Ken Mercer's Blog: The Latest from Ken Mercer

We were thrilled to see that East on Sunset was selected for Los Angeles Magazine's Reading List.

There are a lot of other great books on the list, and we're happy to find the book in such good company.

Why not read them all?

You can access the Ken Mercer home page at kenmercer.com.

Ken began writing his new novel, East on Sunset, way back in the fall of 2008—when George W. Bush was still our president—and the very week Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy.

More than two years of writing (and rewriting) later, and with a lot of hard work from the dedicated crew at St. Martin's Press, we're pleased to announce that the book was released today (June 7, 2011).

East on Sunset marks the return of Will Magowan, and has received some very positive pre-publication reviews.

We hope you'll think it was worth the wait.

You can access the Ken Mercer home page at kenmercer.com.

With less than a week to go before the official release date of East on Sunset, we thought we'd give you a little sneak preview.

The first thirty pages of the book are now available as a pdf for your reading pleasure.

Hope you enjoy.

You can access the Ken Mercer home page at kenmercer.com.

Publishers Weekly recently reviewed Ken's new novel, East on Sunset.

The good news: they like it–they really, really like it. The new novel, which will be released on June 7, features the return of Will Magowan, approximately two years after the climactic events of Slow Fire.

You can read the full review here.

You can access the Ken Mercer home page at kenmercer.com.

Bouchercon, the world's largest crime fiction event, begins on Thursday in San Francisco. Ken will be appearing on two different panels, both on Friday, October 15.

At 8:30 AM, there's The Thrill Killers (Crazy villains–why they work or why they don't), with Steve Hockensmith, Henry Perez, Rick Mofina, Marcus Sakey.

At 3:00 PM, Ken will take part in the Continuous Conversation: Suspense, Thrillers, Blood and Guts.

Ken's only Portland, Oregon event is for a good cause.

It's a fundraiser for Caldera Arts, and will take place at Wieden + Kennedy, an advertising agency that has done award-winning work for Nike, ESPN, and other clients around the globe.

Admission to the event is free, but proceeds from sales of Slow Fire, which will be handled by Powell's, will benefit Caldera, a non-profit that mentors under-served children through art and nature projects.

For details, please visit the Events page.

To find...

Joe Hartlaub recently reviewed Slow Fire in Bookreporter.

We had a feeling we were going to like the review right from the opening paragraph:

"When an author can get the hairs on the back of your neck standing on end within the first few pages of a novel, you know that he or she is worth the valuable time you will spend reading… Such was the case by the third page of Slow Fire, Ken Mercer's debut novel."

If you'd like to read the full review, all you have do is click here.

To find out more, you c...

The Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the largest book festival in the country, will take place April 24-25 on the UCLA Campus.

Ken will be there for three different signing events on Sunday, April 25th.

From noon until 2:00, Ken will be signing for Sisters in Crime in Booth #355.

From 3:00 until 4:00, he'll be signing for The Mystery Bookstore in Booth #411.

From 4:00 until 5:00, he'll be signing for Mysterious Galaxy in Booth #614.

We hope you'll be able to stop by and say hello.

To find out m...

Ken recently appeared on the nationally syndicated radio program America's Best Selling Authors.

The interview is wide-ranging and covers a variety of topics: Ken's sordid past, sportswriting, the burning of his first novel, the road to publishing Slow Fire, and the real life inspirations for the book. You can listen to the full interview by clicking here.

To find out more, you can access the home page at kenmercer.com.

At Ken's recent event at the Poisoned Pen bookstore in Scottsdale, he got a brief and fleeting taste of what it must feel like to be a mega-bestselling author.

Ken signed close to 150 copies of Slow Fire, which had been made a selection of one of the Poisoned Pen's book clubs.

Many thanks to the Poisoned Pen's Will and Pat, who joined with Ken to form a human assembly line that allowed all those books to get signed in record time. And thanks again to Barbara Peters and Hector DeJean for making ...