APRIL 2002 NEWSLETTER I had a wonderful lunch with STEPHEN and TABITHA KING and MICHAEL and LINDA CONNELLY in March while traveling on Spring Break with the family. Both are looking well. We talked about Michael's new book City Of Bones, a bunch of Stephen's projects and played movie critic to about every film that's out there. CLINT EASTWOOD is shooting Michael's Blood Work, starring and directing, and Michael has been much involved with that. Stephen continues work on the Dark Tower series. MICHAEL CONNELLY read The Art Of Deception since our lunch (we passed books back and forth) and later sent a letter to my publisher with the following to say: "The Art of Deception is a terrific book. I've been a Ridley Pearson fan for a long time--in the field of crime fiction he always plows new ground. And this one has got to be his best yet." --Michael Connelly DAVE BARRY spoke in St. Louis and stayed with us while in town. He sold out a venue here that had never been sold out in its 11 year speaker series history. I had cramps I laughed so hard. THE ROCKBOTTOM REMAINDERS, playing in Greenwich Village May 4th at 9 PM, are cementing our final plans. STEPHEN KING, MITCH ALBOM, AMY TAN, JAMES McBRIDE, SCOTT TUROW, ROY BLOUNT Jr., DAVE BARRY and I will be performing oldies Rock and Roll. I'll be signing BRILLIANCE AUDIO editions of The Art Of Deception at Brilliance's BEA booth on Friday afternoon and attending a BOOKSENSE 76 luncheon hosted by INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES from YOUR TOWN. There are continued developments on the FILM front. Documentaries and two movies-of-the-week continue to move forward. WISHMAKER FILMS and others are still pounding the pavement trying to knock out a feature film deal for Lou Boldt. As excitement continues to build around THE ART OF DECEPTION there is talk of revealing SECRETS this summer, that hopefully will surprise even those of you I consider die-hard readers of my novels. Until then... All my best, Previous newsletters, click here!