In Reference to Murder

Fall for the Book

The annual Fall for the Book at George Mason University and other locales in northern Virginia kicked off yesterday and continues through Friday. The festival includes a number of mystery-related events culminating in the presentation of the Mason Award to bestselling thriller writer David Baldacci by Donna Andrews. Here are some of the other upcoming crime fiction highlights:

• Mystery writer Edith McClintock, author of Monkey Love and Murder 
• Mystery writer Charles Todd (Charles and Caroline both!), discussing Proof of Guilt
• Novelists A.X. Ahmad, author of The Caretaker, and Sujata Massey, author of the Rei Shimura mysteries and the new historical novel The Sleeping Dictionary
• Author Daniel Stashower author of The Hour of Peril: The Secret Plot to Murder Abraham Lincoln Before the Civil War, which explores how the famed Allan Pinkerton joined forces with the nation’s first female detective to foil an assassination attempt on the president in 1861
• A panel featuring members of Mystery Writers of America, including Ellen Crosby, Allison Leotta, Brad Parks, and David O. Stewart.

But there is a wide variety of other authors and poets who will be on hand, as well as additional awards including the Fairfax Prize to be given to Dave Barry; the Busboys and Poets Award to be handed out to Sonia Sanchez; and the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award, with Cheryl Strayed as the honoree. Also helping out this year, is the thriving indie bookstore One More Page, which will host some of the festivities. Best of all,  events are free and open to the public.

 

Creatures, Crimes and Creativity

The brand-new conference Creatures, Crimes and Creativity (C3) is only a month away as it takes its inaugural flight into Baltimore, Maryland at the Hunt Valley Inn, September 13, 14 and 15. Jeffery Deaver is the keynote speaker at the event, which looks to gather together readers and writers of mystery, suspense, thriller, horror, sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk fiction.

If you are an author, August 16 is the deadline to register for the conference and have your photo appear in the C3 program (free!), and that's also the date for authors, publishers and everyone else to have an advertisement in the program. All attending authors will have additional perks, too: your books will be available in an on-site bookstore, with dedicated book signing times, your name and a link will be posted on the C3 website, and you will be invited to contribute to the C3 blog and offered a chance to film a video interview.

If you're a fan, you can enjoy panels and presentations from favorite authors, including bestsellers like mystery author Jeffery Deaver, fantasy/horror author Christopher Golden, thriller writer John Gilstrap and romantic suspense author Trice Hickman. Each attendee will receive a goodie-bag, plus there are book signings, a Twitter contest, and a scavenger hunt, with prizes like a Kindle, Amazon gift cards and paid attendance to the Love is Murder conference in Chicago.

Writers' Police Academy

The Writers' Police Academy was founded by Lee Lofland, an acclaimed author and expert on police procedure and crime-scene investigation, and has become an annual event where authors can get a hands-on education in all aspects of law enforcement. Lee recently announced that the 2013 keynote speaker is bestselling author Lisa Gardner and special guest speaker is Dr. Kathy Reichs (creator of the Temperance Brennan series on which the TV show Bones is based). Also featured this year is a session taught by Dr. Dan Krane, a well-known expert on all things DNA, who has testified as a leading DNA expert in over 100 high-profile criminal cases all over the world.

Some of the types of classes and workshops led by police, fire, and EMS staff at an actual police academy include:

- Ride-a-longs with police officers and deputy sheriffs
- Jail tours
- Interview and interrogation
- EMS mini "Crash Course"
- Cold case investigations
- Crime scene investigations
- FATS (Firearms Simulator Training)
- Police vehicle driving simulator
- And more: K-9 teams, SWAT teams, Bomb Squad, robots, Static displays, Mobile Command Posts, Pursuit vehicles, Motorcycles, Fire trucks, Ambulances, Dive Teams

The three-day conference is held September 5-8 at Guilford Technical Community College in Jamestown, N.C. WPA registration will open this later month, and like last year, space is limited and slots fill fast, so early registration is recommended. (Sisters in Crime pays well over half their members' registration fee.) Also note the conference will once again sponsor the Golden Donut short story contest, with submissions of exactly 200 words to be based on the photograph prompt provided. More details on the contest will be posted on the website soon.

CSI Portsmouth

Tickets are now on sale for the third annual CSI Portsmouth festival taking place on Saturday, November 3, at John Pounds Centre, Portsmouth, England. Special guests include international crime authors Stephen Booth, Ann Cleeves, Matt Hilton and Pauline Rowson; Crime Scene Manager Co-ordinator Carolyn Lovell from Hampshire Police; DC Terry Fitzjohn Crime Scene Fire Investigations Officer, Hampshire Police; Andy Earl Hampshire Fire and Rescue Arson Task Force; Adrian Fretter, Hampshire Police Hi Tech Crime Unit; Professor Bran Nicol, University of Surrey, an expert on stalking culture including Internet Stalking; and Dr. Mark Button, Director of the Centre for Counter Fraud Studies at University of Portsmouth.

