Crider! I'm coming after you...

I've given myself a little project. I'm going to interview Bill Crider. I asked him during the last Bouchercon and he said yes. Whether he remembers it or not I'm going to hold him to that. Here's my connection, then I'll talk about the project.

I first met Bill Crider in Houston (Texas :-)). Ben Rehder, Bill Crider and I did a booksigning at Murder by the Book (unless that's the one in San Antonio). After it was all said and done, my wife and I were going to call a cab for a ride back to the hotel, but Bill and his wife were gracious enough to drive us. Since then, I've run into Bill at a couple of conventions and I've followed his blog which you should do too... after you've finsihed with this post.

Now the project. Bill has published far too many books for me to ever read in order to interview him based on all that. So I'm trying to read a book from each of his series - Truman Smith, Dan Rhoades, Sally Goode, and Carl Burns. I sure as hell hope there aren't any other series out there. That would just about kill me. Now, as anyone who has read this blog knows, I'm a terribly slow reader. This may take a while, but I've made a good start on my first book When Old Men Die a Truman Smith mystery. Good writing so far. I'll report when I'm done.

I'm thinking this will be fun. I think (but I don't yet know for sure) that a Crider mystery is the type I like most - heavy on character, a small story that one can easily believe and that seems to have more relevance than some thrillers where the Earth hangs in the balance. We'll see. If I find that Truman Smith has to thwart the KGB to avert nuclear disaster...