Jeffery Deaver recently learned that a novelist’s life can be fraught with peril.  To lend credibility to the fictional blog he created in Roadside Crosses, he roamed the shoreline near Monterey, Califo., taking pictures to accompany the posts.  During a beach breakfast break he was “mercilessly attacked by a flock – gang is more accurate – of seagulls, who clearly had had a taste for Super-Seed bagels with cream cheese and wanted more.  They are, by the way, very big birds.”  Deaver just finished a 14-city tour (gull-free, we trust); Roadside imprint total:  210,000 copies.

Order your signed copy of Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver at www.vjbooks.com

(Publisher’s Weekly, June 22)

With two books in competition for the International Thriller Writers’ Best Thriller of the Year – The Broken Window and The Bodies Left Behind – it looks like the suspense-meister (Jeffery Deaver) has a 40% shot.  (The other nominees are Harlan Coben (Hold Tight), Andrew Gross (Dark Tide) and Brad Thor (The Last Patriot).)  The winner will be announced at the July 11 Thrillerfest 2009 awards banquet.

Jeffery Deaver’s “The Weapon,” about the limitations of torture, and Ridley Pearson’s “Boldt’s Broken Angel,” which features a race to prevent a cop’s death, provide solid bookends to this nifty all-original anthology, the sequel to 2006’s Thriller: Stories to Keep You Up All Night. The 23 selections—all by members of International Thriller Writers Inc.—score hits more often than misses. One of the few non-Americans, Spaniard Javier Sierra, might claim the blue ribbon with his tale of impending apocalypse, “The Fifth World.” Lisa Jackson’s “Vintage Death” keeps the reader guessing and on tenterhooks from start to finish. Marcus Sakey’s “The Desert Here and the Desert Far Away” tests the strength of the bonds forged in the current Iraq War when comrades return home. Other contributors include Robert Ferrigno, David Hewson, Jon Land, Carla Neggers and R.L. Stine. In addition to a brief general introduction, Cussler supplies intros to the individual stories. (June 2009)

Order your copy from www.vjbooks.com

(Publisher’s Weekly, Mar. 23)

In bestseller Deaver‘s surprise-filled third Kathryn Dance novel (after The Sleeping Doll), Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation, gets an eye-opening education in some of the hottest areas of the cyberworld. After an auto accident kills two teens, vicious smears of Travis Brigham, the teen driver deemed responsible but not charged in the accident, appear on the Chilton Report, a popular blog. After one of the accusing bloggers barely survives an assault, Brigham becomes a “person of interest.” Brigham disappears, and attacks, each preceded by a crude roadside cross, spread to other Chilton bloggers. Meanwhile, Dance also looks into a mercy killing at Monterey Bay Hospital that takes an unexpected turn, and Robert Harper, a special prosecutor from the attorney general’s office in Sacramento, begins an investigation that will affect her. Deaver‘s expert and devious plotting makes it a challenge to stay only a couple of steps behind him. (June)

Order your signed copy of Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver at www.vjbooks.com

(Publisher’s Weekly, Apr 13)

The Monterey Peninsula is rocked when a killer begins to leave roadside crosses beside local highways . . . not as memorials of past accidents, but as an announcement of his intention to kill. And to kill in a particularly horrific and efficient way: using the personal details about the victims that they’ve carelessly posted in blogs and on social networking web sites. The case lands on the desk of Kathryn Dance, an agent with the California Bureau of Investigation and the state’s foremost kinesics — body language — expert. ROADSIDE CROSSES will be released in the USA and Canada on June 9, and in the UK and Ireland on July 23.

Order your signed copy of Roadside Crosses by Jeffery Deaver from www.vjbooks.com today!

(newbernsj.com, Ken Gruebel, Jan. 10)

I guess I have read about nearly every kind of detective that has lived and flourished on the fictional pages of all the many books that have passed in front of my eyes.

Among them there have been detectives who go to AA meetings, those who are trying to quit smoking, those with shady backgrounds (never quite specified), ex-Army detectives, old lady detectives (Miss Marple), French detectives (Hercule), the Continental Op, to name just a few that come to mind.

There are brilliant detectives like Sherlock Holmes and hard-boiled detectives like Phillip Marlow and Spenser. There were even lawyer detectives like Perry Mason, although he actually had Paul Drake on retainer, or so it seemed.

However, this is the first time that I have encountered a detective who is a quadriplegic. He can do nothing for himself, except that he thinks, not only for himself but for a lot of other people too.

His name is Lincoln Rhyme. He travels with two assistants. One is Amelia Sachs who like Lincoln himself, is a criminologist. The other is his personal assistant, a man named Thom. It is Thom who takes care of all the physical (more…)

Deaver wrote his first book — which consisted of two entire chapters — when he was eleven, and he’s been writing ever since. An award-winning poet and journalist, he has also written and performed his own songs around the country. After receiving a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri, Deaver worked as a magazine writer, then, to gain the background needed to become a legal correspondent for The New York Times or Wall Street Journal, he enrolled at Fordham Law School. After graduation he decided to practice law for a time and worked for several years as an attorney for a large Wall Street firm. It was during his long commute to and from the office that he began writing the type of fiction he enjoyed reading: suspense novels. In 1990 he started (more…)

(www.news.com.au, Dec. 19, Paul Syvret)

Jeffery Deaver is one of the most prolific and accomplished thriller writers in America today.

He is best known for his Lincoln Rhyme books – a series about a brilliant (and quadriplegic) forensic criminalist who battles the most formidable of villains from his wheelchair.

Refreshingly with The Bodies Left Behind, Deaver takes us out of Rhyme’s apartment and the streets of New York, and into the backwoods of rural (more…)

(www.gazette.com, Dec. 19, Joy Harper)

It’s coming – the big daddy of local literary events, the 2009 Pikes Peak Writers Conference (PPWC), April 23-26 at the Colorado Springs Marriott, 5580 Tech Center Drive.

Why think about something happening in April? Because the event usually sells out long before the early registration deadline. And for good reason. Recognized as one of the best writers confabs in the country, the PPWC is a three-day expedition into the world of multigenre, commercial fiction writing. It offers more than 40 genre-specific workshops, group networking and one-on-one interactions with editors and agents. It’s attended by writers from all over the country. Featured speakers include Jeffery Deaver, James N. Frey, Susan Mallery and Laura Resnick. Interview opportunities between writers and agents or editors will give attendees with completed manuscripts the chance to pitch their work. Critique sessions are also offered. An optional add-on day features a hands-on workshop.

Registration for PPW members is Jan. 15, with open registration starting Feb. 1. Fees for registration before April 1 are $295 for PPW members, $350 for nonmembers. After April 1, costs increase to $360 for members, $415 for nonmembers. Fees include materials, access to workshops and presentations, and meals. The extra workshop is $95.

For complete details or to register, visit www.pikespeakwriters.com, or call 531-5723.

(Publisher’s Weekly, Dec. 1)

Deaver talks about why so many lawyers become novelists:

“For me, a thriller is a very carefully structured story.  I spend eight months outlining and researching the novel before I begin to write a single word of the prose.  The skills I use to do that are the same I used when practicing law – researching and structuring a legal document or case.” 

Deaver’s newest bestseller, The Bodies Left Behind has 186,000 copies in print after two printings.