Mindy Carlson

Bouchercon is like a sprint and a marathon all in one. This year’s B-Con was in San Diego, a dream location for a book conference. (Who doesn’t like taking books to the beach??)

I just got back on Monday. Well, technically Tuesday morning because it was just beyond midnight when I hauled my carcass through my front door and flopped into bed absolutely exhausted.

But Bouchercon is amazing!! So many authors, readers, publishers, and other members of the publishing industry coming together to celebrate the love of books, craft, and each other.

If you’re a book lover or aspiring author and have never been to a mystery (or any) writing conference/convention, think about going to one. There are free books, opportunities to talk with authors and get books signed, panels about how to write different genres of mysteries, and spotlight interviews with world-renowned authors. This year was Sara Paretsky, Anne Cleeves, and David Baldacci. (Oh, and the guy in the upper right picture is Eriq LaSal from ER.)

For 4 days, I was up early to watch/participate in panels and to bed late after talking and laughing with old and new friends. I survived on coffee, food in the hospitality room (usually a dessert of some kind), and extroverted energy. This is not recommended, but I did see flashes of my old college self emerge.

I’ve come home, napped, and am re-energized to create and with ideas on how to make my latest work-in-progress better.

Here’s a list of annual mystery conferences anyone can attend. The starred ones travel to different locations every year:

• Left Coast Crime (Seattle, WA – April 2024)*
• Malice Domestic (Bethesda, MD – April 2024)
• Hamptons Whodunit (East Hampton, NY – April 2024)
• Thrillerfest (NYC – June 2024)
• Sleuthfest (Boca Raton, FL – July 2024)
• Killer Nashville (Nashville, TN – August 2024)
• Bouchercon (Nashville, TN – Sept 2024)*

What to Read

One of the bonuses of B-Con is coming home with tons of books. Apologies to all the baggage handlers working at the San Diego Airport Sunday and Monday. Those were some deceptively heavy bags you were throwing around.

I was on Southwest, a no-frills airline where you bring your own food and entertainment. So for my entertainment on Monday I brought these two books:  Big F-ing Deal, by Lawrence Allan and The Ninja’s Blade, by Tori Eldridge.

I read both of these books on Monday during the two legs of my flight back to Baltimore. They were so riveting I didn’t miss having a screen in front of me. Lawrence Allan’s writing is so funny and his hero, former child star Jimmy Cooper, is charming and heartwarming as he tries to pick up his life and start over as a private detective for his mother’s law firm.

Tori Eldridge’s hero Lily Wong is strong, dedicated, and caring. She’s made it her mission to use her ninja training to care for women in bad/dangerous situations. While she’s not always successful, her attempts to balance her duties to her community with her duties to her family are compelling and help to propel the mystery forward. She’s a hero to root for and the writing sucks you in.