She's Here!

At long last, a box containing 32 copies of The Blonde arrived this afternoon. Even my son Parker was impressed. "Boy, that's a lot of Blondes, Daddy." (That's not something you hear from your four-year-old every day.)

These aren't my author copies, so I can't spread them out on the floor and like, roll across them naked or anything. They are the property of The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona. I have to sign 'em, then ship 'em back, unmolested. (Customers of Poisoned Pen: You'll be buying the very first signed copies of this baby! You may or may not find this cool.) I'm hoping my copies arrive tomorrow or Saturday, along with some Wheelman trade paperbacks.

Still, that didn't mean I couldn't take a little looksee. And my my my... The Blonde is indeed a thing of beauty. Once again, St. Martin's has done me proud with a gorgeous compact hardcover that practically begs you to pick it up and nuzzle it.

There was, however, one tiny thing nagging at me.

Faithful readers of this blog will surely remember what I can only refer to as "The Spine Incident."

(Go ahead, refresh your memory. I'll wait.)

So of course I had to check this one. I placed a hardcover on my desk and steeled my nerves.


Carefully, I peeled the jacket from the book...


But what's this? A yellow Post-It note?


I plucked the note from the spine to give it a closer look.


Touché, St. Martin's Minotaur*. Touché.

(* Ah, I kid St. Martin's. They know that. The content of above Post-It note is completely made-up and in no way resembles real correspondence from my publisher.)