I "attended" More Than Malice last week and the weekend. It was the virtual More Than Malice in place Malice Domestic. If you aren't familiar with it:
(from their FB page):
"Malice Domestic is a fun fan convention that celebrates traditional mysteries, those best typified by the works of Agatha Christie. Malice takes place each spring in the Washington, D.C. metro area and is a three day meeting which includes discussion panels, author signings, a live and silent auction, and other mystery-related events. The Agatha Awards are voted on and presented at Malice each year, and the Amelia and Poirot Awards are presented to honored guests as voted on by the Malice Board."
I probably wouldn't get out to the live convention, so this was an appreciated opportunity for me to see what it is like, and hear some authors that I have read.
The first day included a an interview with Louise Penny who writes the Inspector Gamache/Three Pines series. I have read all of the books in the series. She has won numerous awards for it. She spoke from what looked like her living room, or sitting room. I know that with virtual "meetings", you can choose backgrounds to show. Her background was wonderful sunny picture window with many trees outside. If that was her actual room and outdoors, I am pretty sure she lives in Three Pines. She and the interviewer mostly talked about the beginning of Malice Domestic and the characters her her series. She assured the interviewer, she had no plans on killing off Gamache or Ruth or Rosa, although wondered how long does a duck live.
Next on the same day was Speed Dating. One hour of approximately 43 authors talking about themselves and their books in about a minute or so. It was so fast I can't tell you who I heard speak.
There were several panels the next two days. They were comprised of different categories and had authors speak that write in those categories. Luckily, everything was recorded so you could go back and watch them later, skip around, pause and go back. Here are some I listened to.
Culture Clash: A World of Crime Fiction. The author that I am familiar with in this panel was Linda Castillo. She writes the Kate Burkhold thriller series set in Amish country. A couple of things I found interesting were: she lives near Fredericksburg Tx. ( I wonder if my friend who recently move out that way may run into her.), she is not Amish but has an Amish friend who she checks things with for her books to make sure they are accurate.
Read What You Liked: Subgenres in Crime Fiction. I enjoyed hearing William Kent Krueger speak. He is the author of the Cork O'Connor series set in the north woods of Minnesota. I have read a few of these books.
Adrenaline Junkie: Crime Fiction At It's Action Packed Best. The authors on this panel that I am familiar with were David Baldacci and Brad Meltzer. I like both of their works. They, and Andrew Child (brother of Lee Childe) relayed how careful/paranoid they are as a result of the research they do for their crime fiction. Baldacci's daughter was on a road trip and he gave her a multitude of instructions re: safety, strangers etc. Child talked about not using valet parking, not letting anyone drive his car which is a common habit of the English. No one drives anyone else's car. I was struck how almost soft spoken Baldacci seemed, in contrast to the characters in his books.
Past As Prologue: The Roots of Crime: I was familiar with V.M. Burns, Amanda Flower and Caroline Todd of the writing duo of Charles Todd. I have read a couple of Amanda Flowers books and I follow her on FB. She lives on an incredible farm in Ohio and I am jealous of all of the flowers and gardens she is working on. While I haven't read any of V.M. Burns and Charles Todd, I had heard of them and now I really do want to read a book of two theirs. Time...
Real Life Influence: Nice Work If You Can Get It: The familiars for me were Hank Phillipi Ryan, Marcia Clark (yes, that Marcia Clark) and Annette Dashofy. I have read books by Hank and Annette. Brad Thor also talked and I found him interesting. He worked as for Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit. These authors all talked about how they take things from their different non author careers, while not sharing too much reality. Hank Phillip Ryan is a T.V. reporter in Boston, Marcia Clark is a prosecuting attorney and Annette Dashofy was an EMT. All were very interesting.
There are more to see and listen to but that is all I have gotten to so far. Not sure how long they are leaving up the recordings.
And the winners of the awards are:
