Book signing strikes again!

I usually order books for Charlene through Amazon.com before they are released and receive them a day or two before they are officially released.  Works out well.  Several months ago, I ordered Robert Crais's unreleased new book, "Taken".  About three weeks ago, I noticed that he would be at several signings so I schemed to take Charlene on a mystery date, not telling her a word.  Not even the boys knew.  Last night, after she changed clothes about 50 times in her attempts to anticipate what clothes this mystery date might entail, we left for the freeway.  The entire afternoon, she was guessing where/what it might be, to no avail.  We jumped on the freeway headed towards LA and she starts lessening her guesses as we were headed for unfamiliar territory.  We arrived in Thousand Oaks, about 20 miles away at a little place called "Mysteries to Die For".  Cute little bookstore that sells, you guessed it, mystery books.  As I pulled the keys out of our car, I handed her an unopened package that contained "Taken" for the signing.  She saw the book, saw the crowd in front and knew what it was.  Remember you can click on the photo to see a larger version, then return here.

This was a much smaller place than last years Robert Crais book signing in Santa Monica and there was no room to sit so we were off in a corner at the beginning.  Just before he came out, they ask for "Volunteers" to sit on the floor right beside him.  Yep, our hands went up and Charlene and I sat at his feet.  And funny feet they were:

He explained his own personal methods on how he writes.  You know, the dedication of a set number of regular hours per day, how he outlines a story before he writes it, all the little tricks he uses.  It was very interesting.  He also explained that there is a lead time, like 4-6 months after you hand it to the publisher before it hits the shelves in stores.  That time is used for corrections, publishing, PR work, setting up signing tours across the country, etc.  He wasn't happy with his book while writing it and it took many more months to finish than he planned.  The manuscript was turned in December 1st and was published around January first.  Hilarious to hear how his publisher was constantly 'bugging' him in the end.  Afterwards, he did his "question and answer" period which also was interesting.  Then, the book signing began.  This guy is a very "people-oriented" author, very approachable, very likeable and very accommodating.  These are the rest of the pictures and some were taken without flash during his presentation so they're not perfect:

 

Here's Charlene getting her book signed:

And, in a stroke of genius, Charlene make the excellent choice of Silver Flip-Flops (?) and compared foot ware with Robert Crais.  He liked my 'Cow' socks, too.