Hi, all

I note by the calendar that it is now 2003. That would be all well and good if I were through with 2002 yet (or 2000, or 1986, or...). I hope you all had better luck in squeezing all the good stuff out of it before it ended. And I hope, too, that you had a great holiday season.

I was just informed that "The Good Cop," the most recent of the Dick Hardesty series, is #3 on OpenBook, Ltd's top ten sellers for December. Considering that the book didn't even make it to the store until well after the 15th, as I recall, that's pretty good news. I hope (I do a lot of hoping, as you see)that you'll get a chance to read it, and that you'll drop me a note letting me know what you think. It's something of a departure from the other books, but I hope you enjoy it.

The next book, "The Bottle Ghosts" should be released perhaps as early as March, and yet another is currently taking shape on my hard drive. And speaking of "The Bottle Ghosts," I'd like to invite you all to stop by Dorien's web page (www.angelfire.com/home/doriengrey) to register for a free autographed copy of "The Bottle Ghosts" when it is released. (And registering won't put you on anyone's mailing list, I promise.)

Best wishes for a great 2003.

Dorien