Sunday, July 12, 2015

Laura Levine

Laura Levine is a former sitcom writer whose credits include The Bob Newhart Show, Laverne & Shirley, The Jeffersons, The Love Boat, Three’s Company, and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman. As an advertising copywriter, she created Count Chocula and Frankenberry cereals for General Mills. Her work has been published in The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times.

In her latest (and favorite) incarnation as a mystery novelist, she has been an IMBA paperback bestseller and winner of the RT Book Reviews award for Most Humorous Mystery.

Levine's new novel is Death by Tiara.

Recently I asked the author about what she was reading. Her reply:
After being sucker punched by Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl, I have been an Unreliable Narrator junkie, devouring books like The Silent Wife, The Girl on the Train, and Disclaimer. I love being surprised by a story. It’s same thrill I used to get when, as a child, I watched Alfred Hitchcock Presents on TV, with those surprising twists at the end. After all these years, I still can’t resist them.

But there was one book I recently read without an unreliable narrator that absolutely blew me away. It’s called Moving Day, by Jonathan Stone, about an elderly man who loses all his possessions, swindled by a psychotic con artist who preys on the elderly, knowing they’ll never fight back. Only the hero of this book fights back. And what a battle. I was utterly engrossed every nail-biting step of the way.

Taking a break from all the sturm and drang above, I was delighted to return to Anne Tyler. Her latest book, A Spool of Blue Thread, examines the multi-generational lives of a Baltimore family. All her books seem to examine the lives of a Baltimore family. But she’s so adept at making her characters come alive, it’s always a joy to discover her latest clan. This book is no exception. Tyler’s an amazing writer, full of insight, humor, and compassion. I’m an avid fan.
Visit Laura Levine's website.

The Page 69 Test: Killing Cupid.

My Book, The Movie: Death by Tiara.

--Marshal Zeringue