Highlights of the one-day affair are two panel debates on crime fiction versus crime fact and a meet and mingle with top selling crime authors and police and forensic crime experts. Participants will also have a chance to learn about what really happens at a crime scene, how a fire investigation is worked, hear about cyber crime and internet stalking, see how the fingerprint bureau works, have your fingerprints taken, and much more.

 

Fall for the Book

The 14th annual Fall for the Book Festival at George Mason University starts tomorrow and lasts through Sunday, September 30th. As part of this year's event, the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Mystery Writers of America is sponsoring the Mason Award presentation to Neil Gaiman, creator and writer of the DC Comics series Sandman and author of the bestselling novels American Gods, The Graveyard Book, and Coraline. In addition, Michael Chabon, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay and The Yiddish Policeman's Union, will receive this year’s Fairfax Prize honoring outstanding literary achievement.

Individual author events include sessions with crime fiction authors John Gilstrap, Will Lavender, and Laura Lippman. A Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Mystery Writers of America panel moderated by Alan Orloff will include authors Tracy Kiely, Thomas Kaufman, Sandra Parshall, and Joanna Campbell Slan. A trio of first-time novelists will take the stage to discuss their debut political thrillers, including defense anthropologist Alexandra Hamlet, U.S. Naval Academy grad Kathleen Toomey Jabs, and Mark Harril Saunders.

Another highlight of the festival for fans of crime fiction will be the panel "On Literary and Genre Fiction" on Sunday from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.  The National Book Critics Circle hosts a discussion of literary fiction and genre fiction, asking the questions, What's the difference? What's the divide? Where's the overlap? Weighing in on these topics are novelist Julianna Baggott, whose latest novel, Pure, ventures into the realm of post-apocalyptic horror; Louis Bayard, whose literary mysteries include The School of Night; Alma Katsu, author of The Taker and The Reckoning; and journalist and critic Laura Miller, author of The Magician's Book: A Skeptic's Adventures in Narnia.

July Conference Extravaganza

July may well be the peak month for crime fiction conferences geared to authors and fans around the globe. Here's a listing, with the note that it's not too late to register for most:

July 3
Crime in the Court
London, England
Close to 40 authors will attend, including Mark Billingham, Christopher Fowler, Sophie Hannah, David Hewson, Peter James, Erin Kelly, S.J. Watson.

July 11-14
Thrillerfest
New York, NY
Spotlight guests will include 2012 ThrillerMaster Jack Higgins; 2011 ThrillerMaster R.L. Stine; 2012 Silver Bullet Award Winner Richard North Patterson; 2011 Silver Bullet Winner Karin Slaughter; and 2012 Spotlight Guests Lee Child, John Sandford, Catherine Coulter and Ann Rule.

July 12-15
Public Safety Writers' Conference
Las Vegas, NV
Special Guests John M. Mills, Herman Groman

July 13
Poisoned Pen Conference
Scottsdale, AZ
Special Guests: Howard L. Anderson, Mark de Castrique, Linda Fairstein, Timothy Hallinan, Alex Kava, Joseph Kanon, Jesse Kellerman, Martin Limon, Francine Mathews and Dana Stabenow.

July 19-22
Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference
Corte Madera, CA
Editors, agents, publishers and panels of detectives, forensic experts and other crime-fighting professionals. The keynote speaker for 2012 in Don Winslow. Author guests on the faculty include Don Winslow, Cara Black, Tony Broadbent, Robert Dugoni, William C. Gordon, Taquin Hall, Jesse Kellerman, Arthur Kerns, John Lescroart, D.P. Lyle, Tim Maleeny, Cornelia Read, Gillian Roberts, Kirk Russell, Sheldon Siegel, Karin Slaughter.

July 19-22
Theakston's Old Peculiar Crime Writing Festival
Harrogate, UK
Programming Chair, Mark Billingham; Special Guests include Harlan Coben, John Connolly, Jo Nesbo, Kate Mosse, Peter Robinson, Peter James and Ian Rankin.

