Author John Lescroart

January 2, 2009

John Lescroart

Welcome to my web page and Happy New Year!

It's been a terrific holiday season, and I hope you all can say the same. But now the new year is upon us, and I'll be looking forward to a busy and exciting time as I start working in earnest on my 2010 book, TREASURE HUNT, and get the planning underway for touring and the book season this year, with two books coming out this summer—A PLAGUE OF SECRETS, the new Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky novel, in July 2009, and also...

SUNBURN.

Yes, that's right. In a very exciting move, New American Library has decided to republish my long out-of-print first novel, SUNBURN, as a mass market paperback in June of 2009. As many of you know, this book first came out (in 1982!) as a paperback original with a semi-pornographic cover. For a book that had won the San Francisco Foundation's Joseph Henry Jackson Award for best unpublished novel by a California author, this was somewhat less than desirable—but it was my very first time in print, and that fact made up for a multitude of sins. Before this latest edition, though, only a very few readers could find copies of this book, which always sold for several hundred collars per copy!! Crazy, but true. And to think that now it will be released in a large print run, with a terrific new cover, and be readily available to those who have waited so long for it is a great moment.

I'm still very proud of SUNBURN, but feel I should issue a caveat to my loyal readers that they should expect something different from my San Francisco books. SUNBURN is not in any sense a legal thriller, or even a crime book. I think it's got a very good story (or rather, couple of stories), but it is a literary book that contains few if any of the elements that have made up the bulk of my work ever since—i.e. murders, trials, cops, and attorneys. Set in 1975 in Spain, it's very much a Hemingway-esque coming-of-age First Novel. It does, however, feature at least some of my trademark interests—food, wine, and hopefully witty repartee. I hope it finds a large and enthusiastic audience.

Many of you may have already noticed it out on your local bookracks, but I wanted to formally announce here that BETRAYAL is now out in paperback. For those of you who missed the hardcover version last year, this would be a good week to go out and pick up your copy. And always remember, of course, that books make terrific gifts as well. BETRAYAL received some of the nicest reviews of any of my books, and gets Dismas Hardy and Abe Glitsky back into the fray in a case of love, murder, government secrets and, of course, betrayal.

Coming up this month in New York City, I'll be fulfilling one of my life's ambitions and attending the Annual Meeting of the world's premier Sherlock Holmes's society, The Baker Street Irregulars. Not only that, this august group of Sherlockian scholars has asked me to attend as its Distinguished Speaker. As a longtime passionate fan of the Great Detective, I am honored and delighted to have been given this opportunity.

I've said it before, but it bears repeating—Happy New Year! All best wishes,

John Lescroart