Diane Capri Licensed To Thrill

Get Back Jack: Chasing Suspects in Manhattan

Diane — Thu, 02 May 2013 20:00:02 +0000

FBI Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar are hard at work in Get Back Jack, engaged in the Hunt for Jack Reacher, of course. At the moment, Otto and Gaspar are chasing a witness on a New York City sidewalk during a mid-November ice storm. Yikes!

But how far will they be forced to run on the ice slicked sidewalk?

Just how long is a New York City block, anyway?

Sounds like a simple question, doesn’t it? I thought so, too. But no.

According to WikiAnswers.com, New York City block lengths vary depending on location and direction. Of course they do. As the old Dan Fogleberg song says, It’s Hard to Say: “It’s never easy and it’s never clear….You think you’re winning, but it’s hard to say sometimes.”

Here’s a New York City graphic and some terrific photos, if you’re interested:

So, where are we on this?

This foot chase happens in Midtown where east/west avenue blocks run 8 – 10 per mile. To make the math easy, I’m calling it 10 blocks per mile, or 528 feet for each block. Half-a-block is 264 feet. (North/south street blocks are shorter and run 17/20 blocks per mile. Who knew?)

Agent Otto’s size 5 shoes would normally cover the distance fairly quickly, but sliding around on the icy cement makes the effort a bit trickier. Agent Gaspar has other difficulties with walking under the best of circumstances, which these are not.

So we’re talking maybe 200 feet or so. Without the icy conditions, an Olympic runner can run it in maybe 6 or 7 seconds.

Let’s say under these conditions Agents Otto and Gaspar can cover the distance in twice that time, shall we? Fourteen seconds. Sound good to you?

Next question:

How many alleys within our fictional city block? And where would they be located? Between each building? Anybody know? (And you thought writing fiction was easy, didn’t you?)

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. I tried to work this story from the New York Times into my alley question, but it didn’t fit. Still cool though, don’t you think? Maybe I can find a place for a more civilized alley-walk later in the book….

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Don’t Know Jack About Counterfeits?

Diane — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 20:50:53 +0000

The Federal Reserve announced recently that the new redesigned $100 note will be released on October 8. The new note is intended to be more difficult for counterfeiters to copy.

But will it be? Watch the video and see what you think.

The new design was unveiled in 2010 while I was writing Don’t Know Jack.

Would the new $100 note have made any difference in Lee Child’s first Jack Reacher thriller, Killing Floor? Or to FBI Agents Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar’s assignment? What say you?

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. Don’t forget the three big April Showers you with fun stuff right now. If you missed it: CLICK HERE. More exciting news coming very soon, so be sure you’re subscribed to Licensed to Thrill!

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Researching The Hunt For Jack Reacher

Diane — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:09:35 +0000

Working on Get Back Jack this morning, the second novel in my Hunt for Jack Reacher series, the question was how fast an elevator travels from the ground to the 22d floor of a high rise office building in Washington DC. Anybody want to guess?

Lee Child has famously claimed that he does no research when writing 18 Jack Reacher thrillers. Joe Finder disagreed with Lee about that claim a while back. If you missed it, you can read the friendly jousting for yourself. Click Here.

Maybe Lee writes without much research because he has a phenomenal memory for factoids and figures and other manly things. He need never go back, right? Me? I’m like Joe. I need to look things up.

When I was writing Don’t Know Jack, I spent more than an hour researching the distance from an airport jetway to the ground for a scene in chapter fifteen where Kim Otto and Carlos Gaspar jump across the five-foot void and risk falling. If they didn’t make it, could they have died? Maybe.

Kim’s fear of flying is cemented by the reality that she knows too much about the risks of flying. This sends me to real plane crash investigation reports and black box transcripts where investigators determine why real airplanes sometimes fall from the sky.

The answers to these questions are never as simple as they should be.

So, how fast does an elevator travels from the ground to the 22d floor of a high rise office building in Washington DC?

Turns out, the speed of elevators varies based on a complicated series of factors. The type of elevator, its age, the age of the building are all important. The elevator is slower coming off the ground than going up once it’s lifted from ground level. And so on. Who knew?

