A Woman of Mystery

                                             

by Jean Henry Mead

Nancy Pickard, one of my favorite novelists, has won the Agatha, Anthony, Barry, Shamus, and Macavity awards. She's also a four-time Edgar finalist. A bestselling mystery novelist, she's written in a number of subgenres as well as a how-to book for fledgling writers.

When asked what happened to her first novel, she said, "It was, thank the publishing gods, rejected by nine wise publishers. It got me an agent, though, so I love it anyway. It was my apprentice novel and no longer exists in any form."

The turning point in her career was when she moved from original paperback at Avon to hardcover at Scribner, "with the wonderful Susanne Kirk as my editor." Another was "when Linda Marrow became my editor, first at Pocket and now at Ballantine. We're writing/editing soul mates. I'm very lucky. And for short stories, when I heard a writer say that every short story needs an epiphany. Having not been classically trained as a fiction writer, I'd never heard that before. After that, my stories sold."

Sue Grafton said that her nonfiction book, Seven Steps on the Writer’s Path, written with psychologist Lynn Lott, is “fresh, insightful, candid, funny, supportive, encouraging and wise." Asked how the book had come about, she said, "I had met many writers--especially new ones--who seemed lost and alone, sad and confused, bewildered and overwhelmed by the highs and lows of the writer's life. I felt for them, and I wanted to talk to them and let them know we all feel crazy sometimes, and then give them some ideas about how to cope with the emotional roller-coaster."

I wondered how she had been able to write such a  variety of mystery subgenres, from cozies to private eye stories, humorous mysteries to psychological suspense. Her response was that she gets bored writing the same things over and over again, and that for her entire life she's loved all kinds of books in the  mystery genre, so she's influenced by all of those kinds of novels and likes to "lay around with their tropes and charms and quirks."

Her multi-award wining novel The Virgin of Small Plains, is set in her home state because "one day I was hit with the need to write about Kansas forever and always. It's as simple and was as career-altering, as that. I was born on the Missouri side of Kansas City, and moved to this side when I married a Kansas cattle rancher. Hence, my two books set in the Flint Hills cattle country, Bum Steer and Virgin. I'm still here and completely Kansan now. I love this state, political warts, and all."

Her work has won or been nominated for nearly every existing mystery award, and I asked which meant the most to her and which  translated into higher book sales. She said, "The awards have helped a lot, I think. As for which awards mean the most, they're the ones that reinforce me after I've tried something new, as for The Whole Truth and for The Virgin of Small Plains. When you disappear for a while to take some chances with your writing, it's reassuring to come back and find that readers appreciate it. The same is true for awards for short stories. For instance, when the first and only fable I've ever written was picked for A Year's Best Anthology of Fantasy and Horror Stories, I was thrilled by the confirmation--from people who really know the genres--that I'd done an okay job of it."

Her Jenny Cain series came about one day when she was in the Asian section of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art "and I saw an antique Chinese bed with gauzy curtains and a little alcove with seats in it. I thought, 'What a great place to find a dead body.' Seriously. That's how it started. Not exactly profound."

Her latest release, The Scent of Rain and Lightning, is a departure from her other novels. "A different kind of landscape called to me. Instead of the rolling ranch land of the Flint Hills of east and central Kansas, where Virgin is set, now we have a flat land with astonishing stone monuments rising out of it like a natural Stonehenge, only much taller and bigger even than those formations.

"On a violently stormy night, in this land of dramatic contrasts, the favorite son of the county’s wealthiest landowners is shot and killed and his young wife disappears. They leave behind a 3-year-old daughter to be raised by her grandparents and uncles. The obvious suspect is quickly caught, convicted, and sent to prison, leaving behind a wife and 7-year-old son. Twenty-three years later, he is released pending a new trial, and returns to the scene of the crimes he may not have committed. The secrets about that night of dramatic change for a family, a town, and a county, are revealed both to his son and to the daughter of the victims, as these two children of tragedy struggle to uncover dangerous truths about their families."

Her writing schedule is nearly nonexistent. She calls herself a binge writer. "When I'm really going at it, it's all I do. I ignore everything else. At other times, I may do nothing writerly at all. Or I may catch up with all of the things I've neglected. Like interviews. 

