Where Jen's Book Thoughts Readers are Reading

Today kicks off the Where Jen's Book Thoughts Readers are Reading and I'm so excited. People have been so creative with this and I'm excited to share all the fun pictures that are coming in from super wonderful readers. Keep the pictures coming in and I'll keep running the feature. I'm going to put together a slide show of the images and I started a map to pin our locations. So let's get this party started shall we?

Appropriately enough, the first reader is also the first person I saw--and who welcomed me with warm smiles--at my first Bouchercon. Kaye Barley is a wonderful friend and prominent member of this crazy book community. You can check out her blog, Meanderings and Muses, for more about this lovely lady. And I will tell you that Kaye is seen here with the statue of Doc Watson--and a Charlaine Harris mystery--that sits on a corner in downtown Boone, where Kaye and her husband, Don, and their dog Harley call home.

Thanks for kicking off this celebration of the blog's readers, Kaye! And I wish you all a very happy Friday and of course, happy reading!

Kaye Barley - Crime Readers Caught Reading Crime...

...at an indie bookstore. Today I'm excited to share a photo from my good friend and fellow blogger, Kaye Barley. Take it away, Miss Kaye:

Here I am at my favorite Indie Book Store in Boone, NC - Black Bear Books -  where they not only have a super selection of books (including crime fiction, of course), but coffee, free WiFi, a comfy reading room with big squishy chairs AND a yarn room where you can buy yarn and sit and knit.  This is a dream store come true.

The book I'm reading is Hallie Ephron's newest - COME AND FIND ME.  It tells the story of a recluse who works and lives online and has to work up the courage to brave the “real world” when her sister goes missing.  I am loving it!

Be sure to stop by Kaye's blog, Meanderings and Muses, and say "hi." But wait until you have plenty of time. You won't want to leave.

Update with Odds and Ends

Today I'm headed out of town for work. I'm not sure if I'll be able to post anything before I get back or not. In the event I can't I wanted to leave you with a few items to check out.

First, I'll give you a general update on Week 1 of the "World's Favorite Detective" tournament. It's been an interesting Week 1 actually with several contests volleying back and forth depending on the day. There are very few blowouts and most contests can still go either way depending on these last two days of voting. The voting booth for Week 1 will be open through tomorrow, so if you're pulling for your favorite detective to move on, now's the time to rally your friends and get the votes!

I was very excited to see that on Monday alone there were over 600 voters. Very cool. I hope you all continue to come back each week throughout the tournament and support your favorite detectives. I also hope you check out some whose names aren't familiar to you...or rather weren't familiar before the contest started. I'm hoping to do some highlights on the detectives when we get down a little further. I would have loved to have done a highlight for every single detective in the tourney, but time simply wouldn't permit it. That doesn't mean you can't check them out on your own. I've already requested audio books from some of the authors I wasn't familiar with before this. Very excited to discover some new detectives!

So, be sure to check back next week for Round 2. I return from my work trip Saturday night. If I can get to it, I'll post the winners of Round 1 Sunday, otherwise, I'll have it up for you on Monday and the new voting will start.

If you didn't have a chance to catch my interview with Tom Schreck earlier this week and you would like to, you can see that here. Tom turned the tables on me and I was in the interview hot seat this time. Tom's a super wonderful person, an extremely talented writer and I was honored to hang out with him at his blog.

And I also spent some time with my dear friend Kaye Barley this week over at her blog. I talked about my special family and I answered the question everyone's been asking me, "What is your six-word memoir?" So, if you'd like to see that, you can do that here.

Alright, I'm done being narcissistic for today. I want to talk about other cool places to visit if you haven't seen them already. I've actually fallen so far behind in my own blog reading that my friends are ready to send the lynch mob after me, I think. Naomi and Corey are staying very busy over at The Drowning Machine. Be sure to stop by there for a couple awesome reviews as well as an Indie Bookstore highlight. Absolutely love that!

Michael has been highlighting the Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series on audio book at his blog. I believe I talked about this before, but this is truly a series that I get excited about every time I hear he has a new post. To combine my love of Crais with my love of audio books is heaven to begin with. But Michael is a connoisseur and it's so much fun to discuss these audios with him. I just never tire of it. Anyway, he's up to THE FORGOTTEN MAN. You can check that out here. And he has links to the remainder of the series if you need to catch up.

Michael's also been doing a series on movie Title/Credit Sequences. He's up to Part 4 on that series. You can see that here. Again he adds links to the previous posts if you need to catch up. I have been reading them utterly dumbfounded. I can't even contribute I feel so unworthy! I love his film knowledge. I feel as though I get an education every time he hosts a post. It's great!

