Seven For A Secret got a starred review in Library Journal today:

"The authors get everything right in their latest historical. The story is fast paced, the tensions between characters well portrayed; the ending leaves the reader clamoring for more." -- Library Journal, 2/2/2008

The newest Robert B. Parker book is reviewed right above ours. He didn't get a star. Further up the list is a mystery by the late Joe L. Hensley who didn't get a star either.

It always feels weird to see my name listed amongst people like that. Putting aside the fact that I'm only a co-author, I simply don't feel like a "writer." Certainly not in the same sense that Robert B. Parker is. There's no chance of earning a living off our books let alone becoming rich off them. (Let alone famous and thank goodness for that...) To me, "real" writers write books for a living. They inhabit a different world than I do.

Writing for a small press is nothing like being a celebrity author or even an author who is being pushed by a big publisher. A small press can't flood the media or bookstores with you and your work. The playing field isn't level. I'm not getting ready to fly to New York to appear on a morning show. I've got a legal article to finish before the deadline so I can afford to fill up the propane tank again soon. How did I ever show up on a list with real authors like that?

Still, when you come down to it, Mary and I arrange words to make a story, just like Robert B. Parker does. And this morning, on this little playing field where it was the words that were at issue, we got a starred review and he didn't.