Her advice to aspiring writers is: One, be patient with yourself and your writing. Doctors aren't built in a day, neither are lawyers, neither are plumbers, neither are teachers or truck drivers, and neither are writers. It takes a long time to get good enough to be published. Give yourself that time and try to enjoy it! Two, please please please give yourself time before you start worrying about getting an agent, etc. Write first. Write second. Write third. Finish the manuscript. Rewrite it. Rewrite it. Rewrite it. Maybe send it out, or maybe start the next one. Time. It takes time Give yourself that time and please don't be so hard on yourself if things don't happen fast for you. Third, care first and always about the writing. The writing. The writing. Oh, and read Annie Lamott's fabulous book about writing, Bird By Bird. 

(Nancy Pickard's entire interview is included in the Kindle edition of Mysterious Writers)

Timeless

By Mark W. Danielson

At some point in time, most of us have heard opportunity knock, but rarely does it fall in your lap. Through an unusual set of circumstances, I was invited to view an extremely rare 1936 Bugatti Atlantic. Pronounced Atlanteek, this car was the first of four built, and one of only two remaining. So, how much value is there in this classic? How does 32 million US sound? In my neighborhood, that’s hardly pocket change.

Without going into detail about my invite or the car’s current ownership, I will say that it helps to be known as a car nut, which I suppose is preferable to being known as a nutcase.

This Bugatti, then owned by Dr. Peter Williamson, was completely restored to its 1939 configuration in 2003. The car subsequently took Best of Show at Pebble Beach. To put this in perspective, Best of Show here is comparable to an actor winning an Oscar. At some point after that, Dr. Williamson asked Bugatti specialist and restorer Jim Stranberg, “How fast do you think this will go?” Jim smiled, found a suitable location, and answered by accelerating the car to 100 mph. Now, imagine driving this amazing car at 100 mph. Who cares it had previously reached 130, the risks of even a simple rock chip are staggering. But like Jay Leno, the good doctor and car collector liked to drive his cars. Imagine that. Should it matter that he paid $59,000 for this car in 1971? Not when you consider the cost of the car’s monumental restoration. Just to name a few, new louvers, flip-up turn signals, and body parts had to be fabricated from scratch, and the rear windows had to be re-sized to make the car absolutely authentic.

It helps that Bugatti bodies are wood frames covered in aluminum. As Jim told me, the Atlantic is a glorified buggy. His reference made the car’s wooden heritage understandable. But what makes the Atlantic even more unique is its body and fairings were built in halves and then riveted together along central spines. Rather than design around them, Bugatti left the spines exposed, which adds a unique element. The Atlantic’s ingenious flip-up turn signals are also found on some other Buggatti models.

The car’s first owner was flamboyant playboy Nathanial Mayer Victor Rothschild, of the seriously rich Rothschild family. Victor matured in 1937 when his uncle died and he assumed the title as Third Baron Rothschild and sat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords. His position, wealth, and intelligence led to him being recruited by England’s M-5 agency where he became involved in WWII espionage. The car went through several other owners prior to Dr. Williamson, all of whom are registered with Bugatti. This car was featured in the August 2010 issue of Octane magazine.

So, what does this car have to do with mystery writing? Not much, other than classic pieces are eternal. Edgar Allan Poe may have been a pauper when he died, but his work is as timeless as this 1936 Bugatti. In this sense, we should think about the permanence of our writing and do everything possible to make it worthy of classic stature.

A New Look at an Old Hound

Our live-in grandson, who registered today for seventh grade, had to read two books during the summer and answer several pages of questions. He was forever saying, "I can't find the answer." His grandmother bore most of the brunt of the exercise, which usually came down to "it's right there on page so-and-so." If she wasn't sure of the answer or if there was an argument, I had to mediate. As a result, I read most of the books also.

The second book was The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic mystery. I was familiar with the story from many years ago, but it seemed almost like reading it for the first time. I was reminded of how Doyle's handling of the subject laid the groundwork for most of what us mystery writers do today. The Victorian prose sounds a bit stilted by current standards, but his plot and characters and settings showed the way to the future.

Looking at my own Greg McKenzie mysteries (Doyle was a fellow Scot), I can see where I unconsciously followed his pattern. Greg moves about questioning potential suspects and witnesses, making deductions based on what he hears and sees. Holmes, of course, is the quintessential deductive reasoner. As with the classic detective, my protagonist frequently sets up situations to trap the killer.

One stylistic feature that works quite well for Conan Doyle but wouldn't be permitted for us is the use of  page after page of quoted dialogue. Current usage requires us to develop such passages as narration, or to split up the dialogue into short takes interrupted by questions or actions.

