Skip to main content

Magna Cum Murder

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!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Clubs Take Note: Discussion Guide: Sister Saint, Sister Sinner

  When I sent Sister Saint, Sister Sinner to my editor, she was (as usual) helpful about pointing out areas that needed more development, parts that repeated information already given, and places where the logic  temporarily failed. At the end, she made a comment that stuck with me: "People are going to be talking about the things you deal with in this book." To me, that meant the story was destined for book clubs. Having visited a few in my years of writing, I knew that they often begin with a list of discussion topics. Now, they often don't stay focused on them, and that's okay. Sometimes it's the wine. Sometimes it's a natural progression. But discussion leaders like having questions that can get the conversation back on track when it strays too far from the story. Every person who reads a book gets something out of it that no one else does. I had the experience once of visiting a book group where one reader didn't like the book and kept bringing up her
Post a Comment
Read more

What Do You Have of Grandma's?

My grandmother died on my birthday in 1968. We couldn't wish her back, since she'd been in a lot of pain for a long time. Later, I helped Mom clean out her house, and we came upon her sewing basket. For some reason I asked if I could have it, and my mother said yes. I still have it. I think of her every time I take it out of its cupboard, though I can't think of a single time I saw Grandma sewing. It's hers, and that's enough. My other grandmother was the type who asked her progeny what they wanted of her things long before she died. One day when I was visiting I told her about my new hobby, refinishing old furniture. Pointing to a table that had always sat in her living room, she explained that as a young woman she too had taken up that task. The classic-style table was cherry wood, she told me, and she had rescued it from somewhere and given it new life with elbow grease and varnish. "Maybe you'll want it when I'm gone," she said, and I readi
Post a Comment
Read more

A Story for My Peeps--And a Sale for My E-books

        December-r-r E-BOOK SALE      You might know about Smashwords. To be honest, I don’t know much. But one of my publishers, Draft2Digital, recently acquired Smashwords, so they are one entity. Smashwords invited all D2D authors to join their December e-book sale, so I did.   From December 15 to December 30, 2022, (the kickoff to the real winter season in my home state of Michigan), all of my e-books, both Maggie Pill and Peg Herring titles, will be half off. Fifty percent. Basically, two for the price of one. Is that cool (winter reference) or what? As a rule of thumb, Maggie Pill books are cozy mysteries, (e.g. the Sleuth Sisters & the Trailer Park Tales series) meaning they’re funny (I think), small-townish, and as non-violent as one can get when the story centers on murder. Peg Herring books are all over the map, because I write the story that interests me at any given time. Those who’ve been with me throug
Post a Comment
Read more