Mike Pace's Blog

The Big Thrill magazine, the monthly publication of the International Thriller Writers association, published an interview with me regarding my newest release, The Comanche Code.

Check it out: https://www.thebigthrill.org/?p=84429

The post Big Thrill Magazine Interview appeared first on Mike Pace.

The Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah provides the setting for The Sundance Revenge. The fest began in 1978 as the U.S. Film Festival in Salt Lake to offer an opportunity for American, especially Utah related, independent film to be recognized. Famous actor Robert Redford, became the festival’s inaugural chair giving the event instant credibility with the Hollywood crowd. In 1984, the fest changed its name to the Sundance Film Festival.

What began as a small event to showcase...

Real history plays a key parts in the Belle Bannon mystery-thriller series, and from time to time the blog will offer a vignette of one such character who will either directly or sometimes posthumously provide key clues to Belle as she attempts to solve a mystery and save the day.

The Metoo# Movement

The Sundance Revenge (Belle Bannon book 1)

As I write these words, Harvey Weinstein sits in a New York courtroom for a second week as a jury considers rape charges against him. These charges...

Real history figures play key parts in the Belle Bannon mystery-thriller series. Occasionally, I’ll offer a vignette of some of the most interesting such characters. Each character will provide key clues to Belle as she attempts to solve a mystery and save the day.

James E. Amos

Belle Bannon book #2 (Still searching for a title)

James Amos was born in 1879 in Washington D. C. Educated in the D.C. public schools, his father was a Capital Police Officer.

James spent seven years as President...

Real history figures play key parts in the Belle Bannon mystery-thriller series, and from time to time the blog will offer a vignette of one such character who will either directly or sometimes posthumously provide key clues to Belle as she attempts to solve a mystery and save the day.

Maria Hovenden Halpin

                                   The Sundance Revenge (Belle Bannon book 1)

Maria Hovendon, born in 1838, was the daughter of a Brooklyn cop. She grew to just under five foot eight i...

An exciting scene near the end of the second book in the Belle Bannon series (title yet to be determined) takes place on Doll island. While the book locates Doll Island in the Texas Everglades, the real Doll Island can be found outside Mexico City. Here’s the story:

Julian Santana Barrera was a hermit living alone on the Xochimilico canal, 17 miles south of Mexico City. One day, sadly, he discovered the body of a young girl had washed up onto his shore. A few days later, a doll washed up o...

I’m ashamed to admit that I hadn’t read Mark Twain since high school. Then on a whim I picked up A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and realized what I’d missed. This dude was funny! (And by the way, he used the term “dude” way back in 1889.) In the book a Connecticut engineer receives a knock on the head and is transported back to Arthurian England. Using “modern” concepts and knowledge, he convinces people he’s a powerful magician. Supposedly Twain got the idea from a dream wher...

A crude, but nevertheless common expletive hurled at the object of one’s anger suggests that the affronter go [have sex with] himself. Fortunately (or, depending on one’s point of view, unfortunately,) having sex with one’s self is anatomically challenging—unless you’re a rock.

Pyura chilensis, otherwise known as the Blood Rock, lives in the waters along the coasts of Chile and Peru, and reproduce by tossing a cloud of sperm and eggs into the water and hoping they knock together. (Thus, the...

It’s called the John Lawson House, located near the New Hamburg train station in New York, and it’s impressive for a few reasons. 

First, it’s a really old house, built in 1845. Second – and here’s the “Man Bites Dog” angle – several life-sized female mannequins can be found on the front porch, in different positions and wearing different clothes, each day. No has ever been spotted arranging the figures; they seem to retire in the house without notice at the Main Street Historic District, i...

Pizza has recently edged out chocolate as America’s favorite food. No real surprise given pizza’s place in the fabric of our culture.  Comedy Central’s  John Stewart continually battled with Chicago over whether New York’s pizza is best. And New York mayor Bill DiBlasio has received more criticism for eating pizza with a fork than for delays in snow removal. Most all of us maintain a fierce loyalty to our favorite pizza, a devotion that can last for a lifetime and survive long after we’ve dep...