RHYS BOWEN: This year I did not go to Bouchercon. In case you don't know, this is the world mystery convention, the biggest assembly of all things mystery. This year it felt too close to my trip to Europe in early September and already I'm regretting not going. I see the pictures of my friends having fun and I wish I could have been there.
I've been attending Bouchercons since 1998. That first time I knew two people. I was going to meet one of them for dinner when the other included me in a group that was chatting. They were going to dinner. "Are you coming?" one of the men asked. I told him I was meeting someone else. As I left my friend muttered, "I can't believe you turned down Jeffrey Deaver." I was clueless at the time!
Since then I've become part of the mystery world and enjoyed every moment of it. I love hanging out with friends at these conventions, especially meeting up with the other Reds. The last time we were all together was in Dallas in 2019.
All of our Jungle Red game shows have been a hoot. They are always the highlight of any convention.
Other fun memories are, of course, my event with Louise Penny and Debs, where we are billed as Conversation with Three Goddesses. That's pretty cool, isn't it? They put three chairs on the stage and we just sat and chatted, unscripted. It was amazing how easy it was and how everyone loved it. ( wish we could have coordinated our outfit choices!)
Other fond memories are the time I was part of an anthology called the THE MERRY BAND OF MURDERERS. We wrote or used a piece of music and the story to go with it. Fabulous cast of characters, and at Bouchercon we ended our panel with Val McDermid singing Long Black Veil, with me and two others as her back-up group. Let me say it brought the house down!
As well as meeting Reds and friends it is a time to meet up with fans. It's always exciting to see a big audience of excited people, and lovely to meet up with our Reds family as we did last year at the San Diego Bouchercon.
