I always enjoy hearing from readers. You can catch up with me on Facebook, friend me at Myspace, trade tweets at Twitter @laurabenedict, or get in on the conversation at my Notes From the Handbasket blog.

Email me at laura@laurabenedict.com.

Questions about literary or film rights for my work? Please contact Susan Raihofer at the David Black Literary Agency, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Phone: 212-242-5080

I'm available for readings, workshops and conferences and am happy to answer any questions you might have about my availability. I love to get together with book clubs in person, on the phone or by video on Skype.

As much as I enjoy reading new fiction, I regret that I can't review unsolicited manuscripts. I highly recommend the books Plotting and Writing Suspense Fiction by Patricia Highsmith and Stephen King's On Writing. And be sure to join a writers' group. You'll get great criticism and make friendships for a lifetime.

I'm appearing at the Southern Illinois Women's Health Conference, John A. Logan College on September 18th.

Read my essay on the Sherlock Holmes classic, The Hound of the Baskervilles, in Thrillers: 100 Must-Reads. Available now!

Be sure to friend me on Facebook

Check out my annualist project blog: Wardrobe by Sam

Click here for a full listing of upcoming appearances.

There's a wonderful Latin phrase-- in medias res --that means in the middle of things. To my mind, that's always the best place to begin a story...