Writerspace has always been about love and mystery. But sometimes the latter can get short shrift.
But not this September.
September this year meant Bouchercon 2016: Blood on the Bayou, with the world mystery convention being held in the most fitting of places: New Orleans. (Think ComicCon for mystery lovers or RWA for crime buffs but with a Creole flair.)
The 47th Annual Bouchercon World Mystery Convention was a time for almost two thousand fans to mix and mingle with authors the likes of Heather Graham (Deadly Fate) and Lee Child (author of the Jack Reacher novels).
And since the setting was the Big Easy, activities ran from Mardi Gras parade-style floats and devouring crabmeat cheesecake to dancing the night away at the House of Blues and mingling with literary local authors the likes of Julie Smith (New Orleans Mourning) and Toni McGee Causey (The Saints of the Lost and Found).
There were other big author draws: R.L. Stine (Goosebumps) was the Bouchercon Kids Guest of Honor, Harlan Coben (Fool Me Once) was the American Guest of Honor, and Canadian David Morrell (First Blood and Murder as a Fine Art) was honored as the Lifetime Achievement recipient.
It was, truth be told, a mystery lover’s dream—a chance to meet authors who have kept you up all night while getting said authors’ books signed; it is also a gathering that heads in 2017 to Toronto in October. Start saving those pennies now.
Have you ever attended a fan conference like Bouchercon or ComicCon? If not, do you wish you could? And why?
—Jeanne Devlin