Learn From the Best

If you are serious about learning the craft of writing crime fiction and have the time and money, the new Crime Fiction Academy may be just for you. The Center for Fiction in New York City is launching the academy in February 2012 to include a 14-week workshop, a monthly Master Class, a Crime Fiction Reading seminary, special lectures and discussions with editors and agents, and access to the Center's book collection (which received a Raven Award for its comprehensive library of mystery and thriller titles). The admission process is fairly rigorous and limited to a few participants, the organizers prefer a year's commitment, and the workshop costs $2,800. However, if you're accepted, you'll be taught by the likes of Megan Abbott, Lawrence Block, Lee Child, Thomas H. Cook, Linda Fairstein, Susan Isaacs, Dennis Lehane, Laura Lippman, Joyce Carol Oates, SJ Rozan, Jonathan Santlofer, Karin Slaughter and more. Give it a shot, but make sure all application materials are received by November 28th.

Bouchercon-fined

 

Due to the Bouchercon mystery conference, with a large percentage of the crime fiction community converging on St. Louis this weekend, Patti Abbott's Friday's Forgotten Books is taking a one-week hiatus. If you're unable to join the festivities at this year's Bouchercon (like moi), there are several ways you can keep up with the proceedings:

Bloggers on hand are promising to try and provide updates as possible. Bill Crider is one of those, as well as Mystery Fanfare's Janet Rudolph;  Shotsmagazine colleagues Ayo Onatade, Mike Stotter and Ali Karim; and Peter Rozovsky over at Detectives Beyond Borders.

Murderati's David Corbett has a preview of two panels, "Shadows Rising: Movies for the Crime Fiction Fan," with lots of recomendations, and "Witness to an Incident: The Human Element."

Mystery Scene columnist Oline Cogdill profiles the three Missouri crime fiction authors who will be given special recognition during the conference, including  Robert J. Randisi, John Lutz, and Joel Goldman.

Bouchercon is also where several crime fiction awards are announced, including the Anthonys, Barrys, Macavity and Shamus awards, which Murder, Mystery and Mayhem itemize for you. Dan Wager, the Hungry Detective, jumps the gun with his personal picks, and The Rap Sheet will also be ready to give you updates on the awards as they are handed out. The Short Mystery Fiction Society has already chosen its Derringer winners for 2011, but they will be honored during Bouchercon.

If you're on Twitter, you can follow conference-goer tweets via #bcon11 and #bcon2011.

Chairman Jon Jordan has gone above and beyond the call of duty to create what looks to be a very special event this year. Kudos to him and all those who have helped make this event happen.

Forensics U

Time is running out for you to register for three different hands-on workshops to learn the science and logistics behind criminal investigations:

• The Art & Science of Investigation workshop for mystery writers takes place this weekend in Bryan, Texas, but there are still places left (you must register by the 9th). Speakers will include Suzanne Lowe and Jorge Molina, both forensic artists with the Texas Rangers, Jeff Tomberlin, a forensic entomologist, and Steve Smith, a cognitive psychologist and expert on memory and eye-witness testimony.

• The National Institute of Justice is holding a free 3-day Public Safety Summit on Forensic Science October 18-20 in Clearwater Beach, FL. The event is designed for non-scientists in law enforcement and officers of the court. Registration closes 9/15/11.

• The 2011 Writers' Police Academy is slated for September 23-25 at Guilford Technical Community College and Public Safety Training Academy in Jamestown, N.C.  The Firearms Training Simulator workshop is sold out, but you can still register for the other panels, including everything from crime scene investigation to handcuffing and arrest techniques.
  

As Lee Lofland, the founder of the Writers' Police Academy notes, "Sweat now, so your manuscript won't bleed red ink later."

 

 

The Best Before the Fest?

Several mystery/crime fiction conferences include writers' workshops prior to the main event, often staffed with bestselling authors and an interesting array of panels and seminars. Thrillerfest, coming up next week in NYC, has such an event called CraftFest, a two-day affair held July 6-7. The first day starts off with simultaneous panels including Steve Berry talking about "Point of View, Psychic Distance and Passive Voice"; Dr. D.P. Lyle discussing "Forensics in Fiction"; and Gar Anthony Haywood who will tell you how to "Make the Case for Your P.I." You'll also have a chance to hear several other experienced writers as they help you navigate your way through writing and publishing in the suspense/thriller field.  And there's still time to register, if you're a procrastinator.

Over on the West Coast, the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference, held July 21-24 in Corte Madera, CA, likewise has an impressive roster of authors and panels to inspire you. Dr. Lyle will be on hand there, too, talking about "The Psychology of Characters," to get the ball rolling as part of three pre-conference classes, along with David Corbett on "Integrating Arcs and Acts" and Hallie Ephron on "Back Story, and How Not to Shoot Yourself in the Foot With It."  Then the full conference kicks off in the afternoon on the 21st with Cara Black, Tony Broadbent, Kirk Russell and Moderator Jacqueline Winspear as they "Explore the Genre." And you're in luck here, too, as there's still time to register for this learning opportunity.