I leave Monday morning from my mountain village in California for the Bright Lights and Big City Spirit of St. Louis Bouchercon conference.
I learned to my dismay that the hotel I'd chosen--"three blocks from the conference hotel--is actually a mile and a half away. Curses and damnation on these lying reservation call centers. Oh well. I hope it's the worst thing that even happens to me.
I look forward to seeing Janet Costelloe and Karen Dryden-Blake again. We met earlier this year in Santa Fe and liked each other. I absolutely loved Wayne Arthurson's first book set in Edmonton, and if I meet him there, I'll harangue him for the next one.
These big mystery conferences are exciting. You get to see big name writers you've read and admired. You have conversations with new acquaintances about books dear to your heart and you can finish each other's sentences.
More to follow, I'm sure, once all of us are in St. Louis.
