It’s been a week since the start of last week’s Malice Domestic, so I’m behind on posting about how much I enjoyed and appreciated this year’s conference—fun to be part of it and so many warm feelings and fond memories already!
Tara, Dash, and I arrived on Thursday evening in time for dinner out with Alan Orloff and his wife Janet—and then hanging out in the bar and lobby afterwards, the best place to see everyone! At another point in the weekend, Tara and I were standing at the corner of the Corby Kitchen for a while, and it seemed like everyone passed by—same with the Hospitality Lounge, good ways to make sure you don’t miss folks. Photos below from throughout the weekend.
Friday, we all attended Malice Go Round, and Dash had his first real chance to step up as a (not the!) official photographer, capturing shots of the authors as they moved from table to table—needless to say, another good way to see a lot of folks in a short period of time, both old friends and new ones, new reads too.
I had two panels in the afternoon—moderating the Agatha Short Story panel with Ashley-Ruth Bernier, Barb Goffman, Kerry Hammond, Nikki Knight (Kathleen Marple Kalb), and Edith Maxwell, and then participating in “Short But Sweet: The Difference Between a Novel and a Short Story” with Mary Dutta, Dru Ann Love, Manju Soni, and Cathi Stoler, moderated by Kathryn Prater Bomey (below). Both were terrifically interesting—both entertaining and insightful—and between times, we popped into the bookstore, where I saw for the first time the new edition of On the Road with Del & Louise. Such fun!
Dash and I attended the Opening Ceremonies, and he was called into action to take photos of the Agatha Award finalists—super proud of him for stepping up to the job! Dinner that night took us out with Leslie Karst—what’s become a Friday tradition (three years running now!)—and we were fortunate to be joined by Leslie’s wife Robin, her first time at Malice, I believe.
After that, we darted back to the auction—and my last-minute addition of an auction item, a critique of a short story, was bit upwards of $400 . . . and then auctioneer Lori Rader-Day asked if I’d be willing to do two critiques, if each of the bidders would do it for $400. Of course! And glad to contribute in two ways to the Malice community—both giving feedback to short story writers and helping to raise funds for a great cause, in this case Friends of the Montgomery County Library.
Saturday all the pressure was off—my own events behind me—and in addition to a fun lunch with Paula Benson, I enjoyed attending various panels, including:
- the Bookish Hour podcast with Hosts: J.C. Kenney & Sarah E. Burr and guests Donna Andrews, Hank Phillippi Ryan, and Alan Orloff
- the first part of “New Kids on the Block: Our Agatha Best First Novel Nominees” with moderator Edith Maxwell and finalists Adrian Andover, K.L. Borges, Shelly Jones, Sandra Jackson-Opoku, and Michael Rigg
- the second part of “Dear Editor: How to Write for Anthologies – What Editors Want” with moderator Carla Coupe and panelists Michael Bracken, Kate Hohl, Smita Harish Jain, and Josh Pachter (and making only the second half meant I missed Kate Hohl’s shout-out my way!)
- the Poirot Award interview celebrating Jim Huang—a fascinating conversation with Alan Gordon
- and then the panel Tara organized: “Secrets, Lies, and Red Herrings: Building Suspense” with Joan Long, Jule Selbo, LynDee Walker, and Jennifer van der Kleut
And suddenly we were getting ready for the Agatha Awards Banquet!
Thanks to Carla Coupe and S.J. Rozan for letting us barge in on their Happy Hour—and to John Betancourt for joining us and ordering a hummus plate too. So many people in and out of the bar here too—too many to list!
I’m was grateful to join Jeff Marks’ table for the banquet itself, along with short story finalist Barb Goffman—from Double Crossing Van Dine, the anthology I helped organize with Jeff, Donna Andrews, and Greg Herren—and some other great tablemates: Donna Andrews, Jeff Cohen, Gigi Pandian, Josh Pachter, Cathy Wiley, and Jacque Day, whom I first met at last year’s banquet!
I was thrilled for all the Agatha Award winners, especially my fellow SinC Chessie Chapter members Mindy Quigley and Kelly Oliver! Mindy snapped a selfie of us at start of the banquet, and Tara managed to get a photo of me later with Ashley-Ruth Bernier with her first teapot. (…counting on more to come, especially since her debut novel just came out, The Bush Tea Murder—momentum for next year’s Best First category!)
Sunday morning always promises (threatens) to be slow for panels, but each one I went to was packed. Highlights included: “I’ve Got a Body, Now What? Forensics, Courtrooms, and Police Procedure with Mark Bergin, Bruce Robert Coffin, Bradley Harper, Christine Husom, and Mark Thielman, and “Small Towns, Big Secrets: Murder in the Village” with Marcia Talley, Annie McEwen, Lisa Q. Mathews, Teresa Inge, and J.C. Kenney.
The Toastmaster interview with Ellen Byron (in conversation with Gigi Pandian) and Dame Agatha’s Tea (where we chatted with Annie McEwan, delightful!) rounded out the weekend nicely.
Already looking forward to next year—and already registered before we left the hotel!