One interesting element of Doyle's style is using the sidekick as the first person narrator. Most whodunits today give the point of view to the main character. This allows us to see the secretive, egotistic investigator through Dr. Watson's admiring eyes. Holmes' own comments leave no doubt as to his personality. It's interesting that Watson's background has a modern correlation. He was an injured veteran of the Afghan War.

Another point I had missed was that The Hound of the Baskervilles is probably the first "prequel" mystery. Doyle had tired of writing Sherlock Holmes stories and killed off the detective in what was to be the last story. So when he ressurected Holmes for this book, he moved the date back a few years so it happened prior to Holmes' death. However, the success of the series was so great that Doyle eventually explained that Holmes didn't really die in the earlier book. And more Holmes' mysteries  followed.

Doyle created the "sidekick," which has become a feature of modern mysteries. I use Greg McKenzie's wife, Jill, as his foil in that series, and created Jaz LeMieux for a similar purpose in the Sid Chance series.

Reading this book brought me back to the roots of the mystery genre. Hopefully it will rejuvenate my efforts in future writing. Have you read any good Holmes books lately?

The Border This Week

by Ben Small


While the Arizona/Mexico border's been relatively quiet this week, it's not been totally dead.

Just in the last week, President Felipe Calderon held a press conference, claiming the drug lords are taking over some regions of the country, replacing local governments, and charging extortion fees upon local residents -- taxes. Calderon

Meanwhile, over two million dollars of marijuana were collected during a three day period ending just yesterday, involving three different inspections along Arizona's I-19 drug corridor. While one applauds the captures, I wonder how much actually gets through on a given day? Don't take these seizures too seriously. Tons of marijuana are seized each year. But the price for grass isn't rising. Which of course means there's plenty of supply...

Here are the local television reports: $! Million in Pot Captured; $800,000 in Pot Captured; 140 Pounds of Pot Captured

But the plot thickens. Yesterday, Ciudad Juarez police rioted just across the border from El Paso. Seems one group of cops descended on headquarters to arrest a high level investigator determined by the corruption detail to be a pawn of the drug lords. Cops supporting El Bad Guy resisted the arrest, claiming the resistors were the more corrupt -- back and forth, you know -- and a brawl broke out. Over two hundred cops tasering, shooting and sticking each other in the center of the city.
CNN Report: Mexican Police Riot

How would you like to live there, especially when just across the border, you can be safe, cared for, and if you can make it to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, San Diego, Los Angeles or San Francisco, you'll be welcomed as trophy product for a Sanctuary City to display?

Is it any wonder Illegals are fleeing the lawlessness of Mexico for our Homeland?

Guess where they're going.

Reports show Illegals increasingly fear Arizona and attempt to cross the Sonoran Desert heading toward New Mexico, something no doubt New Mexicans will celebrate.

But High Heat Time is coming this week to the Sonoran Desert. The monsoons will die tomorrow. And then comes the relentless heat. July's number for Pima County's desert exposure deaths -- 58 -- came during half a month of monsoons, which provide water and relief from the heat. With the monsoons passing, the desert becomes grim, water gone, temperatures well over a hundred. A furnace. Every breath a water loss. Pima County will see those exposure death numbers rise, as will Pinal, Cochise and Sana Cruz Counties, most of those counties surrounding Pima, just raw, hot desert.

And Janet Napolitano, so fierce about border security as governor of Arizona, even going so far as to demand National Guard troops, but who then changed her mind when she entered the Obama Administration, stopped deportation proceedings this week for an illegal caught committing Identity Theft -- another crime on the increase in the Southwest, often associated with illegals -- evidently because the felon is attending school somewhere in Arizona.

Stay tuned. It's a new week, and our uncontrolled border is sure to bring new headlines...and more dead bodies.

Malibu Sunrise And Mr. Slug

By Pat Browning

The first Malibu sunrise of 2010 was captured on film by author Tom Sawyer and e-mailed with this note:


“Let's hope this is a sign...
May the year be at least half this glorious for all of us!”
www.ThomasBSawyer.com


So now we’ve passed the halfway mark and are hard-charging toward fall and end-of-year holidays. Don’t know about you, but my tongue is hanging out. What a year – one disaster after another, and that’s just the weather.


Then along comes author Peter E. Abresch with “Mr. Slug,” one of his weekly Burnt Offerings. Its upbeat message seems to go right along with Tom’s photo. I may print and frame them together and hang them behind my computer to remind me of a year that – isn’t finished. Keep a positive outlook, I remind myself a dozen times a day.

