Laura Benedict profile picture

Laura Benedict

Thriller Writer Chick

About Me


Welcome to my myspace page! What you might like to know about me: I’m a thriller-writer, a mother, a wife. I’m living proof that dreams do come true. I wrote fiction for almost twenty years before selling my novel, Isabella Moon , and a second book to Ballantine Books in 2006. Isabella Moon debuted in September and is also available on Brilliance Audio. (UK and Australian versions were released in early February.) Last October, Press 53 published Surreal South , an anthology of surreal short fiction and poetry by some of the most remarkable living southern (and southern-minded) authors around. I had the privilege of co-editing Surreal South with Pinckney Benedict , my writer husband and all-around genius guy.
My second novel, CALLING MR. LONELY HEARTS , will be released in the spring of 2009.
What’s my work like? You might want to check out the excerpt on my official website . Isabella Moon is a thriller with supernatural elements, but I hope it’s a good story, first. My first major short story publication was The Hollow Woman with Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in 2001. It was later anthologized by the estimable Jon Breen in Best Mysteries of 2001 . I’m thrilled to have published another piece, The Erstwhile Groom, in the Sept/Oct 2007 double issue of EQMM. Also, I’ve reviewed books for The Grand Rapids Press in Michigan and other papers for the last decade as Laura Philpot Benedict.
Random facts about me: I live in the country, love to bake, never win at tic-tac-toe, don’t really care what sort of car I drive, am (to steal my good friend Margy’s phrase) stubbornly blonde and always hope to make enough money to support trips to my colorist, really like having all the trashcans in my house empty at the same time, think there are few things better than finding a pair of blue jeans that fit, am an unapologetic Christian and imperfect parent, enjoy meeting all sorts of people despite the fact that I’m actually quite shy, and I love to eat good sushi, dark chocolate, and all kinds of cheese (not at the same time!). If you want to know more, I hope you’ll check out my Notes from the Handbasket blog , and my website, www.laurabenedict.com .
Thanks for stopping by!

My Interests

Reading, reading, reading. Writing. Hanging out with P. Hiking with my children--Doing anything with my children. Gardening. Cooking (particularly baking) for friends and family. Golf. Needlepoint. Shooting. Keeping in touch with people I care about.

I'd like to meet:

Readers, Writers, Closet Optimists

Music:

Steely Dan, Jim White, Loretta Lynn, Dusty Springfield, Johnny Cash, Diana Krall, Nat King Cole, Sinatra, Patsy Cline, Belle and Sebastian, Pink Floyd, The Allman Brothers, Chopin and more Chopin, Sarah Vaughn, Lyle Lovett, Gerry Mulligan, Chet Baker, Sonny Rollins, Susannah McCorkle, Tom Petty

Movies:

Casino Royale (Daniel Craig), Rebecca, Anything Hitchcock, Brazil, The Thin Man Films, ‘50s Noir, Laura, The Manchurian Candidate, The Haunting, Conan the Barbarian, Highlander, Best in Show, The Passion of Joan of Arc

Television:

Dexter, Project Runway, The Tudors, Dirty Jobs, Wire in the Blood, BSG, PBS Mysteries, Days of Our Lives (40 years!)

Books:

Beowulf, Translation by Seamus Heaney

Heroes:

My Dad and any other current or former service U.S. Marines.

My Blog

Where Have I Been?

I've been cooking in my new kitchen!Going on end-of-year field trips!Visiting Boston with my sisters!Getting ready for Thrillerfest in July and my reading with 6 other wonderful thriller writers!See d...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Tue, 03 Jun 2008 08:50:00 PST

Joyce Carol Oates and Me (Or Would That Be I?!)

Yes, it's true. It's a two-blog kind of day. Not content to let Pinckney have all the limelight, I have an announcement to make. But you're going to have to go to Notes From The Handbasket to read it!...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 07:58:00 PST

Love From Pinckney

For those of you who are suffering from Pinckney withdrawal, here's a missive from the, uh, man himself. His time away hasn't been all work and no play. He's been busy in the Second Life sandbox. I'm ...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Wed, 30 Apr 2008 05:50:00 PST

Chaos, Two Books to Read, and Still No Kitchen

So, I'm sad that Pinckney has left MySpace. I learned a lot of stuff from that guy. I should probably spend more time hanging out with him on the other side of the wall!We're deep into the kitchen rem...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Thu, 17 Apr 2008 09:14:00 PST

No, That Viagra Email is Not Actually From Me!

I’m being plagued--nay, assaulted--by my own technology!Two nights ago, I received a text message from myself, thanking me for the message that I’d sent the previous day. "Hey," it read. "...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Wed, 26 Mar 2008 09:06:00 PST

Monday Miscellany and Blatant Friend Promotion--Jordan Dane

I am revising today, my dears. Have to get CALLING MR LONELY HEARTS in to my editor by next week so he can move on to line edits--then I get to do those! And tomorrow the carpenters come to rip out th...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Mon, 24 Mar 2008 10:23:00 PST

Monday Miscellany and a New Excuse to Blog

Is it still Monday? When I signed in to myspace today, I saw that my last visit was ten days ago. I don’t think I’ve gone ten days without being here since I signed up some seventeen or ei...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Tue, 18 Mar 2008 08:45:00 PST

Left Coast Crime--Denver

.. ">So here I am in Denver at Left Coast Crime. The Adam's Mark Hotel is fine, and it seems I lucked out getting into the main building because the rooms here really are as big as Texas!B...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Thu, 06 Mar 2008 09:41:00 PST

Happy birthday, CALLING MR LONELY HEARTS!

I told my sweet, precocious friend, Kyle Minor, today that I felt as though I'd spent the last year with Harold Robbins (you may have to look up his smutty 70's books, kids), Stephen King, Nora Robert...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Thu, 28 Feb 2008 08:59:00 PST

Kitchen Obsessions and Guest Bloggers

..">It started with doorknobs. We have terrible doorknobs in our house...and terrible thresholds and holes in our flooring and rotting soffits. And don't get me started on the closets. We have lots an...
Posted by Laura Benedict on Thu, 21 Feb 2008 07:33:00 PST