An Interview with Lee Goldberg as we say goodbye to Mr. Monk....

Lee Goldberg interview:

By Pamela James

Lee Goldberg, is witty, wonderful and just plain nice. As the final season finale of Monk comes to a close, Lee took the time to answer a few pending questions......

Lee, tell us about a bit about your latest book and your writing schedule

My latest book is MR. MONK IN TROUBLE, the ninth in my series of original novels based on the TV series (which I also wrote for). Monk is sent to Trouble, a California Gold Rush town, to investigate a murder. He soon discovers that the murder is linked to the past... and to his own distant relative, a quirky assayer named Artemis Monk.

This book gave me a chance to dabble in westerns, something I've always enjoyed reading but, until now, have never tried writing before. The story bounces between the 1850s and present-day, between Artemis Monk of yesteryear and the Adrian Monk that we know and love.

My writing schedule isn't set in stone. I basically work on my books whenever I am not working on a script, or vice-versa. I have about four months to write each book, so I write anywhere and everywhere I can put pen to paper (or fingers to a keyboard). No matter what I am writing, I tend to do my best work between 8 pm and 2 am. Don't ask me why...my brother Tod is the same way.

Of course we want to know if the Monk Mysteries will continue?

There will be at least two more MONK books... MR. MONK IS CLEANED OUT in July 2010 and MR. MONK GETS EVEN, the book I am writing now, in Dec. 2010. After that, who knows?

What are your 2010 writing and promotion plans? Do you have another television series you will be writing?

I intend to finish a standalone novel that I have been working on and I hope to begin production in Berlin & Shanghai this summer on a movie I wrote for a studio in Europe. This has been a rough couple of years in the TV business, so I don't know for sure where I will land next tube-wise. As far as promotion goes, I will keep doing interviews like this, interacting with fans on my blog (leegoldberg.typepad.com), my Facebook page, my website (www.leegoldberg.com) and on Twitter.

Okay - give us personal background on you such as what you do when you're not writing?

When I am not writing, I am a professional sexual surrogate and Pierce Brosnan impersonator. I'm married and have a 14-year-old daughter, neither of whom know about those other pursuits...so please don't tell them. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, where my father was an anchorman on KPIX and my mother was a reporter for the Contra Costa Times. My mother wanted me to be a doctor, and my grandfather wanted me to go into the family furniture business ("Everybody has to sit somewhere," he said). Instead, I put myself through school at UCLA as a freelance journalist, writing for such publications as American Film, Starlog, Newsweek, The Los Angeles Times Syndicate, The Washington Post and The San Francisco Chronicle. I also wrote erotic letters to the editor for Playgirl at $25-a-letter, but sssh, that's a secret, too.

My first book was published while I was still at UCLA. It was called .357 VIGILANTE and I wrote it as "Ian Ludlow," so I'd be on the shelf next to Robert Ludlum . The West Coast Review of Books called his debut "as stunning as the report of a .357 Magnum, a dynamic premiere effort," singling the book out as "The Best New Paperback Series" of the year. Naturally, the publisher promptly went bankrupt and I never saw a dime in royalties (It's now available as an ebook on Kindle and the Nook). Since then, I've written dozens of books -- fiction and non-fiction -- and written & produced hundreds of hours of TV. My TV writing and/or producing credits include DIAGNOSIS MURDER, HUNTER, SPENSER FOR HIRE, NERO WOLFE, SLIDERS, SEAQUEST, MISSING and MONK.

Will you be guest speaker at any mystery conferences this year?

I'll be attending Left Coast Crime in L.A, the 3rd Annual Forensic Trends: Psychiatric & Behavioral Issues Conference in Las Vegas, the International Mystery Writers Festival in Owensboro KY, Bouchercon in San Francisco, and the Professional Pierce Brosnan Impersonator Convention in my living room.

Last, but never least, do you have a favorite Monk episode or favorite Monk book?

I really liked my episodes of MONK -- "Mr. Monk Goes to Mexico," "Mr. Monk and The Godfather," and "Mr. Monk Can't See a Thing." I also really enjoyed the series finale very much, too. I like all my MONK books (of course!) but I think the ones that were the most fun to write were probably MR. MONK IS MISERABLE and MR. MONK IN TROUBLE.

Leave us with some Monk words of wisdom

Never eat mixed nuts.
--
www.leegoldberg.com

Guest Blogger - Rhys Bowen

When I asked Pamela what she wanted me to blog about, she said "the magic of being an author."

My first thought was that it's not always so magical. That looming deadline, those copy edits and page proofs that arrive when I have a streaming cold and are wanted back within three days--and how about those East Coast morning show interviews that make me stand shivering in my pjs, trying to sound bright and perky at three a.m., or the book tour in July when it's 117 degrees in Scottsdale and I have ten stores to visit? Being an author is often hard work. It's sitting in front of a computer and making myself write five pages when I don't feel like writing anything.

But then I open my emails and there is a message from someone telling me how my Lady Georgie or Molly or Evan book has just helped her through chemo, and I'm reminded that there is a magical side. Seeing my books on a bookstore shelf never gets old. Seeing a woman reading one across the aisle on a flight recently gives me an incredible thrill. Meeting fans who have driven two hundred miles to a book signing is a humbling and bewildering experience for me. So yes, I guess it is magical that I can start with the germ of an idea--how about if Molly met Houdini? And six months later it is a completed story, ready to be turned into a book. It is magical to be blessed with a gift of words and with the perserverance to shape those words into stories that readers like.

I've now written 24 mystery novels and I begin each new book with a sense of panic. What if the plot won't work out this time? What if I don't know whodunit at the end? The first fifty pages are pure torture. Then the story crystalizes, the writing gets easier and the last half of the book romps along merrily. It's the same process every time but I still can't calm those fears and self doubts that start each new book.

I'm just about to start on a new Molly book next week, so I'm in the worry stage at the moment. I know where it will take place--in Chinatown, and I know who is going to die, but that's about all. I've read many interesting books about the history of the Chinese in America. Every new Molly book educates me in another sphere. The research is an aspect I love about writing historical novels. I had such fun researching Houdini, who will figure prominently in The Last Illusion--in stores March 2, 2010.

And I had even more fun with my next Lady Georgie book: Georgie is sent to represent the family at a royal wedding in Europe. Only the wedding is in Transylvania. Georgie doesn't exactly believe in vampires, but what is crawling up the wall and why does the bride have blood dripping down her chin? I really wanted to do a spoof on all the vampire frenzy--to keep it funny but scary at the same time. It comes out in September and is called Royal Blood.

And tomorrow I'm off to Arizona to join the rest of my family at a lodge in the mountains near Sedona for Thanksgiving. This has become a wonderful tradition. The grandkids have a ball and the grown ups hike and play and eat and sit by a roaring fire. Perfect.

So I'm wishing everyone who reads this a wonderful holiday season and happy reading in 2010.

Rhys Bowen