Here’s Peter’s poem.


MR SLUG
On my own/I am a slug in the muck/
happy perhaps/yet certainly limited in view./
But lift your child, Lord/upon Your shoulders/
and I see over trees,/hills, mountains,/
out past the stars/to all the kingdoms/
in your realm,/a foretaste of things to come./
Today I remain/a slug in the muck/
but tomorrow,/in my Father's house/
I shall become/little less than a god.
----------Peter E. Abresch -- June 28, 2010


I reviewed Peter’s first mystery, BLOODY BONSAI (Write Way Publishing 1998), when I worked for The Hanford (California) Sentinel, and we’ve kept in touch.


Among other things, Peter writes the James Dandy Elderhostel mysteries. One of my favorite books of all time is PAINTED LADY (Intrigue Press 2003). His latest, NAME GAMES, he published himself through Amazon’s Create Space.

For me, PAINTED LADY is the pause that refreshes. James P. Dandy, a retired physical therapist, and his ladylove, artist Dodee Swisher, join their Elderhostel group for a tour of the old Santa Fe Trail. History of the Old West is woven throughout. There's a legendary Mayan falcon with diamond eyes, a kidnapping, a hilarious bus-car chase, and an otherworldly shootout at the St. James (aka Ghost Hotel) in Cimarron. There's also a true story about dandelions, which may give you pause the next time you start to dig one out of your lawn.


You can read the first 65 pages free at Google Books:
http://tinyurl.com/37ojndh

As for Peter’s bio, “been there, done that” just about covers it. He’s been a professional dancer, an international geodesist for the U.S. Government and a systems computer programmer with the National Weather Service. At age 75 he started taking banjo lessons and now plays with the folk choir at church. He’s built three sailboats, and with his wife and five young sons he hammered and nailed together the 3400-square foot house they lived in for 20 years. Meanwhile, he just keeps writing and has several web sites with info about his books.


On one of his web sites he says:


“Fiction writing is addictive. You laugh, but once I started building worlds on paper, I could never turn off that seductive siren-call that still whispers to me in the middle of the night. Rejection slips -- and I've had more than my share -- never stilled it.


“Nor did frustration. I remember once during lean times, way back in the days of typewriters, when my 'Q' key got stuck. I kept on writing using the '+' key for a substitute. Then another key got stuck and I substituted a '@' key. Then one day I hit the return bar and the platen didn't advance. I picked up the typewriter and smashed it against the floor. Picked it up and smashed it again. And smashed it again. When I looked up my wide-eyed wife, Annemarie, was staring at me from the doorway. I said I needed a new typewriter. She didn't argue.”


Catch up with Peter at:
http://www.elderhostelmysteries.com/
http://www.easyreadingwriting.com/
http://www.sidewalkbooks.com/

Though we haven’t met, Tom Sawyer has been a part of my life since 2001, back in the dear dead days of the iUniverse chat room. Print on demand (POD) was just coming on the scene and causing conniption fits everywhere. Bookstores wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot-pole because POD books couldn’t be returned. The CEO of Barnes & Noble announced that B&N would have POD kiosks within a year and almost immediately began backpedaling.

Caught in the furor was Thomas B. Sawyer, a veteran writer and TV showrunner who had agreed to be the poster boy for iUniverse because of the promised bookstore connections. His novel was THE SIXTEENTH MAN, one of the best books I ever read. With the assassination of President Kennedy as a hook, Tom wrote parallel stories 30 years apart and brought them together in a heart-stopping ending.


2001 was a time of new beginnings. I had almost finished writing my first mystery and $99 seemed like a reasonable price to get it into print. I haunted the iUniverse chat room because of its knowledgeable guests. On May 15, 2001, the guest was Tom Sawyer who had been through the mill, gathering 22 agent rejections for THE SIXTEENTH MAN. I still have my transcript of his chat room appearance.


About his rejections, he said:


“They ranged from ‘Your book doesn’t work’ … to the capper from a major agent whose name will remain anonymous, who said, ‘I have yet to see a screenwriter who can write a novel, but you do show promise, so if you’re willing to work with me, I’ll teach you to write.’ Fortunately, that’s when I saw the ad for iUniverse.


“I also realize, having gone through this, if I hadn’t been a professional of many years, didn’t have a bullet proof ego, this stuff could destroy you. It makes me feel very sorry for the people who were vulnerable to it. You really have to believe in your work.”

