Our Father (2021) (Movie Review)

This week I'm talking about the 2021 movie Our Father, where two young women go in search of their estranged uncle after their father's death. (I'm aiming to watch an average of one movie a week in 2024.) I chose Our Father because I've been wanting to watch a movie featuring Chicago actor Brian King. A trailer for this one caught my eye, though he appears in only one scene. The Premise Of Our Father In the days after their father's death, two young women learn that they have an u...
Read More

The Final Girls (Movie Review)

This week I'm talking about the movie The Final Girls. As I wrote about last week, I'm watching one movie a week in 2024. I chose The Final Girls because I like the actress Nina Dobrev. She plays a key role, though she's not the lead. The Premise Of The Final Girls Main character Max's mother is an actress best known for a starring role in a classic cult horror movie. Max and her mother are very close, which is easy to see in the opening scene. But tragedy strikes, and her mother is ki...
Read More

New Year’s Resolutions For Fun

Kindle Scribe showing notebook with movie title What Happened To Monday written on it
New Year's resolutions can be tricky. That's why I rarely make them, but this year I decided to. Why? Because a friend suggested a way to make a new year's resolution fun. Many people make resolutions to try to improve parts of their lives they struggle with. But often they focus on what the "should" do not what they want to do. Eat vegetables every day. Go to the gym once a week. Learn a language. The challenge comes when you miss a day or a week, then one more, and pretty soon it's March. S...
Read More

New Release Buffy and the Art of Story Season Three Part 1

Book cover Buffy and the Art of Story Season Three Part 1
New Release: Buffy and the Art of Story Season Three Part 1: Write More Gripping Plots, Characters, And Themes By Watching Buffy What can you learn about fiction writing from Buffy the Vampire Slayer? How about how to create gripping plots, characters, and themes that speak to the audience decades later? This book delves into each episode of the first half of Season Three of the cult TV series. Each chapter includes questions to help you improve your own writing and storytelling....
Read More

The Forgotten Man Book Group Questions

Below are suggested book group questions for crime novel The Forgotten Man (A Q.C. Davis Mystery). What Quille learns about her father's past deeply disappoints and angers her. Is she being fair to him? Do his explanations satisfy you? Does knowing more about what Quille's mother went through when Quille was a baby make you more sympathetic to her? Could she do more to improve her relationship with Quille?  Do you think Quille will be more understanding with her mother from now on? Sh...
Read More

Prague And Krakow Spark Supernatural Ideas

My recent travels to Prague and Krakow sparked all sorts of ideas for novels, including for a new supernatural thriller series. A Non-Supernatural Mystery In Prague First, though, private investigator Quille C. Davis will travel to Prague to question a psychic medium, who is also a murder suspect, in my Q.C. Davis mysteries. While the Q.C. Davis mystery series is not supernatural, Prague's long history of mysticism and alchemy make it an ideal home for the psychic medium character. And ...
Read More

A Break For New Books

Thank you to everyone who helped make the launch of my new book The Forgotten Man (A Q.C. Davis Mystery), a success by buying early copies, posting reviews, and sharing about it on social media! It was great to see so many people at the book release party as well. Now I'm taking a much needed break and traveling in Europe. Along the way, though, I'm getting tons of ideas for a new book that will begin a series that spins off of my Awakening supernatural thriller series. And some possible ...
Read More

New Release: The Forgotten Man

Chapter One: A Likely Suspect It’s not every day you interview the man who might have murdered your sister. I leaned into the airport restroom mirror and dotted concealer over the dark circles under my eyes, then brushed lint from the jacket of my suit. It was my best suit. The one I saved for appellate arguments and pitches to gain new clients. Its warm brown color set off my olive skin and nearly black hair nicely. I wanted the man I was meeting to answer questions about his daughter’s d...
Read More

This Lawyer Writes Crime Novels To Find Justice

Author Lisa M. Lilly holding a copy of new release The Forgotten Man (A Q.C. Davis Mystery)
I didn't start out writing crime novels. A need for justice in real life sent me in that direction. As some readers know (though I never wrote about it in my novels), in 2007 a drunk driver killed my parents. The court proceedings against that driver marked the first time I directly experienced the criminal justice system. I learned about it in law school. But as a lawyer, at that point I'd handled only civil cases. (Meaning cases about recovering money, not prosecuting crimes.) These ...
Read More

Crime Writer At The Shooting Range

Not too long ago I took a research trip I hesitate to write about. I went to a shooting range. I'd never held a gun before let alone fired one. It was a little scary. I did it because at some point Quille, the protagonist of my Q.C. Davis Mystery series, will probably pick up a gun. Spoiler: I don't ever imagine her owning one or shooting anyone. But a crime writer probably should know how it feels. Also, if/when I write a present day supernatural thriller (perhaps revisiting Tara ...
Read More