And my idol, Pop Culture Nerd, is getting super fancy on us these days. She put together a slide show of fashion from the Academy Awards. I don't need to hit People Magazine's website, PCN has all the inside scoop I need. And it's far more fun to dish with her than People Magazine! You have to go over and see this slide show. Her captions are half the fun. Make sure that you see Robert Downey, Jr. Seriously, I laughed out loud at that one. My colleagues thought I was off my rocker. Damn cubicles! If you haven't been over to check out her site lately, what are you waiting for? Lots of fun stuff going on there. Had I not been visiting, I'd have never heard about Tom Kaufman. See, that's why I hate getting behind on my blog reading!

And finally, please go over and wish my good friend Jenn from Jenn's Bookshelves a happy blogiversary. She celebrated two years of blogging this week. And she has a nice contest going on in honor of her blogiversary where you could win the book of your choice! Can't beat that! You have until March 15th to enter for that contest. And you know if you have trouble deciding what you want, I'll be happy to give you a long list of suggestions! ;-)

All right. I'll shut my trap now...or rather my fingers, I guess. I just wanted to make sure I left you with enough fun stuff until I return. I promise some reviews next week. I have still been reading, I swear, even though I haven't done a very good job of posting the reviews in a timely manner. But you know, you can also always follow me on Twitter. I tend to talk about books there while I'm reading them (as well as other various odds and ends). I put the link to my Twitter page over in my side bar if you aren't already following and would like to, just click my little Twitter bird.

Have a great weekend everyone. I hope it is filled with sunshine and happiness and BOOKS! And remember to VOTE!!!

Bouchercon Diary - The Final Day & Scrapbook Pictures

Sunday, the final day of Indianapolis Bouchercon 2009. I signed up to volunteer for set-up of what they called the "book bizarre." As with anything else at Bouchercon, I had no idea what to expect. However, this was a brand new concept and no one else really had any idea what to expect either. I was supposed to be there around 8, but since I got up early to take care of packing my car and checking out, I actually showed up around 7:30 thinking I would have to sit and read awhile before anyone came. WRONG! They put me to work right away.

I helped haul out tons of boxes of books from a storage area. We had to take the boxes out of the storage area, then put them in the area that had been marked for the author. I should have taken some pictures of this so you could have seen, but we were so busy there just wasn't time. But the whole lobby area was filled with long tables; six rows of long tables, and each author was assigned to half of a long table.

Alright, once we got all the boxes out, then we unpacked the books. All of that is great, but here's where things got a little icky. We kind of had to stand guard, for lack of a better term, to keep people from coming in and taking the books or anything like that. The head volunteers had determined a place for people to start a line for the bizarre and only the volunteers and authors were allowed inside the bizarre area.

This is when you find all those fun people who think all the rules should apply to everyone but them. And I'm not a good enforcer. I don't like to be mean, and I especially don't like people who put me in a position where I have to be mean. I ran into a handful of those kinds of people and that was icky. But otherwise, it was fine, and I enjoyed helping. And the authors who were giving out their books filtered in to find their places.

The point of the bizarre was to give authors a chance to give away their books - provided the publishers donated them to do so. And I have to say the publishers were really quite generous in this bizarre. Michael Stanley was giving away hard covers of their A CARRION DEATH, Craig Johnson was giving hard covers of his THE DARK HORSE or trade papers of his ANOTHER MAN'S MOCCASINS. Sean Chercover had some hardcovers of his TRIGGER CITY. Tons of authors were present. Some weren't present but the publishers still sent books to give away.

When people had picked up their registration packets, they got five red tickets that they would use at this bizarre, trading a ticket for a book. Now, given all the loot that's hanging around this joint, you know people got a little crazy. The hope was that people would all move around the tables in the same direction - there wasn't a lot of room down the rows between tables. However, the "all moving in one direction" down the rows, didn't work very well. People just went where ever. They let the set-up volunteers go first, so I just kind of got my books and got out of the way. I wanted to wait around a grab pictures with a few authors before everything ended, but I stayed clear of the masses. So, I know you're wondering what I came home with. Uh huh! My prizes were awesome!! I picked up Tom Schreck's second Duffy Dombroski, TKO, Marcus Sakey's first novel, GOOD PEOPLE, Libby Fischer Hellmann's Ellie Foreman novel, A SHOT TO DIE FOR, Shane Gericke's CUT TO THE BONE, Andy Gross's THE DARK TIDE, Rebecca Cantrell's A TRACE OF SMOKE, two Sniplits CDs of audiobook short stories and two books that are completely new to me. (Sorry, don't have those titles because I already loaned them to my dad.) So, yeah, I cleaned up. There is one book I regret not picking up, but I don't need to be a book hog!

