A Superb Evening with a Superb Writer!

I would have thought that Monday night would never arrive. I was so excited to have the chance to meet Rosemary Harris, and meet her I did. Last evening at Barnes and Noble in Crocker Park (Westlake), I had a rare opportunity to spend some quality time with Rosemary Harris, the author of the Dirty Business Mystery series. I would have liked for more folks to come out and meet this fine writer, but on a selfish note, I was able to horde her time to myself. I was joined by my friend Theresa and her husband Joe and the four of us had a wonderful time talking about everything from mysteries to sports.

We discussed how the term "cozy" is just so inappropriate for the majority of books that fall into that classification. This is not a wide chasm between the old granny with the cat in her lap and the hardboiled P.I., yet we want to dump every mystery into one of those two classifications. What adequately describes that part of the continuum that lies in the middle? Rosemary has challenged me to coin a term more appropriate, so I'm hard at work now on that task.

Rosemary talked a bit about how her book jackets came into being. St. Martins has really been generous as far as Rosemary's art for the jackets. And while she wasn't especially keen on the look of THE BIG DIRT NAP at first, it has definitely grown on her, especially since a male fan told her it had a "Miami" look.

Book number three in the Dirty Mysteries series has been safely delivered to the publisher and Rosemary is enjoying a semblance of calm now that the manuscript is off her desk. But, book number four will soon be landing square in the middle of her "to do" list. For those of us who enjoy her books, this is wonderful news.

Rosemary had quite the busy day. She recorded some readings of poems for the Cuyahoga County Library system, participated in a radio show with some other gardeners, and had an event back at the library before even getting to the Barnes and Noble. I'm so glad she had time to make this stop and chat with us. It is definitely a night I will cherish always. Rosemary is a smart, witty, charming, fun woman. We will have an opportunity to meet up again in October at Bouchercon, and I'm so looking forward to it. Maybe by October I can get a camera that handles indoor lighting a bit better than mine!

What a fabulously wonderful evening. Hope you made some wonderful memories in your day as well. Happy Reading all!