Journal

The Notebook

Notes on Las Vegas, true crime, the writing life, and the stories the city keeps.

Prologue — The Woman on the Marble Floor

“I had learned the art of looking away. In Las Vegas, that was not always indifference. Sometimes survival requires distance.”

A city built on risk teaches people a certain rhythm. Observe. Understand. Move on. My law degree had once represented certainty. Rules. Evidence. Answers. But Las Vegas taught me something different — sometimes knowing when to ask questions mattered as much as knowing how to answer them.

Las Vegas

The city behind the sign

Everyone photographs the Welcome sign. Almost nobody photographs the street two blocks behind it — which is where most of this novel actually happens.

True Crime

When the official story arrives too fast

A short lesson from four years in a law firm: the speed of an explanation is often the most useful evidence in the file.

Writing Life

Writing a first novel, later in life

On starting a first novel after sixty years in retail management, and why the late start turned out to be the whole advantage.

Behind the Book

Editing with my son

Lance is a producer and director. He challenged my thinking, strengthened the story, and made me see it from perspectives I never would have found alone.

Las Vegas

Five real places in Neon Secrets

The Bellagio fountains, a diner off Charleston, and three locations I changed just enough to protect the people still living in them.

Writing Life

Memory is imperfect

Perspective changes. The line between what we remember and what we later understand is not always clear — and that gap is the engine of a thriller.

Las Vegas

The city behind the sign

Everyone photographs the Welcome sign. Almost nobody photographs the street two blocks behind it — which is where most of this novel actually happens.

Las Vegas

Five real places in Neon Secrets

The Bellagio fountains, a diner off Charleston, and three locations I changed just enough to protect the people still living in them.

True Crime

When the official story arrives too fast

A short lesson from four years in a law firm: the speed of an explanation is often the most useful evidence in the file.

Writing Life

Writing a first novel, later in life

On starting a first novel after sixty years in retail management, and why the late start turned out to be the whole advantage.

Writing Life

Memory is imperfect

Perspective changes. The line between what we remember and what we later understand is not always clear — and that gap is the engine of a thriller.

Behind the Book

Editing with my son

Lance is a producer and director. He challenged my thinking, strengthened the story, and made me see it from perspectives I never would have found alone.