Reds: Back in force at Bouchercon!

BREAKING NEWS! Jungle Red Writers win the Anthony Award for Best Online Content!
 
HALLIE EPHRON: Today, Reds are at Bouchercon, the world's premier mystery conference. This year it's at the Vinoy Renaissance St. Petersburg Resort. Very elegant. Literally thousands attend, and if you're there, you might spot one of us wearing a red leopard pashmina. We are, it turns out, quite fashion-forward since animal prints and the color RED have been proclaimed officially IN this year, according to fashion pundits.

Things got off with a bang at opening ceremonies Thursday with our very own Rhys Bowen's In Fairleigh Field winning a Macavity Award for best historical mystery! Other winners are Anthony Horowitz for Magpie Murders (best mystery), Sheena Kamal for The Lost Ones (best first mystery novel), and Paul D. Marks for "Windward" (best mystery short story).

And here's Lucy and Hank at the Sisters in Crime breakfast with Kellye Garrett and Sherry Harris. As SinC's new President, Sherry got the official seal of office.

Here's what we're all up to at Bouchercon.

LUCY BURDETTE: I put the red leopard pashmina in my suitcase first so I wouldn't forget! So looking forward to meeting up with Debs, Hank, Ingrid, and Julia. Our Reds panel is on Saturday at 4 and I bet it will be tons of fun. I am also moderating a great panel of culinary mystery writers on Friday at noon--sadly it's opposite a lunch with Lisa Scottolini, but hopefully we'll get a crowd anyway. And I will meet and chat with people from the Crooked Lane publisher, and participate in author speed dating, and attend the librarians' tea. Phew! It's going to be a very busy couple of days but I'm so looking forward to seeing Red Readers there. Who's here?

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Lucy, I put my pashmina in first, too!  I'm so looking forward to seeing the other Reds, and all of our online friends who will be there, too.

I'm on one of the kick-off panels, 10 AM on Thursday morning. It's called Just the Facts and we'll be talking about how we get our police procedural stuff right (at least I hope I get it right.) After the Opening Ceremonies on Thursday night, I'll be signing 50 free books, along with all the other Harper Collins authors who are attending. And then there's our REDs' game show panel on Saturday afternoon at 4! In between, I'll be meeting with friends and fans and folks from my publisher. Maybe I'll even manage to get to a panel or two this year!

INGRID THOFT: Don’t count on getting to any panels, Debs!  There’s always so many people to see and once I start catching up with someone, it’s hard to tear myself away at the appointed time! 

I’m moderating a panel about amateur sleuths on Thursday afternoon, then the Opening Ceremonies, and dinner with my publisher.  Friday is a free day except for a lunch and the Shamus Awards at which I’ll be giving out the award for Best Paperback Original.  The highlight of Saturday will be the Jungle Reds panel, of course.  I may have to call on my fellow Reds when prepping to leave; my hubby helped me pack into a smaller suitcase this year (pashmina included!) and I may need a couple of you to sit on it! (Photo is Ingrid with Reed Farrell Coleman.)

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  My brain is frying! There are so many fabulous panels, but I fear.. well, I cannot wait, anyway.

Opening ceremonies, yay, where everyone will be! And then my publisher dinner that night.  Friday, I'll be signing at the Forge hospitality room at 1:45--what book? Trust me, I'm not sure. And SO MANY meetings! On Saturday, a panel at 11am on how authors turn real life crime into fiction, and then at 3, the Guest of Honor panel, and at 4 the REDS panel! And at 6, I am auctioneer (with Lisa Unger) for the live auction!  (This is gonna be interesting...) .

Then the Anthony's! Where I will not mention that JUNGLE RED is a nominee! YAY!
And yes, only a carry-on. We shall see!

(Photo below is Hank with Charles Salzberg, Reed Farrel Coleman, Krista Faust, Roseanne Coleman, and Linwood Barclay.)

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm writing this Friday morning, after attending the opening ceremonies with Lucy and having the great pleasure of seeing Rhys's IN FARLEIGH FIELD win the Macavity Sue Federer Award for best historical novel!

For me, this Bouchercon feels like a coming-out party - it's been over two years since I've done any big mystery world conferences. I'm just grateful when people recognize me!  My only have-to-be-there event is the REDS panel on Saturday - and I had a moment of PANIC while packing when I couldn't find my pashmina. I remember Youngest "borrowing" it and thought, if she's taken it up to university with her... but no, thank heavens, it was hanging in her room.

 I'm looking forward to lunch with my editor, my publisher's cocktail party, and dinner with my dear friend Jeff Cohen, all on Friday. Other than that, I'm just going to be hanging around looking for someone to talk to (and possibly buy me drinks, I'm not too proud.) So if you see me, stop me and say hi!


HALLIE: And now I'm so sad that I'm not there. Rhys is home, too, editing galleys and writing. We'll post more pictures as they come in. And please,

IF YOU SEE A RED LEOPARD PASHMINA, SAY SOMETHING!

 TODAY at Bouchercon 2018:
Annette Dashofy and Liz Milliron

TODAY eager readers lining up for the Librarians' Tea in the Grand Ballroom

Our Fave Mystery Blogs

LUCY BURDETTE: Every year in the fall--the location changes each year--fans and writers of crime fiction flock to Bouchercon, the world mystery convention named after Anthony Boucher, an esteemed critic, writer, and editor of crime fiction. This year the conference is in St. Petersburg, Florida, as you can see above!

