Me Me Me

Mr. Monk and the Bon Mots

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MM_in_Trouble.revised

I'm pleased to say that two more positive reviews for my MONK books have come in. One is from book critic Debra Hamel, the creator of the incredible Twitterlit feed (which tweets memorable first lines from books), who really liked MR. MONK IS MISERABLE. She says, in part:

As usual with this series, Mr. Monk is Miserable offers readers a winning combination, a good mystery wrapped in humorous dialogue and occasional bits of pathos. I am impressed by how consistently enjoyable the Monk books are.

My friend Ed Gorman got a few chuckles out of MR. MONK IN TROUBLE. He says, in part:

Lee Goldberg's story is rich with lore about the old Gold Rush in general and mining towns in particular. It is equally rich in Monk lore. I can't think of any other mystery character who makes me laugh out loud as often as Monk does. And in the current novel Monk is loopier than ever. Thank God.

Thanks Debra & Ed!

Book Fest Revisited

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I just discovered that audible.com is selling a recording of my panel discussion with authors Stephen J. Cannell, Craig Johnson, Jan Burke, and Robert Dugoni at last years Los Angeles Times Book Festival for $5. I haven't heard it yet, but people said nice things about it and I'm sure it will kill the time pleasantly next time you're stuck in a traffic jam or if you're burning calories on a treadmill. 

Mr. Monk and and the Epinion

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MM_in_Trouble.revised  Mark Baker at epinion has given MR. MONK IN TROUBLE a thumbs-up. He says, in part:

I often found myself laughing out loud or at least chuckling and smiling as I went through the book. But it isn't all laughs. Mr. Goldberg always does a great job with these characters, and he allows us several moments that are very touching and even enlightening about them. They continue to be real people very recognizable to fans of the TV show.

[…]I have enjoyed these books so much, I don't completely feel like I've lost Monk yet.

Thanks, Mark!

Kindle Virtual Stocking Stuffers

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51ZgYDCwYlL._SS500_  You've bought a Kindle as a Christmas present for that special someone. Now all you need are some good, cheap books to take it for a "test read." Look no further, my friend. My 2004 novel  THE WALK is now available in a $1.99 Kindle edition. Here's the dust jacket copy:

It's one minute after the Big One.  Marty Slack, a TV network executive, crawls out from under his Mercedes, parked outside what once was a downtown Los Angeles warehouse, the location for a new TV show. Downtown LA is in ruins. The sky is thick with black smoke. His cell phone is dead. The freeways are rubble. The airport is demolished. Buildings lay across streets like fallen trees. It will be days before help can arrive.

Marty has been expecting this day all his life. He's prepared. In his car are a pair of sturdy walking shoes and a backpack of food, water, and supplies. He knows there is only one thing he can do … that he must do: get home to his wife Beth, go back to their gated community on the far edge of the San Fernando Valley.

All he has to do is walk. But he will quickly learn that it's not that easy. His dangerous, unpredictable journey home will take him through the different worlds of what was once Los Angeles. Wildfires rage out of control. Flood waters burst through collapsed dams. Natural gas explosions consume neighborhoods. Sinkholes swallow entire buildings. After-shocks rip apart the ground. Looters rampage through the streets.

There's no power. No running water. No order.

Marty Slack thinks he's prepared. He's wrong. Nothing can prepare him for this ordeal, a quest for his family and for his soul, a journey that will test the limits of his endurance and his humanity, a trek from the man he was to the man he can be … if he can survive The Walk. 

"Harrowing and funny…"
—Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine 

"Lee Goldberg's hard-to-classify but not-be-missed The Walk, set in the aftermath of a major Los Angeles earthquake, pokes fun at the TV industry in the midst of disaster…"—Jon Breen, The Year In Mystery and Crime Fiction, 2004  

There are also a bunch of my previously out-of-print novels available now on the Kindle, including MY GUN HAS BULLETS, BEYOND THE BEYOND,  and my very first book .357 VIGILANTE, all priced at $1.99.

Mr. Monk and the Strong Start

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MM_in_Trouble.revised The hardcover of MR. MONK IN TROUBLE and the paperback of MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP were both off to very strong starts in sales last week. TROUBLE hit #9 on the Barnes & Noble mystery hardcover list and #35 on the Borders hardcover bestseller list. Meanwhile, DIRTY COP hit #38 on Borders mass market mystery bestseller list,  #3 on the B&N mystery mass market list, and  #31 on B&N's overall mass market bestseller list. Thank you so much, Monk fans!

Mr. Monk and Mayhem

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There’s a Q&A interview with me today over at the MAYHEM & MAGIC blog about me and my latest MONK novel. Here’s a peek:

Lee, tell us about a bit about your latest book and your writing schedule

[…]My writing schedule isn’t set in stone. I basically work on my books whenever I am not working on a script, or vice-versa. I have about four months to write each book, so I write anywhere and everywhere I can put pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard). No matter what I am writing, I tend to do my best work between 8 pm and 2 am. Don’t ask me why…my brother Tod is the same way.

Will you be guest speaker at any mystery conferences this year?

I’ll be attending Left Coast Crime in L.A, the 3rd Annual Forensic Trends: Psychiatric & Behavioral Issues Conference in Las Vegas, the International Mystery Writers Festival in Owensboro KY, Bouchercon in San Francisco, and the Professional Pierce Brosnan Impersonator Convention in my living room.

