by Nancy Pickard

"Bouchercon" is the grandpappy of mystery conventions, more than 30 years old, and named for the late mystery reviewer for The New York Times, Anthony Boucher. (Pronounced Bow-cher and Bow-cher-con) This year, 1,200 fans, authors, book sellers, librarians, journalists, agents, editors, publishers, and assorted interesting characters attended Bouchercon in Madison, Wi., from Sept. 28-Oct. 1. I went for three special reasons: to support a Midwestern convention, for Sisters In Crime’s 25^th anniversary, and to promote my novel, The Virgin of Small Plains.

Okay, I could continue in this straightforward way, but you can get the same history, etc., from many other websites and, anyway, let’s get real. You know what’s the most fun about apres-convention reports, don’t you? Name dropping and gossip, of course!

So the heck with the earnest stuff. Let me tell you who I saw, where I went, and what I heard! After all, I’ve been in this business a looong time, and what good is all that if I can’t drop a few famous names?!

Here we go. . .

Mystery writers Carolyn Hart and Eve Sandstrom (a.k.a. Joanna Carl), drove from Oklahoma to pick me up in Carolyn’s red Volvo, and we rode up together to Madison, laughing most of the way. Boy, do I love driving with women. We stop every time any one of us wants to stop, and if somebody gets a whim to "go that way," we go that way. Oh, and there’s chocolate. Well, of course, there was chocolate, considering we had Eve in the car with us.

Eve, under the name Joanna Carl, is doing fantastically well with her Chocoholic mystery series set in Michigan, while Carolyn, creator of the Death on Demand series and the Henry O. series, is starting a third series! It will be about a crime-solving ghost and it sounds completely charming. The first one, Ghost at Work, will be published in '08. (There’s another "Henry O." that’s coming out first.)

Carolyn and I roomed together, as we did last spring at the Malice Domestic convention, and as we did one other time when we got free trips on the QE II to London, but that’s another story. Suffice it to say, we learned that neither of us snores, and we both talk to ourselves. Voila, perfect roomies! Eve split her room bill with Charlaine Harris, who looked wonderful all convention-long, as who wouldn't if they knew their best-selling vampire mystery series was going to be an HBO series?! Charlaine's a lovely person, and it's always gratifying to see a talented and nice person be rewarded. (By the way, the names of the women I name should always be preceded in your mind by the phrase, "the lovely and talented," and the names of the men should always be preceded by, "the handsome and charming.")

Our first day there, the former owner of the Madison mystery book store, Mary Helen Becker, gave Eve and me a tour of the city and the university--both beautiful--and then we joined her and her husband Brooks, along with Aaron Elkins for dinner. Carolyn and Aaron left early to get ready for a special appearance that night. Along with M.C. Beaton and Agatha Christie's grandson,they were on a panel to commemorate the publication of Christie's famous and controversial novel, The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. The big crowd who came to hear them agreed they were interesting, funny, and wonderful (as well as talented, handsome and lovely.)

That same night we ran into mystery writers Elaine Viets, Dana Cameron, Marcia Talley, Jessica Speart, and Donna Andrews who were signing books at the Borders where the Christie event was held. Elaine confided (I just had to get that verb in somewhere. This is supposed to be gossipy, after all, even if Elaine probably did tell several hundred other people when she spoke at the convention) that the current temporary job she’s holding in the cause of research for her Odd Job Mystery Series, is a killer. I think she wants to strangle her boss. Good thing she can do it in fiction.

Next morning, I got to have breakfast with Judith Greber whose many fans know her as Gillian Roberts. Midway through, I shanghaied Cathy Pickens to make her come over and meet Judy, if she hadn’t already, and then I also grabbed Jan Burke and made her sit down with us. (I am currently, by the way, reading Cathy’s new book in manuscript so I can write a cover blurb for it. It’s charming, and so is its Southern lawyer author.) Then it was lunch with Kim Hovey who is vice president, associate publisher, and director of marketing for Ballantine Books, and then dinner with Janet Hutchings, the editor of Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, and four of her short story authors: Charlaine Harris, Toni L. P. Kelner, Terence Faherty, and Timothy Williams. Just before that, there was an opening ceremony for the convention where I had the thrill of trotting up to the podium to accept two awards for a short story of mine, "There is No Crime on Easter Island," which Janet published in EQMM. At the ceremony I got to sit between Janet on one side and the editor of Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Linda Landrigan, on the other. Barbara D’Amato, who once won three awards for an EQMM short story she wrote, was just down the row, and in front of me sat the owners of The Raven mystery bookstore in Lawrence, Ks., Mary Lou Wright and Pat Kehdy.

If you're getting the impression that Bouchercons are all about eating and gossiping, you are so right. And I haven't even mentioned all the mysterious people I ran into at the hotel. Like, for instance, Jeff Abbott, Linda Barnes, Lance Zarimba, Diane Vogt, Louise Ure, Dana Stabenow, Andi Shechter, S.J. Rozan, Martha Powers, Twist Phelan, Barbara Peters, Val McDermid, Sujata Massey, Jeremiah Healy, Sue Henry, Joel Goldman, Michael Allen Dymmoch, Jo Dereske, Ellen Crosby (who is, to my eye, the spittin’ image of Susanne Kirk, the legendary now-retired mystery editor at Scribner’s), Max Allan Collins, Oline Cogdill, Jim Huang, Steve Stillwell, Lise McClendon, Ed Hoch, Rochelle Krich, Jason Sitzes, Libby Hellman, Bill Crider –and those are just the ones on the elevators! A little later I’ll mention some of the people I also wanted to see, but missed. Our elevators must have passed in the night.

