Jeff Shelby is making a few waves

So it's come to my attention that my friend Jeff Shelby has started a new blog.

Of course he could've told me about this, but, well, he didn't. I had to find out about it on Facebook. But regardless of how I found out (and I don't carry grudges . . . for too long, anyway), I have added his blog to my blogroll over there down at the bottom on the right side of this blog. It's called Waves and Words, which might seem a little weird for a guy who's pretty landlocked in Texas. But he writes an amazing series about a surfer named Noah Braddock in San Diego, where Jeff is originally from.

I met Jeff in Chicago at Bouchercon in 2005. It was our first Bouchercon. My first book SACRED COWS wasn't even out yet, but his first book KILLER SWELL was already out. We were on our very first Bouchercon panel together, along with Lori Armstrong and Alison Gaylin and Vicki Lane. I was scared to death. I didn't know a soul, but instantly, Jeff, Alison, Lori and I bonded. Enough so by the end of the conference, about 2 a.m. Saturday, Jeff said, "Why don't we start a blog?"

And the First Offenders were born.

We blogged together religiously until last spring. Until we all agreed that the blog had run its course and we needed to move on. I started this blog not too long afterward. Lori blogs under her alter-ego's name, Lorelei James (she has a thing for sexy cowboys). But Jeff and Alison were blog-less.

Alison's got a new series in the works, and the first book, AND SHE WAS, will be out next March. Jeff, sadly, has been struggling a little in this crazy business we call publishing.

After his second Noah Braddock book, WICKED BREAK, Jeff found himself without a contract as so many of us do (I'm done after INK FLAMINGOS and am not just what my future holds in publishing). But he persevered, because he's a writer. He can't help himself. He wrote another Noah book, he wrote a thriller, and he also wrote one of the funniest cozy mysteries I've ever read.

It's been four years since WICKED BREAK. And I'm so thrilled to say that his third Noah Braddock book, LIQUID SMOKE, is coming out this summer from Tyrus Books! (there's a link on his blog). And that hilarious cozy? STAY AT HOME DEAD will be published by Kensington next winter (under the name Jeffrey Allen, but you can find all that out at his blog, too).

So go check out Waves and Words. In addition to being a great writer, Jeff is hilarious and he will definitely keep you entertained.

Some day we'll get the whole band back together. A reunion tour, perhaps.