This weekend is one of my favorites of the year—the annual Malice Domestic convention, April 29-May 1 in Bethesda, MD. I’m pleased to be taking part in several events throughout the weekend, several of them circling around a couple of bits of personal celebration: my first book, On the Road with Del & Louise, being named a finalist for this year’s Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and then the release this week of the anthology Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, which includes my story “Parallel Play.”
Here’s my full schedule of events for the weekend:
- Panel (as moderator): “Make It Snappy: Our Agatha Best Short Story Nominees,” with Barb Goffman, Edith Maxwell, Terrie Farley Moran, Harriette Sackler, and B.K. Stevens • Friday, April 29, 1 p.m.
- Opening Ceremonies • Friday, April 29, 5 p.m.
- Panel (as panelist): “New Kids On the Block: Our Agatha Best First Novel Nominees,” with Margaret Maron (moderator), Tessa Arlen, Cindy Brown, Ellen Byron, and Julianne Holmes • Saturday, April 30, 10 a.m.
- Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning book signing (Wildside Press table, book room) • Saturday, April 30, 3 p.m.
- Agatha Awards Banquet • Saturday, April 30, 7 p.m.
- New Author Breakfast • Sunday, May 1, 7 a.m.
In the lead-up to Malice, B.K. Stevens (an Agatha finalist herself in two categories, for short story and YA/children’s book) hosted me on her blog The First Two Pages to chat about the opening to On the Road with Del & Louise. And this year’s class of finalists for the Best First Novel Agatha have been continuing our group blog hop, with several stops since my last update here. Check out the following posts, where Tessa Arlen, Cindy Brown, Ellen Byron, Julianne Holmes, and I offer perspectives on our respective works:
- Criminal Minds—talking about our time periods and settings
- The Stiletto Gang—talking about our writing habits, series vs. standalones, and shoes (!)
- Chicks on the Case—a casting call for our novels
Finally, this week also marked the official release of the new Chesapeake Crimes anthology, with good reviews already coming in from Lynn Farris at The Examiner, who also added both the anthology and On the Road with Del & Louise to her list of best mystery books for book clubs 2016, and from Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books, who gave a special shout-out to my story “Parallel Play”—and I couldn’t be more thrilled with it, as you might imagine:
Art Taylor has won practically every award possible for his short stories and he might want to rearrange his shelves to make way for another statute for this story. Taylor once again excels at delving into the mind of his female protagonist. But this time, Art has also crafted a particularly devious and evil villain. This tension filled story of a mother who will go to any lengths to protect her child unfolds like a mini-movie on the page – both touching and terrifying.
Such fun to be part of all these groups—and look forward to seeing many friends at Malice soon!