Some people who've been doing these things for a long time--like Sally Fellows--know to find a strategic seat in an area where everybody passes by, and then they plant themselves there so they can meet and greet old friends and new. Sally is the driving force behind another great mystery convention, Mayhem in the Midlands, where Margaret Maron will be guest of honor next spring.

Speaking of Margaret, I was delighted to see her beaming face in the lobby as I came down the stairs on Thursday. Margaret and Dorothy Cannell (it’s pronounced CANell, I promise) and I are going together to a mystery conclave in Oxford, England next August, so it was fun to see those two at Bouchercon, or "Bcon," as it's known, and talk about our upcoming trip.

Jeez, we’re only up to Thursday now, with three more days of the convention to go! Before we leave Thursday, however, I want to remember to say that the cutest moment of the opening ceremony happened when Colin Cotterill picked up three awards that he hadn’t been able to receive when he actually won them at another event. Instead of giving a thank-you speech, Colin held up a ragged brown cardboard sign that said, I’ve lost my voice, and then a second sign that said, Thanks for this! Best thank-you speech ever. I also want to remember to say it was lovely to pick up one of my awards from George Easter and Marv Lachman, and the other one from Janet Rudolph. Marv and Janet also won awards that night. Sorry, George! Earlier that day George had a funny line which I stole for my own acceptance speech. He grinned, and said, "I want you to know that just because your story has the word ‘Easter’ in it, and my name is Easter had nothing to do with your being nominated." I told him later that I am trying to figure out how to get the word "George" into the title of my next story.

Friday morning I had breakfast with Christine Goff. The literary agent, Jane Chelius, joined us for a while. Then, before I was hungry again, I was having lunch with Hallie Ephron, who’s doing an article for Writer’s Digest about opening scenes in novels. We talked about the opening chapter in my newest novel. Hallie took it all down on her laptop–which crashed the next day, taking more than just my interview with it. If the convention were a mystery novel, the company that manufactured Hallie’s computer would be the murder victim.

Then came my first panel–"Keeping the Bodies Fresh"–which was moderated by Sandra Balzo. My fellow panelists were the brilliant and funny Lindsey Davis, Meg Chittenden, and Aaron Elkins. One of them, I can’t remember who, joked that since this was an old-timers panel maybe the title of it meant our bodies. Like Colin Cotterill the night before, Meg’s voice was giving out, but instead of using flash cards to communicate, she began by using Rhys Bowen in the fashion of one of those Geiko commercials where a celebrity "translates" for an ordinary person. It was hilarious.

That evening started with a cocktail party given by the media giant Hachette-Hodder, where I got to meet my British reprint editor, Suzie Doore! This never happens. But it did this time, and I was delighted to find out she is just as nice in person as she is by trans-Atlantic email. After that, I hitched a cab ride with Margaret and Joe Maron and the literary agent Vicky Bijur. They let me off at the restaurant where I had my "publisher’s dinner," which is to say Ballantine Books graciously wined and dined all of its authors who were attending Bouchercon. By the time I fell into bed I felt full, grateful, and exhausted.

Saturday started with an intimate breakfast with my British editor that just kept adding people until we finally had around the table: Suzie, me, Margaret Maron, Carolyn Hart, Gillian Roberts, and the always-adorable (really) Kate Flora.

Most of the authors then moved on to our panel, "After 243 Murders and 3 Dead Cats, Who You Callin’ Cozy?" Gillian Roberts moderated and tried to ride herd on Margaret, Carolyn, Dorothy Cannell, and me. Dorothy, as somebody who was there observed later, "is a hoot."

Then came lunch with the trade paperback publisher of the Random House Publishing Group, Jane von Mehren, followed by dinner with the Marons, the Cannells, Carolyn, David J. Walker, and Laurie R. King, which was followed by the gala 25^th anniversary celebration of the founding of Sisters in Crime. The low point of the evening was that the "mother" of Sinc, Sara Paretsky, couldn’t be there because of injuries suffered earlier this year in a car accident. The high point had to be the original song that Parnell Hall had written for Sinc and which he sang for us.

There was some point in there when I stopped in the bar to chat with folks, but I can’t remember which day it was! And there was also a very nice Anthony Award celebration where I did not win the award for short story, hmmph, (kidding!) and where William Kent Krueger and Jim Huang did a warm, amusing, and dignified job of handing out the prizes.

Then came our last day, Sunday, when I took a long refreshing walk to breakfast with Carolyn Wheat, and then came back and chatted with lots of people in the "dealer room" where books were sold.

Who didn’t I see that I wanted to see? Robert Randisi, John Lutz, Eleanor Sullivan, Camille Minichino, Mary Logue, Pete Hautman, Randall Hicks, and so many more. I would have loved to have attended the 25^th anniversary party of the Private Eye Writers of America, would have loved to meet Nevada Barr, Joseph Wambaugh, Stephen J. Cannell, and others, but what can you do? There are only 52 hours in every convention day!

So that’s it until next year when Bouchercon will be in Anchorage. I don’t think I can make it to that one, so somebody else will just have to take up the gossip and name dropping duties. And if you’re reading this and you notice that I spelled your name wrong, or if we talked til two in the morning and I’ve neglected to mention it, or if we waved across a crowded room and I failed to say so, write me an email yell at me. Hey, I’m still tired. I can be cowed.