Five on Friday - Chris Mooney

It's that time again, when we all - well most of us - celebrate the end of the work week....and Five on Friday of course.

Before we get started, a few of my usual weekly housekeeping things. By the way, a lot of these items I put up as they happen on Facebook. So if you haven't joined us and you'd like some timelier notice of these tidbits, do join in!

First, be sure to check out Robert Crais' NPR segment here.

The wonderful Gregg Hurwitz is talking about Los Angeles and his new book, THE SURVIVOR, here.

I'm so excited that Michael Koryta is now a New York Times Best Selling author. He's a well-kept secret no more. Congratulations to Michael. And you can enter to win a copy of THE PROPHET over here.

Yesterday there was a New York radio show, The Leonard Lopate Show, that hosted Jonathan Santlofer talking about the Crime Fiction Academy. You can listen to the archive of it here.

Finally, be sure to check out Lesa's Book Critiques and Pop Culture Nerd for some book giveaways you might be interested in entering.

I think that's about it for this week. Let's hurry along to the important part! One of the reasons I wanted to start the Five on Friday feature was to invite some authors I'm not as familiar with to join us, so I would have a chance to learn more about them as well as you. Chris Mooney fits that bill. While Chris has been an established thriller writer for some time now, he has eight crime novels to his credit, four in his Darby McCormick series. I've not had the opportunity to check out his books, yet, but I have a few waiting for me now, and I'm excited about his new series, the first of which - THE KILLING HOUSE - just released in the UK. It'll be out later in the US. From Chris' responses I learned he is quite funny, has great taste in crime fiction (see response #2), and is anything but boring. I hope you enjoy his Five on Friday as much as I did!

So, without further ado, here is Chris Mooney!

1. The most bizarre place I ever found inspiration for a story was folding laundry, probably. Or the shower. Or brushing my teeth or out walking the dog. Inspiration almost always strikes when I’m doing something mindless. I don’t explain why—maybe because my creative mind’s at rest—but a lot of writers have shared similar experiences with me. So folding laundry is really, for me, the best way to plot out a really great murder.

2. The last book I recommended to someone was The Survivor by Gregg Hurwitz. Confession: Gregg’s a good friend, but I’ve always admired not only his enormous talent but his ability to get better and better with every book. Not every author can do this. I loved They’re Watching, and I didn’t think he could top that, and he did with The Survivor. That one is like a master’s class on how to write the perfect thriller—brilliant opening, brilliantly plotted and brilliantly written. He makes it look so easy, which is why I must kill him. I’ll come up with an idea next time I’m folding laundry.

3. My biggest pet peeve is standing in line somewhere and someone is screaming into a cellphone, for example. It’s rude. A lot of Hannibal Lecter-type thoughts go through my head at these moments. Well, except the cannibalism part.

4. My favorite t-shirt (that I own) is anything by Junk Food clothing. They make these incredibly soft broken-in tees that feature cool Star Wars designs, comic book characters, you name it. I keep collecting them—twenty-seven, at last count. I live in these T-shirts. In fact, I’m wearing a new Batman one right now as I type this.

5. The #1 item on my bucket list right now is to become the nation’s fist six-foot-five ballerina. Just kidding. Really, what I want is to get a book ahead. I always seem to get close, but then I’ll have to do a major revision and then I’m behind the eight ball again. This answer should make you realize what a pathetically boring person I am. 

Many thanks to Chris for joining us with Five on Friday. He's now been exposed to my quirky approach to blogging. Hopefully I haven't scared him away. I'm sure you'll soon be hearing about his books here as well.

Have a great weekend everyone. I wish you nothing but good books and time to read them!