“Mr. Monk In Trouble” in Bookstores Today

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MM in Trouble.revised  My ninth original "Monk" novel, MR. MONK IN TROUBLE, is arriving in hardcover in bookstores everywhere today. This book was especially fun for me to write. It gave me a chance to dabble in westerns, something I've always enjoyed reading but, until now, had never tried writing before. The story in MR. MONK IN TROUBLE bounces between the 1850s and present-day, between Monk's ancestor Artemis Monk (an assayer in a California Gold Rush town) and the Adrian Monk that we know and love.

I did a lot more research than I usually do for a Monk book. I took a week-long road trip through some California gold rush towns, took a bunch of pictures, then read a lot of books on the Gold Rush and frontier life in general, and mining techniques in specific. Once I got down to the actual writing, I imposed on the kindness of novelist Richard Wheeler, who has written some of the best westerns ever, to read some early drafts of the western sections to make sure that I wasn't embarrassing myself. I am tremendously flattered that he enjoyed the final result. He left this comment on my blog the other day:

I read Mr. Monk in Trouble virtually nonstop and enjoyed every page. Lee Goldberg knows that the richest humor veers close to pathos, and that is one reason the novel succeeds so well. Who but Monk would hand out wet wipes to Trick-or-Treaters? Natalie is greatly put-upon by her boss, but responds with stoicism, humor–and love. Some of the fun here is that the book takes us into the past, where Monk's ancestor Artemis is an assayer in a mining district and deals with goldrush scalawags and swindlers with the usual Monkian genius. This is much more than entertainment

I am so glad that he liked it and I hope that you will, too. And if you missed MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP when it came out last summer, now you can grab the paperback. Here's what some of the reviewers had to say…Monk and the Dirty Cop  

"After seven previous tie-in novels, it's safe (if not fairy obvious) to say that nobody knows the world of obsessive-compulsive detective Adrian Monk better than novelist Lee Goldberg. But that doesn't mean he's become lazy or complacent. As MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP shows Goldberg is willing to take chances with the firmly established characters, and is still able to provide plenty of laughs and well-crafted entertainment." Alan Cranis, Bookgasm

"Sharp character comedy combined with ingenious and fairly-clued puzzle-spinning. […]Don't miss Lt. Disher's hilariously non-sensical variation on Sherlock Holmes' 'eliminate the impossible' dictum."
—Jon Breen, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine

I've enjoyed all the Monk novels. Monk is my all-time favorite comic detective and Lee Goldberg has honored him by writing some of the finest tie-novels ever conceived. These have a richness of incident and backstory and place that give them real depth. And for me MR. MONK AND THE DIRTY COP is the best one yet."
—Ed Gorman

Mr. Monk Gets The Greenlight

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Andy Breckman ( the creator of MONK), NBC/U (the owners of MONK) and my editor all loved the outline for MR. MONK GETS EVEN… my 11th original MONK novel. So, next week, I have to start researching and writing. I have no time to waste… the book is due in May.

The idea for the book actually occurred to me while I was at the Men of Mystery conference in Irvine last Sunday…though the plot has nothing to do with mystery conference or authors. I actually already had an idea for the book…and was going to start writing it up when I got home…but then this notion popped into my head out of nowhere and I realized it was much better than what I was already working on. I quickly jotted down my idea on a scrap of paper and then had the bright idea to email the notes to myself on my Blackberry.  

I'll have to do some research for this one, but that's okay. I have nothing against learning something while I write! (I had to do lots of research about the old west for MR. MONK IN TROUBLE, collecting paper currency in DIAGNOSIS MURDER: THE DEAD LETTER, life in California in the early 1960s for DM: THE PAST TENSE, the Paris underground for MR. MONK IS MISERABLE, earthquakes and L.A. disaster scenarios for THE WALK, the illegal sales of body parts for DM: THE LAST WORD, alligators for MR. MONK AND THE TWO ASSISTANTS, etc.  I've already started ordering books on Amazon and scouring the Internet for relevant articles.

This is will be the first book set after the "end" of the TV series but it won't be published until a year from now. In the mean time, MR. MONK IN TROUBLE comes out next week and MR. MONK IS CLEANED OUT will be published in July…both of which are set before the events in the final season of the TV series. 

Mr. Monk and the Roundtable

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Tracy Farnsworth at Roundtable Reviews has given MR. MONK IN TROUBLE a rave. She writes, in part:

Lee Goldberg always captures Monk’s nuances perfectly. He injects the mysteries with just the right amount of humor and tackles subjects I only wish I’d seen on television.[..] When I’m looking for a bit of escapism and a lot of laughs, Goldberg’s Monk books get top billing.

Thanks, Tracy! MR. MONK IN TROUBLE comes out in bookstores everywhere on Dec. 1st.

My Dark Past Reviewed

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51irJXlLsFL._SS500_  The Red Adept blog reviews the Kindle edition of my 1985 novel .357 VIGILANTE #2: MAKE THEM PAY and was far kinder to the book than I had any right to expect. Here's an excerpt from the review:

The storyline flowed fast and furious. There wasn’t a lot of thought put out regarding vigilantism and whether it is good or bad. There was no preaching or lectures, either. This was just a fast-moving, roller coaster ride of a story.[…]this is not a literary novel. You don’t read it for the great metaphors, flowery prose, or vivid descriptions. You read if for the action. With that, Mr. Goldberg really hits his stride. The action scenes are wonderful, quick reads, with plenty of tight descriptions. He knows just when to draw out the scene and when to just get on with it.