There are panels and awards voted on by attendees and parties, lots and lots of parties. I especially love this quote from their website: "You can meet your whole bookshelf at Bouchercon." This year, I noticed a new award for the Best Online Content, ie. Website/Blog focused on mystery/crime fiction.

Dang, I thought, Jungle Red Writers would be eligible for that. We Reds had a discussion behind the scenes about whether we should mention to our friends and fans that JRW would be eligible. But then Julia reminded us about Ross's strategy for promotion, which we really love: "Doing well by doing good." In this case, we thought doing good would mean mentioning the other blogs we love, not just reminding you of ours. So in the great spirit of Ross...may we suggest you take a look at:

Mystery Lovers Kitchen--mystery writers cooking up crime--and recipes   

Wicked Cozy Authors--mysteries with a New England accent

Dru's Book Musings--Reading is a wonderful adventure! 

Cinnamon and Sugar and a little bit of Murder 

BOLO Books--be on the lookout for these books    

Carstairs Considers
 
Reds, where else do you read about crime fiction?

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  Oh, gosh, what would we do without blogs?  All of the ones you picked, Lucy, are terrific!

You know I'm part of Career Authors  Which is a fabulous place for writers who want make a career of it--any genre!

Lesa' Holstine's blog for Poisoned Pen Bookstore

CrimeReads of course, the new and newsy and literate blog from the Lit Hub people

Criminal Element  the tuned in and terrific  blog from Macmillan

and

Tall Poppies, who also do their blog via Facebook. A marvelous and powerful community for readers.  And there's always something to talk about on the Bloom page--all your fave books!

Highly recommend all of them!

There are so many more--Kathy Reel! Jane Friedman!  but I'll let you all have the fun of listing them!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING; Alas, one of my absolute favorites, HEY, THERE'S A DEAD GUY IN THE LIVING ROOM, closed up shop after over a decade of great blogging. They had a unique combination of writers, publishers, publicists and booksellers, and had the most well-rounded view of the business that I've ever seen. If you didn't follow it, I encourage you to head over - it's all archived! - and dive in. It's like a masterclass in publishing, interspersed with Jeff Cohen's delirious ramblings about the NY Yankees (the team America loves to hate.)

Another site I like for news in the crime fiction world is The Rap Sheet, which always has the latest goings-on and links to items of interest around the web. Do we still say that? The web? And for an unusual offering from a wonderful crime fiction writer, Denise Hamilton collects her monthly LA Times columns on perfumes at her website. Yes, perfumes, some of which she links to mysteries, all of which are riveting reading. 

HALLIE EPHRON: So many of my favorites have been mentioned. I'm a big fan of Dru's Book Musings. Dru is a brilliant reader who won the Raven Award for her musings. To repeat, Jane Friedman -- both her personal blog  and her subscription newsletter on the publishing business HOTSHEET. Though her posts are about writing and publishing, not mystery.

INGRID THOFT: So many blogs and so little time!  I’m a fan of “Mystery Fanfare” by Janet Rudolph because of the content, but also because it gives me an excuse to visit Janet’s other blog, “Dying for Chocolate” .  If you’re looking for an international flavor in your mystery blog, look no further than “Murder is Everywhere”.  Featuring ten crime writers from different parts of the world, it’s a wonderful resource for branching out when you’re choosing what to read next.  Although it’s not strictly focused on mysteries, I’m a fan of  “Writer’s Bone” .  Their interviews (in podcasts and print) with writers from all genres are inspiring and never fail to entertain.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Oh, so much fun reading here! I love Mystery Lover's Kitchen, and the new CrimeReads is fabulous, and of course I love Dru and Lesa and Kathy Reel!! And I do read Denise Hamilton's LA Times column on perfume. But one of my personal favorites not yet mentioned is Femmes Fatales. Terrific female crime writers (obviously) and always funny and personal and interesting.

JENN McKINLAY: Okay, any blogs I would have mentioned have already been named. So many brilliant blogs out there, it's a wonder we can get anything done at all! Now, it's true confession time, I'm not a blog reader. When you write four-five books/year you really only get to hit the highlights, so I read blogs when a person hands me a brilliant blog post and says, "Read this." With, of course, one great big exception - Jungle Red Writers. If anyone had told me a year and a half ago, that my day would go sideways if I didn't log into JRW to see who was visiting or what the day's convo was about, I would have said they were cracked. But now, after the sisterhood and fellowship I have found among the Reds, readers, and guest bloggers here, I truly can't imagine starting my day any other way!

RHYS BOWEN: I think you've already mentioned my favorites. Janet Rudolph, Lesa Holstine, Criminal Element, Career Authors, oh and don't forget Femmes Fatales, with Charlaine Harris, Donna Andrews and I believe our own Hank is still a member. My real problem is time. Who had time to read more than one blog a day and our Jungle Red blog is so entertaining. I love that you ever know what is coming next,from true crime to recipes. It's like a good women's magazine without the tips on losing weight!

READERS, tell us your favorite crime blogs!