Autumn 2007 I'm not actually doing as much as I usually do on my US jaunts. I will, however, be at the mystery conference in Muncie, Magna cum Murder. The conference dates are October 26-28.
As I'm posting this, the full conference program hasn't been announced. However I will be doing an audience-participation session based on turning points in James M. Cain's extraordinary novel, The Postman Always Rings Twice If the audience is nice to me, I'll even pass on where the title to the novel came from. Or they'll tell me. One or the other.
It's a bit late in the day to be telling you about October 2006 but my annual jaunt took me to St. Louis where I did a couple of my shows for the public library. They were on consecutive days: one for adults and one aimed more for teenagers.
I enjoy St. Louis whenever I'm there and residents were having a good time too, since the Cardinals had only just won the World Series. I also managed to avoid being blown into the Mississippi when I went to have a look at the Gateway Arch.
Most of these programs were in the Midwest but I started off in Wallingford, Connecticut, where the audience divided into detective agencies to write endings to a story called "The Truth." As so often happens, they came up with things I'd never have thought of for myself. Writing stories is so much a matter of picking what interests whoever's writing, and each person is interested in different things.
Then I was off to the Indiana where I did "What Happens Next?" in archtecturally unique Columbus. So few cities or towns in the whole country have paid special attention to how their centers look that Columbus, with buildings from a dazzling array of internationally known architects must be unique. I was treated very well and I hope the folks in the audience in the lovely red room had a good time too. I'm hoping to post a picture of Columbus's jail once I get home (I'm writing now from my sister's in Connecticut.)
Then I went to Missouri to visit the impressive Central Methodist University in Fayette. A substantial and diverse audience got its mental teeth into "Cigarettes" and a few had the opportunity for extra credit for writing reviews of the program. I may post exerpts from them. On the other hand, I may not...
After an interlude at the Magna cum Murder mystery conference in Muncie - friendly and efficiently run as ever - I headed for a Halloween lunchtime program in Terre Haute, Indiana, and a lovely, sociable dinner the evening before.
The program on November 1st was in Evansville's fabulous new library - which includes a cafe called "Cup and Chaucer" and books for sale on the honor system. After lunch on the 1st I followed the advice of my hosts and walked through the old town to the Ohio River. The weather was sunny and warm (as it always is in Indiana in November, right?) and read my way through the historical plaques at the end of Main Street. Another generous crowd made the evening a very warm one.
And finally I launched myself in Anderson, Indiana, on November 2nd, where again there's been recent development of the central library. The whole ethos of getting people into the library almost for any reason is one that's only coming slowly to Britain. the product is a series of wonderful places for people to read, learn and compute. The program again threw up a variety of suggestions for the development of "Cigarettes" that I'd never considered before. Do yo think that Prince Charles might use the word "grub" for food? It was mooted.
Thank you everyone for making my tour this year such a friendly and memorable one. MZL November 4th.
A new Leroy Power story is a bit of an event. There have only been two since the three novels that feature him. And in the February 2005 edition of Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Powder appears in a story titled "911". In it he appears in a t-shirt that reads, "Not a happy bunny." The t-shirt is real, and is modeled above by the author. A rather good t-shirt for Powder, I think.
Most autumns I get out to the Midwest and I was there again in 2004. I was in Columbus, Ohio, doing an interactive program called "Murder You Write" for a small - but enthusiastic - audience. Then I fetched up at The Mystery Company in Carmel, Indiana, going on the next day to the the annual Mid-America Mystery Conference in Muncie. From Muncie I did a quick visit to the Writers' Center back in Indianapolis with Peter Lovesey. Then, back in Indianapolis I did "Murder You Write" again for a wonderfully varied (and, yes, enthusiastic) audience at the Glendale Public Library.
The "Wanted for Murder" CD, TAKE-OUTS - front cover above - is available from me via this site for $17 or £10, including postage. Click on the list of tracks below to email me for information of how to order.
Tracks 1 and 5 are new stories. "Turning It Round" by Liza Cody is the only story she's written that doesn't appear in her new collection, LUCKY DIP and Other Stories. It also appears in the November Ellery Queen, but here it's read by Liza and Peter.
"Rover - CSI" is the first new Rover story since ROVER'S TALES and on the CD I read it. It's also being published in the October edition of "Indy Mens Magazine."
Tracks 2, 6 and 9 are the songs, all meant to be a bit of fun, especially considering that none of us is any kind of real singer. I'm up on "Mystery Novel," an educational tale for new mystery writers. Liza leads "Bring Back," and Peter his now-legendary "Autopsy Scene."
Peter's awesome verse epic, "A Monologue for Mystery Lovers," recounts the overlapping history of two of the genre's greatest detectives.
And the other tracks pretty much speak for themselves.