My review of THE SIXTEENTH MAN is still up at Amazon.com. Quoting from it:

“First story, set in 1963: Tracking an errant wife whose husband wants evidence for divorce, a private eye accidentally photographs a small group of men with rifles, one of whom is a dead ringer for Lee Harvey Oswald.

“Second story, set in present time: A dirt bike accident dumps an archaeologist near a rock fissure that leads him to a pile of skulls and bones. Fifteen sets of bones appear to be thousands of years old. The sixteenth skull still has some hair attached, and there are silver fillings in the teeth.

“Sawyer weaves these stories together so smoothly that hair on the back of my neck stands up when the story threads cross. The ending is a knockout. … I think: It's fiction. That didn't happen. But what if? What if?”


Tom’s professional bio is impressive. From his web site:
“Novelist, screenwriter, playwright Thomas B. Sawyer was Head Writer/Showrunner of the classic hit series, Murder, She Wrote, for which he wrote 24 episodes. Tom has written 9 network TV pilots, 100 episodes, and has been Head Writer/Showrunner or Story Editor on 15 network TV series. He wrote, directed and produced the cult film comedy, Alice Goodbody, is co-librettist/lyricist of Jack, an opera about John F. Kennedy that has been performed to acclaim in the US and Europe.


“The best-selling mystery/thriller, The Sixteenth Man, is his first novel. Both his book, Fiction Writing Demystified, and Storybase are Writer's Digest Book Club Selections. He is publisher of Storybase 2.0 writer's software. Tom's latest thriller - and Number One Bestseller: No Place to Run. He's taught writing at UCLA, at other colleges and universities, teaches at numerous major writers conferences, and online at Writers University where he currently teaches STORYTELLING: How to Write Stories That Will Grab and Hold Your Audience. Tom has been nominated for an Edgar and an Emmy.”

NO PLACE TO RUN (Sterling & Ross Publishers 2009) was voted Best Novel of 2009 by the American Book Readers Association. A political conspiracy thriller, it’s the first novel to make the case that the 9/11 hijackers received serious help from high up within the U.S.

FICTION WRITING DEMYSTIFIED (Ashleywilde, Inc. 2003) is one of a half dozen writing books I wouldn’t be without. Tom based it on what he learned as a screenwriter as it relates to writing novels, and what he teaches at conferences. It changed the way I look at dialogue.


You can read the first 34 pages, including the table of contents, free at Google Books:
http://tinyurl.com/322zrg6.
Tom’s web site is http://www.thomasbsawyer.com/.



=======
I haven’t met either Tom or Peter in person but we’ve been virtual friends for years. This is my tip of the hat to two authors whose friendship I cherish and whose work I admire.

C. J. Box Has Nowhere to Run

C. J. Box

by Jean Henry Mead

I'm always happy to feature a fellow mystery writer from Wyoming, and C. J. Box is among the best. His first stand-along novel, Blue Heaven, won an Edgar Award for Best Novel of 2008 and has been optioned for film. Three Weeks to Say Goodbye was published in January 2009 and debuted on the New York Times extended bestseller list. His ninth Joe Pickett novel, Below Zero, released in June of last year, also became a bestseller.

C. J. writes for two publishers: Putnam for the Joe Pickett series and St. Martins Press for his stand-alone novels. "Each wants a book a year," he said. "I work every day with my best work in the mornings. I edit and do other things in the afternoons. When I'm at my cabin or an isolated place, I work in one or two more writing sessions and sometimes go deep into the night. My goal is always 1,000 good words a day, but sometimes I exceed that. And sometimes I fall short."

An avid hunter-fisherman, he was working as a news reporter in the small town of Saratoga in southern Wyoming when he began work on his novel, first Joe Picket novel, Open Season. He spent, and still spends, considerable time outdoors and went on ride-alongs with the local game wardens while formulating the premise for his own fictional game warden-sleuth. He said, "As I learned more about the duties and responsibilities and home life of a game warden, I thought a game warden would be a great protagonist. I'm glad I chose correctly."

Winning an Edgar Award and finding himself on the New York bestseller list  was "fantastic because the Edgar is an honor bestowed on my fellow novelists for quality and being on the NYT list means readers are buying the books. I think all Edgar winners want to be bestselling authors, and all bestselling crime novelists want to win an Edgar. So I'm a lucky guy."

