I packed in at lot at Malice this year! And still managed to
miss a bunch of stuff I would have liked to attend.
I arrived 5 minutes too late to register Thursday night,
checked in, and schmoozed in the bar for a bit. Friday I hit the ground
running!
A picture by my daughter, Jessica, of the nice themed
display by the hotel.
I did Malice Go Round as Janet Cantrell. Here’s Robin
Templeton’s picture of the whole group.
Also from Robin, me and my MGR partner, Maria Hudgins. No
comment on our expressions, please. We were being expressive.
Right after Malice Go Round was the Guppy lunch.
Guppy lunch photos taken from http://susanvankirk.com/malice-domestic-27-photos/.
I rushed
back to attend part of the New Kids on the Block panel of the Best First Novel
Nominees (Annette Dashofy, Sherry Harris, Susan O’Brien, Terrie Farley Moran,
and Tracy Weber). I also got to a bit of the Historical Nominees panel. This
panel was exactly the same as when I was on it, except for the addition of D.
E. Ireland (Meg Mims and Sharon Pisacreta) where I sat. The others were Rhys
Bowen, Victoria Thompson and Charles Todd (mother and son).
After that, I needed to go stick my bookmarks in the green
room. I wanted to hear a 4:00 panel, but decided to take a small break and get
ready for the dinner at Ruth’s Chris that Berkley Prime Crime treated us to.
After the dinner there was a short meeting of the people on our panel for the next
day.
Fell into bed exhausted.
Up for the 7:30 Sisters in Crime Breakfast, where the
Guppies all wore our boas, or facsimiles thereof. Mine was a green net scarf.
Here’s Kathy Waller with her version.
Here the picture she had just taken, I think.
Short meeting of the Chapter Presidents afterward where I
sat in for the Guppy president, who couldn’t be at Malice this year.
At 11:30 I met my agent, Kim Lionetti, to talk about my
project(s) with them. Always a pleasure!
Then I thought I had better get in my vote for the nominees
before the voting ended at 1:00.
I had a sandwich from the bar that didn’t agree with me, but
the hotel shop, luckily, carried a tiny bottle of Pepto. I got the last one!
The interview of Sara Paretsky by Parnell Hall was a hoot,
but also informative. That was over at about 2, then our panel was at 3.
The panel, The Paws that Refresh, consisted of writers who
have pets in their mysteries. The day before, Carole Nelson Douglas emailed
that she was having problems with a medication and wouldn’t make it. Our
moderator, Laura Morrigan, got Liz Mugavero to step in at the last minute. She
joined me, John Clement, and Linda O. Johnston, and we pulled it off, I think!
After my signing it got crazy. The Guppy Steering Committee
sort of and sort of didn’t meet before the banquet. I was delighted that my
husband and daughter were able to sit with me at one of the Berkley tables.
Here’s the dessert!
These pictures are from Jessica again. Her cool camera did a panorama of our table, but the people who moved look strange.
Fell into bed exhausted.
I missed getting up in time for the New Authors breakfast,
which I regret. But I did get to the 9:30 meeting with my Berkley editor,
Michelle Vega. She presented me with a copy of Fat Cat Spreads Out, even though
it’s not being released until June 2nd!
Somewhere in there, I was able to visit the Wildside table
and see our anthology, Murder on Wheels, by the Austin Mystery Writers. Three
of us were attending, me, Laura Oles, and Kathy Waller.
 |
| Me and Laura Oles |
Good friend Nancy West bought a copy for us to sign! Here's LynDee Walker, me, and Nancy with our anthology and Larissa Reinhart on a stick.
Went to our daughter’s on Sunday to stay for a few days and
flew home Wednesday.
Fell into bed exhausted.
