TAGS by Melodie Johnson Howe The piano mover arrived today. He had on a faded tee shirt and Bermuda shorts. I noticed a tag was sticking up from the back of his shirt. It was the tag that declared the wearer’s size and instructed him on how to wash his newly acquired garment. I knew […]

FRED’S HANDS by Melodie Johnson Howe I think creating CBHQ came out of an idea that Leigh had to play an April Fools joke on James. I’m not sure how the joke was suppose to work, but Leigh being Leigh we all followed him into the nether world of CBHQ. Rob, who always gets his […]

CRIMINAL BRIEF HEADQUARTERS by Melodie Johnson Howe I’m sitting in my office at Criminal Brief Headquarters when Velma, our receptionist, walks in. “Your slip is showing,” she tells me. “I’m wearing jeans.” “Women shouldn’t wear pants in the workplace. It looks cheap.” “It’s 2009, Velma.” “Not for me. Are my seams straight?” She shows me […]

MUSING ON SIGNINGS by Melodie Johnson Howe I have been to two book signings recently. Jane Heller1 and David L. Gersh are local writersand friends of mine. Jane’s new book, Confessions of a She-Fan, was published by a large New York publisher. David’s new mystery, Going, Going, Gone, was published by a small company in […]

ROCKET TO STARDOM by Melodie Johnson Howe When I was a young contact player I was told to show up at the portrait studio on the Universal lot to do a shoot for the 4th of July. The walls of the room were lined with large black and white photos of the movie stars from […]

CHANDLER & REPS by Melodie Johnson Howe My writer friend Gayle was trying to convince me to join a gym. “We can work out and then discuss our writing in the cafe. You know, kill two birds with one stone.” “But what if were the birds? I’m not a gym person. I don’t like being […]

I DIGRESS by Melodie Johnson Howe By the time I was twenty-one I was married with three children (my husbands) and under contract to Universal Studios. I was also going to UCLA at night to take creative writing courses. Oh, and did I add it was the sixties! Well, for some anyway. Backstage at the […]