First news, my latest book for young adults, First Shot, has just come out.  It's already grabbed a starred review in Booklist, which calls it a "fast-paced, intriguing read."  The Bulletin calls it "a crackerjack mystery."

The idea for First Shot was actually suggested to me by my wonderful editor at Dutton Children's Books, Maureen Sullivan.  She had read an article about a boy whose mother was murdered several years earlier, and had begun to suspect his father of the crime.

I took that idea and ran with it.

There's been continuing interest in my "Hunted" series featuring on-the-run songwriter Chastity Pureheart.  (You have to read the first book in the series, Fake I.D. to find out how she got such a ridiculous name.)  Anyway, I'll be writing a third book in that series later this year.

In the mean time my novel for young readers, Erratum, is wending its way through the publishing process.  I think it might well be the best book I've written yet for kids.  I've got high hopes for the book, and I think Dutton Childrens is really going to be getting behind it.  The cover design looks great, and the cover art will be painted by noted illustrator Peter Sis.  It's aimed at a slightly younger audience than my YA books -- roughly middle school, I guess.

Right now I'm working on the follow-up to Erratum.  This one will introduce the main villain for what I hope will be a long-running series.

I'm also continuing an association that started a couple of years ago with New York Times bestselling author D.J. MacHale.   I did novelizations for several episodes of D.J.'s TV series Flight 29 Down.  They came out pretty well, so this coming year I'll be writing two books of short prequel stories featuring characters from his immensely popular  Pendragon series.

More later!

Walter