Which of his novels was the most difficult to write and does he have a favorite among them? "Blue Heaven was the most difficult because of the structure. The novel is told from six points of view within 60 hours in real time. Only the reader knows completely what's going on. Multiple points-of-view can get really, really tricky. If the reader doesn't think of the structure or difficulty, that means it worked. But getting there is tough." He likes all his novels for different reasons, "the way a parent likes his or her children. But if someone held a gun to my head and made me choose, I'd say Blue Heaven, Free Fire, Winterkill, and Open Season are my favorites."

When asked about the best way to promote his books, he said, "Books are still sold one at a time by people to other people. It's a very basic, low-tech business and it's driven by word-of-mouth. Getting out and meeting readers and potential readers is the best way to build a career, I think. Of course, if the books aren't good it doesn't matter either way."

His advice to aspiring novelists is short and to the point: "Read! It always amazes me when fledgling novelists don't read widely or often. More can be learned from reading than classes or courses. And if you choose to use the west as your location, please be authentic and stay away from western 'characters' and hokum."

But what makes a novel successful? "The reader must empathize with a character or several characters. And the novel should be structured so the reader wants to keep turning pages. There are so many entertainment options out there. And an author must realize the reader has choices, and one of the easiest choices of all is to put the book down if it isn't compelling."

His latest Joe Picket novel, Nowhere to run, was based on a real-life Wyoming game warden's encounter with sinister mountain men who happened to be twin brothers. His tenth Joe Pickett novel takes the game warden into darker territory than he's ever experienced before. "Pickett's eerie last patrol as a temporary game warden in a remote mountainous area turns into a savage brush with death, followed by a crisis of conscience that drives Pickett back into the same mountains to rescue Diane Shober, an Olympic runner who vanished there—and to bring the Grim brothers, who are suspected of poaching--and maybe worse--to justice."

He's currently working on another stand-alone, Back of Beyond, and reports that it's going well. I asked if  he'd rather be hunting, fishing or writing, to which he replied. "I'd rather be combining the three, to be honest. Do a productive session at the computer, grab my fly rod, and come back later to write a little more. That, for me, is the perfect day."

Visit his website at: C.J. Box

Killer Nashville's Coming

By Beth Terrell


It's that time again. That time of year when Killer Nashville founder Clay Stafford and I survive on four hours of sleep a night as we chip our way through to-do lists longer than our legs (and Clay has very long legs). It's all worth it, though, because the final result is going to be...well...Killer.


Jeffery Deaver is our Guest of Honor, and I hear Jeff is not only a delightful speaker, but a pretty fair guitar player as well. We're hoping he can be persuaded to join us around the pool for music and conversation. Don Bruns (who won the Silver Falchion Award two years ago for Stuff to Die For) will be there will his guitar, as will Stacy Allen, who sang for us at last year's awards dinner.


Since the conference begins early on Friday, many attendees arrive at the hotel on Thursday night. In the past, there have been no Killer Nashville festivities that night, but this year, Greg and Mary Bruss of Mysteries & More independent bookstore, are hosting Mystery Team Trivia at 7:30. Greg asked me to be sure and emphasize that valuable prizes will be awarded.

On Friday morning, the fun begins with a presentation called "CSI Don't Think So," in which law enforcement consultant Lee Lofland discusses how television gets it right--and wrong. Lee will intersperse interesting forensic science tidbits throughout the presentation. There are five tracks this year, because we had too many wonderful authors coming to fit them into four. Attendees will hear from a Marine sniper/sniper trainer, forensic psychologists, TBI agents, private investigators, attorneys, and police officers, in addition to agents, editors, and a host of terrific authors, including our own Chester Campbell (who won last year's Silver Falchion) and our own Bente Gallagher (aka Jennie Bentley). Among those attending are Charles Todd (NYT bestseller), Steven Womack (Edgar winner), David J. Walker (Edgar winner), PJ Parrish (Shamus and Anthony winner) and Annie Solomon (Rita Award winnier). There are sessions on character, pacing, dialogue, YA, historical fiction, marketing and promotion, and many that are designed to appeal especially to readers. And, oh yes, there's the mock crime scene staged by TBI agents Dan Royse and Mike Breedlove and solved by attendees.

I could go on and on, but I'd be sure to leave out something important; there's a detailed schedule on the conference site. (Warning: it's a slow-loading site.) As you can see, you don't have to be a crime fiction writer--or even a writer at all--to have the time of your life at the Killer Nashville Crime Literature Conference.

Last year, on Sunday afternoon of the conference, one of my fellow conference organizers came to the registration table where I was sitting and said, "Beth, there are writers sleeping all over the lobby."

I knew we'd done our job.