a network executive).
The writer's room process is wonderful because not only do you benefit from the creativity of everybody in the room, but it also forces you to really explore, analyze and figure out all the angles of your plot and the motivations of your characters.
The group experience also forces you not to give in to the easy, lazy or cliche way of resolving plot and character issues…to go further and dig deeper. It means there are some inevitable frustration or disagreements, but it's all positive…because you end up with a much stronger, more-thought-out story.
It's my favorite part of the TV writing experience…spending hours, days and weeks in a room full of smart, clever, outrageously creative writers…all working to together to tell the best possible story.
Our writers room session for THE DEAD MAN went great. We first discussed character and our over-arching, creative goals for the book. Then we started talking broad plot points. Then we drilled down to the novel equivalent of the eternal TV question: "what do we want our act breaks to be?" (Or, in this case, the "cliff hanger" moment at the end of our six "episodes") And once we had that, we got into the nitty-gritty of the specific beats of each "act."
That's where the real work was. We hashed it out in spirited debates while eating lots of food (and, occasionally, diverging into discussions of lame plot points in SKYFALL and the last BATMAN movie. Do you realize Bond failed at *everything* he did in SKYFALL? He didn't do anything right. Still a great movie, though).
We got started at 10:30 am and by the time we finished around 5:30 pm, we'd plotted out the novel and felt great about what we'd come up with. Or, as one person in the room put it, we accomplished in one day what it would take an author by himself a month or two to figure out. It's going to be a kick-ass, standalone DEAD MAN novel that requires no previous knowledge of the series to enjoy…but that will also satisfy our loyal fans with a game-changing story that acknowledges past events, answers some long-standing questions, sends Matt Cahill in an exciting, new direction.
Now everybody is writing up their portion of the outline, which Bill and I will cobble together into one document and submit to our editors at Amazon Publishing's 47North imprint for their notes. Once we have their input, the authors will start writing.
BOOZE BULLETS & BROADS by Bruce Scivally is an ebook examination of Dean Martin's Matt Helm movies and the subsequent TV series. I was thrilled when I heard about the ebook but it turned out to be a major disappointment. It's very short, more like an expanded article than a book. It's very light on details, and the author appears to rely almost entirely on facts and quotes culled from newspaper and magazine articles. I don't get the sense that he did many, if any, actual interviews of his own. Also, his declaration that the Bond producers were creatively influenced by the Helm films isn't based on any facts, but rather a wild assumption the author jumps to based on some plot and scene similarities between the two series. On that basis, you could just as easily argue the Bond films were influenced by THE WILD WILD WEST, THE AVENGERS, and MAN FROM UNCLE, too. But that's a minor quibble. Overall, the book is an interesting read, and you do learn some things about the development of the scripts and production of the films, but it's not nearly as well-researched and informative as I'd hoped it would be. The chapter on the MATT HELM TV series is particularly thin and, given how little information there is about it, was hardly worth including. In fact, if you take the plot synopses out, which are pure fat, there isn't much real meat left. That said, it's well worth the $2.99 investment for Matt Helm fans or fans of 60s spy films. (As an aside, the Kindle formatting of the book is terrible at the outset, but it gets better. Don't let that put you off).
Much more satisfying is Charles Kelly's fantastic GUNSHOTS IN ANOTHER ROOM, his long-awaited biography of Dan J. Marlowe, one of my favorite authors. This biography is almost as wild, compelling, dark and surprising as one of Marlowe's books, which includes the classic The Name of the Game is Death. Kelly has done an enormous amount of research and thoroughly knows his subject. What really sets this book apart from most literary biographies is the tight, novelistic approach he's taken to telling not only Marlowe's strange story, but also the tale of bank robber Al Nussbaum, who became Marlowe's collaborator. Marlowe fans will appreciate the fascinating, detailed look at the author as a person, as well as his complex relationships with his literary agent and two collaborators (William C. O'Dell and Nussbaum), but also the telling details behind the plotting and writing of his books, even those that never saw print. Highly recommended!
From Janet and her new co-author, Lee Goldberg (Monk), comes an electrifying new series featuring an FBI agent who always gets her man, and a fearless con artist who lives for the chase.
FBI Special Agent Kate O’Hare is known for her fierce dedication and discipline on the job, chasing down the world’s most wanted criminals and putting them behind bars. Her boss thinks she is tenacious and ambitious; her friends think she is tough, stubborn, and maybe even a bit obsessed. And while Kate has made quite a name for herself, for the past five years, the only name she’s cared about is Nicolas Fox—an international crook she wants in more ways than one.
Audacious, handsome, and dangerously charming, Nicolas Fox is a natural con man, notorious for running elaborate scams on very high-profile people. At first he did it for the money. Now, he does it for the thrill. He knows the FBI has been hot on his trail—particularly Kate O’Hare, who has been watching his every move. For Nick, there’s no greater rush than being pursued by a beautiful woman… even one who aims to lock him up. But just when it seems like Nicolas Fox has been captured for good, he pulls off his greatest con of all: he convinces the FBI to offer him a job, working side by side, with special agent Kate O'Hare.
