Weekend Crime Spree

 

I began Crime Bake, the conference for mystery writers, with a master class chaired by Barbara Ross. With twelve mystery novels, a number of novellas, and umpteen Agatha nominations, she was definitely the right person for this class called ‘What I’ve learned along the way.’

          While traveling through other workshops like  Maintaining a series, Creating Strong Secondary Characters, I continued to find myself in a room with authors from the stratosphere of writing. 

      One speaker had 49 novels under his belt, and one woman used to write for World News Tonight. One panelist I found fascinating was a finalist for the New England Book Award, had been Spike Lee’s creative director, and had written and directed the HBO movie A Day in Black and White.

          After breakfast, we all filed in to hear welcoming remarks and I somehow ended up at the same table as the woman who was the star of the weekend, guest of honor Lori Rader-Day. Past national president of the 5,000 member Sisters in Crime, and if you name an award, she’s won it.

 Later in the day, after hearing her speak about her latest book, Death at Greenway, I immediately (in spite of swearing I wouldn’t buy any books) took myself over to the sales area and picked it up.

          I’m saving it for when I finish my current book, but the first chapter already has me hooked. It takes place during WWII, when some children were evacuated – to Agatha Christie’s house. That foundation is true, but Lori threw in a body found on the grounds.

           

  

        Negatives – blah food and a room that had me wondering if they were prepping me for my own potential murder. Yes, I had one door to the hall – normal. But I also had a second door that opened right to the outdoors. Not super-reassuring for anyone worried about security.

          I was initially pleased to see Hallie Ephron’s name placed prominently in the promotional materials. And yet, when it came time for a panel with Lori Rader-Day, Ephron was completely under-utilized by just sitting there feeding her interview questions. Of the two, as a New York Times best-selling author of 16 books herself, I thought Ephron would be the bigger name.

          Positives – I found people to eat with, had a few stimulating conversations, experienced a few ‘aha’ moments about my current project, and woke up my writing muscle.