I’m just back from a hectic week in New York promoting Dead Like You which has just been published in the USA.
Despite the mad rush, did managed to see some of the glorious seasonal sights, such as the ice rink in Rockefeller Plaze and the tree there, and took in what must surely be the world’s cheesiest (but hugely enjoyable) show – the Radio City Musical Hall Christmas Show. Dancing girls in antlers and a 3-D ride on Santa’s Sleigh through the streets of Manhattan.
Caught up with my friend Imogen Lloyd-Webber who is carving out a brilliant broadcasting career in the US, and who got me an interview on Fox TV which was great. Also caught up with Lee Child who I like a lot and met one of America’s crime writing legends, Mary Higgins Clark at the Mysterious Bookshop Christmas Party.
Stayed at the fabled Plaza for the first time, and it is a glorious hotel, with a fabulous position by Central Park – expensive but worth the indulgence… Ate again at one of my favourite New York venues, The Standard Grill at the Standard Hotel, and also had dinner at a steakhouse I really like, with an NYPD friend who has been helping me a lot with my research for my new Roy Grace novel, Dead Man’s Grip, called The Old Homestead. I was more careful with ordering this time – the first time I went there, with two NYPD cops, I ordered, by mistake, a 32 oz rib steak. And, to save face, I then had to eat the whole thing….!
I’m really pleased that the book sales are good, and interestingly, ebook sales are getting stronger and stronger there. Worrying news for bookstores, as people tend to buy them online and don’t go into stores and browse.
I’ve always considered New York to give reasonable value in most things – and transport being one of these. Taxis in NY are among the cheapest in any major city that I know. But not so, I’ve discovered, the Tricycle Taxis that tout for business wherever you are in the centre of the city. Beware. We took one as an experiment to see if it was faster through the traffic than a yellow cab. Quite apart from being uncomfortable and scary, being weaved in and out of the traffic (including massive trucks) by someone with the road sense of a wildebeeste being chased by a lion, it was an utter rip-off. Straight down 5th Avenue, from 58th street to 44th street – a mere 14 blocks, cost us a whopping $40.00 That same ride in a yellow cab would have been about $5.00
Saw this priceless sight when shopping in my favourite NY store, Bloomingdales. This dog being pushed in a cart by its owner!
Don’t forget that there is still time to enter the Hall of Fame photo comp and win a magnum of Champagne!
The best new photographs submitted for inclusion in the Peter James Hall Of Fame between now and January 6th 2011 will be eligible to win a prize. My favourite picture will receive a magnum of champagne and there will be signed paperbacks for the three runners-up.
To send in your images, please attach them to an email to me (scary@pavilion.co.uk) and write “Hall Of Fame submission” in the subject line. It would help if they were landscape format (ie horizontal) rather than portrait format, but it’s not essential.