This week, I released THE BODY IN GRIFFITH PARK in audiobook format. The narrator, Moira Quirk, knocked it out of the park. No wonder she’s won Audible Book-Of-The-Year, as well as several Audie Awards and Earphone Awards. And, yes, she has an Emmy. She was the 30th actor to audition. I hired her immediately. What’s so remarkable about Moira? She’s a master of accents, for one. Anna Blanc mysteries are full of people from all over, just like Los Angeles was in the 1900s (and

When researching THE SECRET LIFE OF ANNA BLANC, I read dozens of books written in the early 1900s to learn everything I could about the life of a debutante, a police matron, and the Los Angeles Police Department. I read everything from the coroner's manual they would have used, to books on manners and hygiene, to court transcripts, to cookbooks, to detective fiction that Anna herself would have read. It's how I got into my characters' heads. ​ I'm going to share a few favorit

People sometimes tell me that a woman would never have behaved like Anna Blanc in the 1900s, as if women hadn't yet evolved to be, well, people. I fear they don't know much about women or California in the 1900s. In fact, women were as brilliant, rebellious, resourceful, and brave back then as they are today. Case in point - Fanny Bixby, the young, beautiful, unmarried daughter of one of the richest men in California, became a cop in 1908 in Long Beach. She arrested people, c

In the 1900's, most women had long hair, or wore yak hair pieces or, very often, both. No wonder it was the age of the hair comb. It was also a decadent era when ladies flaunted their wealth by wearing the most expensive jewels they could get their hands on. Here are some of my favorites. All three are very Anna Blanc. The first is a combination comb and brooch designed by Lalique in 1902. It's made of horn, gold, yellow sapphires, mandarin garnets, diamonds, and a fire opal.

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