So how long does the elevator ride from the lobby to Dave O’Donnell’s office in a Washington DC office building last? After all that, I simply had to make an educated guess and finesse it a bit.

Here’s what I learned.

Because the elevator one rides almost to the top of the Empire State Building, travels the first 80 floors in 45 seconds, I settled on “less than 30 seconds” for Otto & Gaspar’s 22 floor elevator ride.

Am I wrong? Anybody know?

As always, thank you for reading!

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BSR Radio Interviews Diane Capri: Don’t Know Jack

Diane — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 01:27:07 +0000

Thank you Martha Bourke and Helen Hanson for inviting me to appear on BSR Radio today! Lots of fun for me! Here’s the interview, if you missed it. Simply click on the photo here:

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. Don’t forget the three big activities I shared last week. April Showers you with fun stuff right now. If you missed it: CLICK HERE. More exciting news coming very soon, so be sure you’re subscribed to Licensed to Thrill!

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April Showers Free Reads For Book Lovers (and iPad Mini Giveaway!)

Diane — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 01:59:25 +0000

Free Reads Sprouting Up All Over!

Our friends at Story Cartel are offering free copies of my short story collection this month in exchange for posting your honest review. If you enjoy short reads or want to be introduced to my books with short stories featuring the Hunt for Jack Reacher, Judge Willa Carson, and Jess Kimball, head over to Story Cartel and download your FREE copy of Licensed to Thrill: Volume 5. Click the image below for your FREE reads now!

The folks at WattPad are celebrating crime fiction this month with their featured Whodunnit Month! You can read FREE books by 30 authors, including my friends C.J. Lyons, Joanna Penn, and more. WattPad is featuring Due Justice as a part of this celebration. Since this festival began, Due Justice has been read more than 10,000 times! Here’s a chance to check out your favorite authors and try some new ones. All of these authors would appreciate your honest reviews as well. Click this image for your FREE reads now!

And the authors at Best Selling Reads have their terrific contest running this month. Would you like a chance to win an iPad Mini? You can read any ebook format on an iPad Mini, so if you like Nook Books or KOBO or iTunes and, of course, Kindle books, you’re free to choose with an iPad Mini. The giveaway includes gift cards and we know what book lovers will choose!! Click this image to enter the iPad Mini Giveaway now!

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. More exciting news coming very soon, so be sure you’re subscribed to Licensed to Thrill!

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Sherlock? Watson? Notice Anything Different at Licensed to Thrill?

Diane — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 16:59:15 +0000

Sherlock Holmes may have popularized the mystery puzzle, but now we’re all accomplices.

Mystery and thriller lovers know the answers to story puzzles hide in plain sight.

We’ve made some changes to our website over the past couple of weeks. Have you noticed?

Sometimes, a bit of deductive reasoning is required.

That’s more than half the fun of reading for us.

What is different at Licensed to Thrill?

Put your three best guesses in the comment section below.

We’ll post the winners later in the week.

What say you, Watson?

(Hint: check all the pages!)

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. Website redesign isn’t the only thing we’ve been working on! Stay tuned…

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Wattpad Loves a Good Mystery! Don’t You?

Diane — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 04:05:33 +0000

Wattpad has included Due Justice in Whodunit Month!

You know Wattpad, right? The place where you can discover a world of unlimited stories?

Read Due Justice this month any time, anywhere on Wattpad Loves a Good Mystery!

Start Due Justice and you won’t want to stop until you’ve read all six Justice Series Books!

Folks, if you’re new here, you may not know that Readers are #1 with me! I love to hear from you! I see everything you send to me and reply as soon as I can. No exceptions! If I don’t respond to your e-mail within 10 days, let me hear about it!

Four fastest ways to reach me? Leave comments below this post.

Join me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DianeCapriBooks or

Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DianeCapri or

Send me an e-mail using the form here: E-mail Contact

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. Looking for tree books? Our new paperback publishing partner, Stonehouse Ink, has done a fantastic job with all 7 of my novels, now available from Amazon. Also, if you have new e-readers or friends with e-readers other than Kindle, all of my books are now available on KOBO, Nook, and yes – iTunes!

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What Would She Do For Twisted Justice?

Diane — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 17:58:47 +0000

Legal Thriller Delights John Grisham fans!