So, after collecting my loot and my bag runneth over. I collected a few more pictures. Here is my beloved friend, Kaye Barley:

And here's Sean Chercover and I. I had the pleasure of meeting Sean's wife and she was kind enough to take the picture for me. Both incredibly nice people. Such a pleasure to have had the chance to meet them.

And Rebecca Cantrell. Simply can't say enough about her either. Are you seeing a pattern here? This is why I'm not a writer. I can't come up with the words to articulate my joy. I'm not a person who can easily strike up a conversation, and I'm terrible with small talk. But when I me Rebecca, I didn't feel like I had any trouble having a conversation. It just came natural. That's how she makes you feel.
And I absolutely couldn't leave Bouchercon without having a picture with Marcus Sakey. If you encounter Marcus and have a chance to talk to him you will experience something few people are really and truly skilled at. When he talks to you, you feel as though you are the only person in the room. That is no exaggeration. You never doubt that he's paying attention to you and you feel as though he is genuinely invested in your conversation.

This weekend was truly a gift for me. I had the chance to meet so many people I admire and respect. Now I admire and respect them even more. As I've sat throughout this week, recapping my experiences, I've smiled all over again. These memories are precious and I thank each and ever person who helped me build them at the Indianapolis Bouchercon.

After my picture with Marcus, I found Kaye one last time and ended my trip the way I began it - with a hug and a smile from her.

Thank you, all, for giving me the chance to share this with you. I'll get to work now catching up on my reviews; lord, am I behind! But today, I'll leave you with some sample shots of the scrapbook pages I had signed at Bouchercon. Each page is 8" x 8". I plan to add pictures to this album as well. So, come visit me in person some time and I'll share the whole thing with you. Happy Reading!

Monday Mystery Backlist - FUGITIVE COLORS

This week, the Monday Mystery Backlist title comes from my good friend Kaye Barley. Kaye keeps herself busy with her blog Meanderings and Musings, but today she took some time out to share with us about Margaret Maron's Sigrid Harald series and specifically FUGITIVE COLORS, so I'll let Kaye tell you all about it:

One of my favorite backlist titles is Margaret Maron's FUGITIVE COLORS.

I re-read it often, but only after I've re-read the first seven in her Sigrid Harald series; "One Coffee With," "Death of a Butterfly," "Death in Blue Folders," "The Right Jack," "Baby Doll Games," "Corpus Christmas," and "Past Imperfect." Then I read the eighth and final entry, "Fugitive Colors."

Although "One Coffee With" was released in 1981, and "Fugitive Colors" not until 1995, the series actually takes place during only a year.

In "One Coffee With" we meet NYPD Sigrid Harald, a cool, aloof loner, while she's investigating the murder of Riley Quinn, a member of the art department at New York's Vanderlyn College. There are suspects galore; unhappy students, a woman who's promotion he blocked, another faculty member who was having an affair with Quinn's wife and a handyman; an array of colorful characters.

During the investigation, Sigrid meets Oscar Naumann, Dept. Chair and world famous artist. Was he actually the intended victim?

As the series progresses, so does the relationship between Harald and Naumann. Oscar sees a beautiful, sensual woman beneath the cool reserve Sigrid has wrapped herself in. And we witness her slowly coming to believe in what Oscar sees. As the series progresses, we experience the love between Sigrid and Oscar as its grows and blossoms, and as a parallel, Sigrid's self confidence as it grows and blossoms as well.

One of the jewels in this series is the sixth - "Corpus Christmas." A holiday mystery in a wonderful old mansion reminiscent of the Isabelle Gardner Museum.

The next in the series, "Past Imperfect," finally answers questions hovering over the series, specifically in regard to Sigrid's father who was a detective in the NY city police division she is in.

This brings us to the last book in the series, "Fugitive Colors." The knowledge Sigrid has of the art world, thanks to Oscar, helps her solve another murder. In this entry we see a lovely, self-assured woman, not only in her professional life, but also within her own skin. It's been a joy watching Sigrid grow.

Another joy in the series were supporting characters; two in particular. Sigrid's mother, along with roommate Roman Tramegra, who bring humor and balance into Sigrid's life.

I keep hoping against hope that one of these days we just might see one more Sigrid Harald book.

FUGITIVE COLORS was published in hardcover (ISBN: 978-0892965670) by Mysterious Press in June of 1995. And in paperback (ISBN: 978-0446403931) also by Mystery Press in June of 1996.