Magna Cum Murder

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This weekend I'm headed to Magna Cum Murder, a mystery con that's fairly close to home (only 7.5 hours!). Magna is organized by the folks at Ball State University, and it's a great place to see old friends from the mystery community and meet new ones, especially fans. From Friday p.m. until Sunday, we'll discuss our favorite genre, bemoan the current state of publishing, and enjoy being with people who get it, who know how much fun it is for very nice people to read, write, and talk about violent death.

I'm on two panels. On Saturday I'll be discussing historical mysteries with Sharan Newman, Albert Bell, Sarah Wisseman, and C.J. Norton. Historical discussions often focus on how much research an author should do and how much inclusion of history in a mystery is enough...or too much. My Simon & Elizabeth Mysteries got me on this panel, and since the fourth book of that series (Her Majesty's Mischief) is due early in 2015, I'm pleased to be there.

My second panel is on Sunday morning, and I'll be discussing paranormal mysteries with Tony Perona, Marian Allen, Molly MacRae, and T. Lee Harris. The Dead Detective Mysteries are my reason for sitting with these folks. It should be an interesting discussion, since the sleuths in the group either are or are assisted by angels, ghosts, vampires, and whatever my Seamus is. (I don't think of him as a ghost. He's just a dead guy doing his job.)

I'll have to find time during the weekend to introduce people to my alter ego, Maggie Pill. I'll have some of her first book (The Sleuth Sisters) there, and the second book of the series (3 Sleuths, 2 Dogs, 1 Murder) is almost ready for release.


And of course there's Loser, whose third (possibly final) book, Killing Despair, came out in August.

A busy weekend? Oh, yeah, but so much fun!

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