I’ve been on the road with my wife Denise Kiernan as she visits bookstores and promotes her new book, Obstinate Daughters, about the women behind the American Revolution. The experience of being on the road together to sell copies of a RevWar book brought back a ton of memories—going as far back as childhood. “I have been here before, and before, and before,” is all I keep thinking. Why? In 1976…

We are two weeks into the launch of my wife’s new book, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution (Penguin Random House, 2026). It has been a wild ride to watch the book come together over eight years, and now it is out in the world. That means every day there is a new review or some media tidbit that comes our way. This post is my attempt to create a collection point for everything I find. This post will grow over time, so check back if you’re curious…

There’s a book about writing that I re-read every year. It does not teach whole lot of craft. But it does speak to the heart. It will probably speak to you, if you care about writing. It’s a classic book written by Brenda Ueland called If You Want to Write (affiliate link). I cannot remember how or when I first learned about it, but my wife and I bought a paperback copy ages ago, read and enjoyed it, and have re-read it over the years and even handed out copies to fellow writers as well. It’s an inspirational book first…

We are less than a week out from the launch of my wife’s new book, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution (Penguin Random House, June 23, 2026.) Her publisher put together a cute, 17-second video—with music!—to promote the book. Watch it right here! In other news:

• Who is in the book?

• How can I get my hands on a copy?

• Check out another cute t-shirt!

I attended a college graduation recently and got strangely emotional before the ceremony began. I started analyzing why, and I finally landed on the fact that I love learning, and haven’t stopped doing so, really, since I was a kid. I took out a notebook, started jotting down some thoughts, and before long I had the makings of an article on the topic that dips into nostalgia, yes, but also touches on a prophecy made by one of my professors way back in…

FREE GIVEAWAY ALERT – 30 COPIES! — The big news in this Semiquincentennial year is that my wife, Denise Kiernan, is releasing her newest narrative‑nonfiction title, OBSTINATE DAUGHTERS: The Rebels, Writers, and Renegade Women Who Ignited the American Revolution, (Penguin Random House) on June 23,  2026. From May 11 to June 8, 2026, you can enter to win one of 30 hardcover books in the official Goodreads giveaway…

I have too many books, and I’ve grown to accept that I always will. When I first started reading, I always finished books that I bought or borrowed before buying another one. This used to be an unspoken rule of mine. It just felt like the smart thing to do. But somehow I took a wrong turn. It happened after college when I was living on my own. Slowly, I started buying books that I intended to read, brought them home, stuck them on a shelf somewhere, and never…

In another week or so students all over the nation and world will start donning their gowns and mortarboards and march joyfully into arenas to collect their diplomas. A rite of passage that never gets old. Today at SleuthSayers I’m reminiscing about one of my first job interviews. It was for a job that I would have liked in the book publishing world. I didn’t do many book publishing interviews when I was fresh out of school. I was so focused on landing a job at a magazine, since that was the focus of my college study. But this job—which I didn’t get—would have been special. It was the only one that…

There are lot of stories online about small children who lost teeth while visiting Disneyland or Disney World and how the Disney Cast Members made that adorable rite of passage into something special for the young visiting child. There are even Disney blogs that coach parents on what do if their family is about to visit one of the Disney properties when one of their kids is likely to lose a tooth. That’s all lovely, and go ahead and follow all the sweet advice you can glean. But to my mind, there is really only one lost Disney tooth story, and it’s the only one I’ve encountered in a Disney-related book…

The weather has finally warmed up in my neighborhood. Not quite warm or predictable enough to plant our usual retinue of garden plants. But one of the most welcome plants has already popped up of its own accord. This is none other than wild arugula. It’s a delightful plant with sawtooth leaves and a delicious, peppery flavor. When we lived briefly in Italy, we’d find it growing wild in the fields where we lived. The plant is an annual but it self-sows readily. We’d go out in the morning and pick a bunch for an afternoon or dinner salad. The Italians call it “rughetta”…