Judge Willa Carson believes with all her heart that her husband is the victim of twisted justice, but why won’t he defend himself? She knew George Carson could kill a man. But he didn’t kill General Andrews. Or did he?

Two Days Only! Ends 3/29!

Sale Ends at midnight EDT on 3/29/13!

She Deserved Justice and She Meant to Have it

No Matter Who Got in the Way

Find Out Now! Get Twisted Justice Today!

Sale Ends at midnight EDT on 3/29/13!

Four fastest ways to reach me? Leave comments below this post. Join me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DianeCapriBooks or Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DianeCapri or send me an e-mail using the form here: E-mail Contact

As always, thank you for reading!

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Celebrate Spring! Enter Spring Thrills Sale and Raffle!

Diane — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 04:10:39 +0000

Celebrate Spring!

4 Smart Thrillers! 1 Low Price!

Enter Spring Thrills Raffle

For A Chance to Win $25 Amazon Gift Card!

This winter has been way too long, hasn’t it? It’s Spring! Let’s Celebrate with Books and Shopping! Good plan, right? So how about a great thriller sale and a fun raffle, too?

We are thrilled to announce my publishers have teamed up with BookBub.com and Amazon to offer three Justice Series Thrillers and a FREE BONUS at one great price!

This $20 Value is Regularly Priced $9.99

On sale! $1.99 March 19-21 only!

Open this boxed set containing Wasted Justice, Raw Justice, Mistaken Justice, Fatal Enemy and Licensed to Thrill: a Diane Capri Sampler, you’ll agree with more that 40 5-star reader reviews that Willa Carson and Jenny Lane are determined, relentless, principled heroes you’ll love!

Where Justice Rules!

“Full of thrills and tension – but smart and human too.”

Lee Child, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of Jack Reacher Thrillers

Grab your copy of Licensed to Thrill: Volume 4 The Justice Thrillers and Spring into Thrills!

Amazon.com: Justice Series Thriller Special!

Amazon.co.UK: Justice Series Thriller Special!

Enter below for a chance to win an Amazon $25 Gift Card!

$25 Amazon Gift Card

a Rafflecopter giveaway

As always, thank you for reading!

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Diane Capri Reveals Alan Champorcher

Diane — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 02:44:39 +0000

Here on Diane Capri Reveals, we’ve featured some of the biggest names in our genre, including my friends and colleagues Lee Child, the father of Rambo, David Morrell, this year’s Mystery Writers of America Grand Master, Margaret Maron, my colleague at the Bar, Steve Berry, dynamite writing duos Maxine Paetro (and James Patterson), Grant Blackwood (and James Rollins), and more. You can check out those posts by clicking HERE.

Readers love to discover new books. You’ve clamored for new authors and new voices as well as more from the giants in the field. In response to your requests for worthy tales to fill your empty e-reader devices, today on Licensed to Thrill we’re pleased to feature a fresh (in more ways than one) new author you’re going to love. (Leave a comment here on the blog because Alan will send you a book to prove it!)

Alan Champorcher

My friend Alan Champorcher has written two bestselling adventure novels about Americans in Italy. I met Alan on an airplane ride from New York to Tampa a few years ago and he peppered me with questions about writing. The answers I gave must have been a little too encouraging, because now he’s given up the executive life for a promising writing career.

One reviewer said his latest book, The Italian Mission, “seamlessly weaves international politics, religion, and history into a captivating thriller.” I have to agree. Who doesn’t love a good Italian adventure?

Diane Capri: I love books that transport me to Italy, Alan, and yours certainly do that well. When I was reading your first book, Made in Italy, I gained 10 pounds trying out all that food you made so enticing! How often do you visit Italy? Go ahead, make the rest of jealous.

Alan Champorcher: I have relatives in the north, in the shadow of Mt. Blanc, or Mt. Bianco, as the Italians call it. I go every year or two. Much of my last book, The Italian Mission, takes place on the Via Francigena, the old pilgrimage route to Rome, and I hiked there last year. It is the Italian section of the same trail that was featured in the recent Emilio Estavez and Martin Sheen movie The Way.

Diane Capri: Loved that movie! Was the hiking great?

