Malice Domestic 2007

(The Month in Review, Part Deux)

About a week after Edgar Week was Malice Domestic.  I got in a couple of days early, and spent time running all over DC and Arlington, VA doing detail research for EXIT INTERVIEW, my WIP espionage thriller.  This included a tour of the Washington Post and a lot of walking.  One fun part was a visit to the International Spy Museum with fellow Femme Fatale Toni L.P. Kelner; I went crazy in the bookstore (again).   The weather was splendid; I've had three springs so far, one at VA Book!, the one in DC, and another, finally, here at home.  By the time Malice actually got started, I was about ready to be done, though I bet I wasn't quite as tired as the folks who'd come in fresh from the LA Times Book Festival.

We had a lot of fun on the "In the Tradition of Christie:  Murder at the Dig" panel, which was about archaeological mysteries. Mary Anna Evans, Lyn Hamilton, Maria Hudgins, and Sarah Wisseman provided great fodder for discussion. 

The Agatha Award banquet was the highlight of my Malice.  Toni Kelner won the teapot for best short story with her superb "Sleeping with the Plush."  Riotous applause ensued, and well deserved it was, too.  Yay, Toni!  (right, l-r, a bit blurry, my bad: Maria Lima, Sharon Short, Toni, Alan Gordon; in back, Laura Durham, Donna Andrews, Steve Kelner).  Not only did the wonderful Nancy Pickard (shown left with Maria Lima) win for Best Novel (for The Virgin of Small Plains), but when they announced that our friend (and fellow Femme) Charlaine Harris will be Guest of Honor next year, well, we about sprained our vocal cords.

I went home and collapsed for a week.  Then went on vacation.  I'm just about recovered now, the laundry's done, the email is caught up (well, almost), and I just have to sort through all the books I bought and notes I took.  It's good to be home and back to work.