I didn't think the Malice Domestic mystery convention could get any better, but it keeps on surprising me. Here are some photos and highlights from this year:
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| Me and Aaron Elkins after his Lifetime Achievement Award interview. |
One of the things I was most looking forward to at this year's Malice was getting to meet one of my two favorite mystery authors, Aaron Elkins. Even more exciting was the fact that Barbara Mertz (aka Elizabeth Peters), my
other favorite mystery author, was scheduled to conduct his Lifetime Achievement Award Interview.
It turned out Barbara Mertz came down with pneumonia and wasn't able to make it (don't worry, she's doing better now!), so Aaron asked me to fill in for her. As you can imagine, the thoughts running through my brain amounted to the extremely eloquent OMG OMG OMG!
He knew that I was a huge fan of his books, especially the fantastic Gideon Oliver "Skeleton Detective" series, so he correctly assumed that I'd have lots to talk about in the interview. We'd never previously met, but he'd read and enjoyed my debut mystery novel and gave it a blurb—which, until the day of the interview, was the biggest thing that made me feel like I'd made it as a mystery author regardless of what else happened with my books.
The interview was so much fun! The hour flew by, and I was glad to hear audience members tell me they had as much fun as I did.
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UPDATE: Several people who didn't attend the interview have asked me for details about what we talked about, so I wrote up some interview highlights here (including fun facts about Aaron and great photos from event photographer Greg Puhl).
After the interview, there was more fun to be had. I headed over to my Treasure Hunt panel.
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Dorothy St. James, moderator Becky Hutchison,
Penny Warner, me, and Susan C. Shea. |
Later that night, Penny Warner was awarded the Agatha Award for best Children's/Young Adult mystery for
The Code Busters Club, Case #2: The Haunted Lighthouse! Coincidence that she'd appeared on our treasure hunt panel hours before? I think not ;)
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| Penny Warner with her husband Tom and the Agatha Award teapot. |
Susan Boyer won the Agatha for Best First Novel for her wonderful debut,
Lowcountry Boil.
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The Henery Press crew celebrating with Susan: Christina Freeburn, Diane Vallere,
me, Susan, Kendel Lynn, LynDee Walker, and Larissa Reinhart. |
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| Me and Susan—with her super-cool teapot award. |
Additional highlights:
The Sisters in Crime Guppies Chapter lunch.
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| Lucy Burdette, Shari Randal, Kathy Krevat; me and Edith Maxwell. | |
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Running into writer friends at every turn.
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Top row: Barb Goffman and Leslie Budewitz; me and Daniel Stashower;
Bottom row: Maddy Hunter and me; Kendel Lynn, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Diane Vallere. |
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| Kaye George, Tracy Kiely, Larissa Reinhart, Diane Vallere. |
Even on west coast time, the early morning breakfasts were worth getting up for.
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Top: SinC President Hank Phillippi Ryan.
Bottom: Diane Vallere, one of my fellow debut authors featured at the New Author Breakfast. |
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I'm looking forward to Malice 26 next year!
Gigi, how cool that you got to do the interview!
ReplyDeleteI'll have to buy the CD. Thanks for all the wonderful pictures! So GREAT seeing you there and sharing a panel.
Penny, I wish I could request always being on a panel with you -- such fun!
DeleteGigi, thanks for sharing your pictures! It's terrific to see old and new friends in them.
ReplyDeleteJune, I'm glad I remembered to take photos. I kept getting caught up in things and forgetting! So this isn't as comprehensive as I'd have liked. But I suppose that's a good sign that I was having too much fun ;)
DeleteGigi, it was great to meet you at Malice. You did do a wonderful job with the Aaron Elkins interview - you both looked so comfortable, just two friends hanging out, talking books.
ReplyDeleteShari, it was lovely meeting you! And I was so happy that I *did* have such fun doing the interview. I ended up being relaxed and having the hour fly by.
DeleteInterviewing Aaron Elkins -- awesome! Malice Domestic look so fun--makes me want to try writing a cozy! :-)
ReplyDeleteLisa, Malice isn't just a cozy con. It celebrates the traditional mystery, a la Agatha Christie. While cozies are popular right now, the convention is also a lot broader than that. Laura Lippman was the toastmaster this year! Hope to see you there sometime.
DeleteThanks for clueing me in. Don't know why I associate Malice with cozy, I suppose because cozies are so popular right now. I'll get there!
DeleteRight now I'm looking into the CA Crime Writers Conference next month (yikes--gotta get my shite together!). You going to that one?
Sadly I have a conflict the weekend of CCWC.
DeleteMany people associate Malice with cozies, but it's much broader--though not as generalist as LLC or Bouchercon.
So glad to meet you at Malice. I'll be adding you to my "Authors to Keep an Eye On" list. Hope to see you again next year. Cindy Silberblatt
ReplyDeleteI'll definitely be there next year! Look forward to seeing you then.
DeleteGreat pictures, Gigi.
ReplyDeletePatg
Thanks, Pat.
DeleteGreat pictures, Gigi. Sorry I missed Malice this year. I'll be there next year.
ReplyDeleteGreat--see you next year!
DeleteWonderful pictures, Gigi. I wish I'd remembered to get my camera out of my purse more often. Thanks. I'm glad you got to do the interview with Aaron Elkins.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Gloria! I was having such a good time that I had to remind myself to take photos.
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