The music of my Mozart thriller
In a Mozart thriller, the music is naturally one of the most important elements. You might even say it’s one of the leading characters. Certainly it’s …
mozart's last aria
Mozart’s Vienna: the locations of my Mozart novel
I went to every place in Mozart’s Vienna that I included in ‘Mozart’s Last Aria,’ my novel about the great composer’s …
Behind the Book: Mozart’s Last Aria
My historical thriller ‘Mozart’s Last Aria’ grew from an idea I had in the place where the great composer’s sister lived …
Write historical fiction: Finding daily details
How to use historical objects in fiction without making them into fetishes In writing historical fiction, there are two main traps to avoid. One is …
Rescuing Caravaggio from a Bad Rap
He was a raging psycho, an uncontrollably lustful homosexual, and a bit of a bitch. Somehow he also managed to produce some of the most sensitive and …
Inspiration for Mozart
I’m interviewed on the CBS columnist Jeff Glor’s blog about my new novel Mozart’s Last Aria. Here’s how it starts: Jeff Glor: …
Mozart and Machine Guns
I have a guest post on the excellent Wonders and Marvels historical fiction blog. It introduces some of the story behind why I wrote Mozart’s …
Me, Mozart and the intifada
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published …
Using real locations in historical fiction
Historical novelists recreate the emotions and events of distant times. For some novelists, this is a matter of supreme imagination and invention, …
Amadeus, Murder and the real Mozart
The long wait for a successor to Amadeus is over. In fact, my new novel MOZART’S LAST ARIA answers questions about the great composer’s death that are …
My Mozart novel and the intifada
If there had never been a Palestinian intifada, I might never have written my novel about the death of Mozart, MOZART’S LAST ARIA, which is published …
Gentleman and thug: researching my new historical novel
One of the great pleasures of novel-writing is the research which, for almost every book, ought to bring the writer to investigate different areas of …