THE MYSTERIES OF ST. LOUIS: I'm back from the 'Lou, and I had a great time. I was there to teach my communications strategy class to a small design firm, 501 Creative, that specializes in design for not-for-profits. While there I spent a ton of time in U. City, and I think it's really a great place. Big houses on large lots with only medium-sized price tags. Plenty of racial and socio-economic diversity. A good skate shop, coupla solid record stores (one even had several selections from my favorite unknown reggae musician, Nasio Fontaine), and several good little indie bookstores.

I spent over an hour in The Big Sleep, a mystery book store, talking shop with the proprietor, Helen Simpson. Helen told me a few stories about Lee Child (one of my current faves and a friend of hers), talked about the sorry state of the mystery biz for writers, and recommended used books from Ian Rankin and George Pelecanos. She shares my notion that Harlan Coben's most recent thrillers pale in comparison to his Bolitar series, but we both understand why he does it. Like the record business (and the rest of the book biz), the mystery world is entirely blockbuster-driven, and mass-market intrigue just flat-out outsells series mysteries.

BTW, and FWIW, yes, my background is in literary fiction, and I still read it (and write it from time to time). But of late I've been really enjoying the mystery form, and although I still feel goofy hefting Lee Child's KILLING FLOOR (with its super-hokey bloody handprint on the cover), I'm becoming more and more comfortable with it by the day.