Problem is, teaming up to stop a corrupt investment banker who’s hiding on a private island in Indonesia, is going to test O’Hare’s patience and Fox’s skill. Not to mention the skills of their rag-tag team of flamboyant actors, wanted wheelmen and Kate’s dad. High speed chases, pirates and Toblerone bars are all in a day’s work… if O’Hare and Fox don’t kill each other first.
Read part one of chapter one on Evanovich.com later this month!
I've been so busy, I haven't been able to honor my New Year's resolution to post more often to the blog. But I'm sure you'll understand.
Last week I was in Florida, indulging my inner Fabio, doing a photo shoot with Janet Evanovich for our adventure novel THE HEIST, the first in our new series, which comes out June 18th.
Janet and I had a terrific time together, almost as much fun as we had writing the book, and I think that's going to come through in our author photos. But there was no rest for either one of us. We're already deep into writing the second book in the series and having a blast!
(Photo: Advertisement in hardcover edition of Janet's novel Notorious Nineteen)
I have been flooded with emails from readers of MR. MONK GETS EVEN, my 15th and final MONK book. The reaction has been so heartfelt, and so positive, that it almost makes me feel guilty for walking away from the series…though I know it's in very good hands now with my friend Hy Conrad picking up where I left off.
Here's just a sampling of some of the many, many emails I've received and the very nice things readers have been saying:
I’m about to start reading your last Monk novel, and I’m going to read very slowly because I don’t want it to be over. Thank you for giving me so much reading enjoyment, including many laugh-out-loud moments.– Jan Roan
Why do all good things have to come to an end? Your Monk series is absolutely delightful. I got excited every time a new book came out. Thank you for what you've given to die hard Monk fans. It really meant alot. – Classiceman
ANOTHER BRILLIANT book!!!! And was so sad and shocked to read that this is your last Monk book. It was like a Monk Major Life event when I read that news. Anyway, thank-you for the many many years of great enjoyable reading. –Steve H. Karsten
As I read the last few MONK books, I realized you might be finishing the series. I am so disappointed! The enjoyment of visiting all the MONK characters is a treat, your style is easy to read, and a perfect way to relax. The humor is amazing, and I suppose I will now be reduced to re-reading these novels again and again. — Amy Tomlin
Thanks for all of the Monk books. I wasn't ready to say goodbye to Mr. Monk when the show ended! Loved the way you wrapped it all up. –Joelle Peterson
Thank you for 15 great Monk novels and innumerable hours of enjoyment. I am sorry to read number fifteen will be your last. Other than having great characters and a great mystery, the books were an outlet for me in my struggle against depression. Seriously. Whether I couldn't concentrate long enough or hold interest in other writers, I never missed a Monk book. Humor, mystery, and clean, I will miss them. Time to start the rereads, I guess. God's blessings to you, Mr. Goldberg. Not meaning to be maudlin, but you provided some light, enjoyable moments for me during dark times. Thank you–Jeff
I started Mr. Monk Gets Even yesterday and finished reading it today. Well done. It feels as if at the age of '56' I am laying down a down a good friend who I am going to miss. I periodically will continue to go back and read "Monk" and listen to all the audiobooks I have of each one, probably as long as I live. I fully understand your reasoning and 'why', but I just wanted to tell you that your writings will be GREATLY missed. I would be remiss if I had failed to let you know. . Thank you again for your contributions not only to the writing field, but also for the hours of enjoyment you have brought to this life. — Greg Souder
Hey Lee, just finished your final book sharing Monk's and Natalie's adventures. Thanks for an amazing ride – you'll definitely be missed!— Debbie Laskey
Just finished Mr. Monk Gets Even – an awesome ending to a fantastic series! Sad it's over but couldn't put it down. – J. Wilson
Thank you for writing the Monk books! I had never before gotten into a series of books that were based on a tv show. Once I picked up the first one though, I was hooked! I enjoy the books every bit as much as the show, if not more! — Celest Elmer
I really enjoyed your books and one of the things I liked best about your writing is that you've given Natalie a snarkiness that was just somewhat implied in the TV show. I like snarky Natalie […] I read that you are 'retiring' from the novel series but I thought I'd just write and express my appreciation for the fine work you've done with the Mr Monk novels.
–Danny Chen
There are fun benefits to having seen all the Monk episodes and reading all the Monk books. I just read Mr. Monk Gets Even and really enjoyed the references to past works and shows. And the nod to Diagnosis Murder! Thanks, Lee, for the great journey with you and Mr. Monk!!
— Ruth Fisher Stoddard
Haven't been this excited since Deathly Hallows. Thanks for an awesome run Lee. I sure do love this series. — Kelly Choma
I finishedMr. Monk Gets Even today… it was absolutely lovely!! I've thoroughly enjoyed each one in your series – and this one absolutely glows! I appreciate how the characters have continued to grow throughout the series, including Mr. Monk – whether he likes it or not. You've taken such incredibly good care of each one of them. And though I wouldn't have believed I would, I even enjoy the new regular characters. It all just works beautifully! Honestly, before this, I've always scoffed at the idea of book series based on TV shows, but Mr. Monk's absence from TV drove me to give them a chance. Well – you've completely won me over! I've become as big a fan of the Mr. Monk books, as I am the show. Thanks for such a wonderful series – and for keeping Mr. Monk going strong!! – Heather Sikora James
