This was a nice week, business-wise. If I had to compare it to a poker hand – remember, CASINO ROYALE was on the westbound flight, so I saw a lot of poker, and it was okay, but I prefer THE STING when it comes to poker, CASINO ROYALE for torsos – I’d say a straight flush. There was more good news today; WTDK is #14 on the Wall Street Journal’s bestseller list. Imagine me, living in a place where executives would never want to tamper*, on the WSJ list.

But – well, I’ll be mulling that “but” on my website when it’s updated April 1, or thereabouts. (By the way, why not more jokes about the fact that my debut on the New York Times bestseller list will be on April’s Fools Day? Bryon, in an e-mail, asked the perhaps inevitable question: “What, you couldn’t crack the top ten?” A relative made the same joke. Please do not shirk your duty to mock me, whenever possible.) I’ll tell you this much, the April letter will be a story about a man named George, a house with a Formstone façade and a roomful of people drinking beer and crying. A Bawlmer story, in short.

(Written on the train, en route to the Virginia Book Festival, where I will be on a panel with Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen and George Pelecanos. Tomorrow, I interview George and David Simon onstage, about The Wire. Which reminds me – maybe I should prepare some questions.)

*Yes, it's another chance to win a free drink. Cite the allusion -- BUT NO GOOGLING.