Alan Champorcher: Absolutely. Although it’s easy to get lost in the tangle of old trails in the Tuscan hills. The Italians haven’t quite figured out yet what a great potential tourist attraction the pilgrimage route is. Being lost in Tuscany isn’t so bad though. You’re never far away from good trattorias and tasting vineyards.

Diane Capri: But you live in the mountains of Colorado now, right?

Alan Champorcher: Yes, high up in the Rockies. 9,500 feet. In fact, I’m breathing hard now between answers. But I have Italian roots. Writing about it comes naturally. I write about Americans in Italy because… well, it’s cheaper than flying across the ocean every few months. Here’s a look at my home town at night. Beautiful, isn’t it?

Alan’s “Little Hometown”

Diane Capri: WOW! It sure is! Now I want to come visit you there, too! What’s The Italian Mission about?

Alan Champorcher: Tibet, of course! And Buddhism.

Diane Capri: Maybe I had too many Frappuccinos this morning. I thought you said Tibet.

Alan Champorcher: The story is about a Tibetan monk on the run from Chinese authorities in Italy. Makes perfect sense — to me anyway. Lots of Buddhist monasteries in Italy, and lots of support for Tibet nationalism among the Italian public. Not unlike California.

Diane Capri: Your hero is a CIA agent, right? Did you worry that’s a bit overdone?

Alan Champorcher: An ex-CIA agent. A pissed-off ex-CIA agent. Half Italian and half American – descended from President John Adams.

Diane Capri: Okay….missing the point here…..

Alan Champorcher: John Adams was a great American. Not only brilliant, but unwilling to capitulate to the popular mood. He defended the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre, when the mob wanted to hang them. My hero aspires to be like that.

Diane Capri: Hmmmm…We hope you’ve got another hero in the works because this one sounds like he won’t live very long against those odds. You’re one of those writers with sand in your shoes, aren’t you?

Alan Champorcher: I go to the Starbucks in Breckenridge, our little hometown and stare out at the mountains until the Muse visits. That way, even if I don’t get anything done, I still get enjoy a Chai Latte and the wonderful view.

Diane Capri: Beautiful mountains! Do you get out into them much?

Alan Champorcher: Every day. Skiing, hiking, biking. An embarrassment of riches. Of course, as a consequence, it takes me twice as long to write a novel as it should.

Diane Capri: How’d you get into writing?

Alan Champorcher: I used to be a telephone executive. Not too exciting, except when the press was attacking me for digging up peoples’ yards to put in fiber optics. Decided I’d made enough to do what I’ve wanted to do since I was a kid – write fiction.

Diane Capri: What authors do you read?

Alan Champorcher: Patrick O’Brian is my favorite. Modern fiction’s Shakespeare. And Diane Capri, of course. Your character Leo Colombo in Wasted Justice is a lot like me. Good-looking Italian heartthrob sort of guy. Right?

Diane Capri said nothing.

Alan Champorcher: Okay, be that way. Readers can find me on my public Facebook website: http://www.facebook.com/alan.champorcher. And there may even be a good Piedmontese recipe or two there.

Don’t forget! Leave a comment below and Alan Champorcher will magically transport you to a wonderful Italian adventure!

Four fastest ways to reach me? Leave comments below this post.Join me on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/DianeCapriBooks or Twitter: https://twitter.com/@DianeCapri or send me an e-mail using the form here: E-mail Contact

As always, thank you for reading!

p.s. We have quite a bit of news coming up over the next few months and we don’t want to leave you out!Subscribe to my Licensed to Thrill blog and collect your free e-Book as our special thank you present for doing so. You’ll find the sign up in the right side-bar below my photo here: Blog If you’re on our announcement list, you’ll be the first to know everything! We’ll send you infrequent e-mails letting you know when we release new books, offer free books, and share other fun stuff — ahead of everybody else. To sign up click here: Capri Crowd Announcement List

p.p.s. Looking for tree books? Our new paperback publishing partner, Stonehouse Ink, has done a fantastic job with all 7 of my novels, now available from Amazon. Also, if you have new e-readers or friends with e-readers other than Kindle, all of my books are now available on KOBO, Nook, and yes – iTunes!

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