Robert Ellis is a native Philadelphian who moved to Los Angeles to work as a writer, producer and director in film, television and advertising.

But after ghost writing the final draft of ‘Nightmare on Elm Street 4’ he turned to novel writing with ‘Access to Power’ becoming a national bestseller.

Since then he has worked on two crime novel series including the detective Matt Jones series which includes Robert’s most recent book ‘City of Stones.’

Ellis’ many fans include the best selling novelists Janet Evanovich and Michael Connelly.

Heather Graham is one of the most prolific and most popular authors in the country, with more than 200 novels to her credit.

Over the years, Graham has eluded attempts to put her in one genre box, with her work spanning thrillers, mystery, fantasy and romance. The variety of her work keeps her excited about what she does and keeps her fans delighted to be surprised by all of the twists and turns she has made.

In this episode, Graham talks about her unresolved relationship with Hollywood - she jokes that she might hold a record for the most film options that have never reached the screen - but is planning to take matters in her owns by exploring screenwriting.

We were very happy to get Graham to take some out of her packed schedule to talk about her amazing career.

A terrific episode featuring Daniel Palmer, whose latest novel is ‘The Perfect Daughter.’ He talks about his roundabout journey to becoming one of our best thriller writers. Palmer had a long stint in eCommerce as one of the creators of the early book-selling website BarnesandNoble.com - which at one point was grossing $200-$300 million per quarter - and he also performed with a number of bands. Palmer has continued to put his musical talents to good use with the special material he has created about peers like Lee Child that has delighted attendees at crime writer conferences for many years.

Palmer talks about his knack for creating vivid female characters in this era of continuing ‘cultural appropriation’ controversies and calls for writers to ‘stay in their lane.’ He also discusses Hollywood’s relationship with crime fiction and cites several examples of good page-to-screen adaptations.

We have wanted to showcase Sandra Brown on our podcast since it began in 2020, but what better time to have her as a guest than in the wake of the publication of her 74th New York Times bestseller “Overkill”? Millions of readers have come to love her special mixture of romance and suspense over more than four decades. Brown is one of the most reliable storytellers in the business, but one of the keys to her success has been the fact that she always has new surprises up her sleeves.

The crime writing community lost one of its smartest and funniest members when Jessica Speart died in late winter. The former actress turned to journalism and then crime fiction, creating the memorable environmentalist sleuth Rachel Porter in a series of witty, fact based novels. Her non-fiction account of the very lucrative and illegal rare butterfly trade “Winged Obsession” has been optioned for a film adaptation.

Ever since we started the ‘Now a Major Motion Picture!’ podcastme and co-host Ryan Brown have wanted David Morrell to be a guest. Who better to talk about the connection between books and movies than the man whose novel ‘First Blood’ launched the hugely successful Rambo franchise? Morrell talks about the decade long journey of his novel to the screen and the major political shift in Hollywood during that time. The author discusses his relationship with the star of the series - Sylvester Stallone - as well as his thoughts on which novels have lent themselves to good screen adaptations.

With “Her Last Affair” John Searles has written another hard to describe but wonderful novel. There is suspense to be sure, and thriller elements as well, as we watch the collision of three very different characters who end up at a rundown drive-in theater for a genuinely unsettling finale. But the book’s real power comes from the characters Searles introduces to us - a retired nurse who is going blind, a failed novelist, and an unhappily married woman who still holds a torch for a guy she loved years before when they both worked at DisneyWorld in Florida.

Searles keeps shifting his points of view - and includes many flashbacks - but he never loses control of his plot or the steadily mounting suspense. Searles is not one of our most prolific authors - “Her Last Affair” is only his fourth book - but the wait between novels is always worth it. In this episode John talks about his process of creation, the way his work as an editor and critic aided his fiction, and what it was like to see one of his novels turned into a movie.

You might rethink preconceived notions of film acting after reading “There Are No Small Parts,” critic and film historian John DiLeo’s book about the high quality work that can be found in even the briefest movie roles. Focusing on parts that took up 10 minutes or less in screen time, DiLeo takes us through a wide array of brilliant work starting with Elsa Lanchester in “Bride of Frankenstein” and ending with Al Pacino in “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.”

‘From Hollywood with Love’ looks at the rise and fall and rise again of romantic comedies over the past 30 years. Scott Meslow is a senior editor at The Week magazine and a writer and critic for publications including GQ, New York magazine, and The Atlantic.

Scott is a long-standing fan of romantic comedies and enjoys watching them with his wife, their daughter, and a rescue dog they named after Mads Mikkelsen.

‘From Hollywood with Love’ is Scott’s first book.

When James Benn launched his Billy Boyle World War II crime novel series in 2007, Lee Child raved - “This book has got it all - an instant classic.” Since then Benn has maintained the high quality of the series through 16 novels that have followed military investigator all over the globe.