Who: The usual suspects (i.e. mystery readers, writers, and various Good Girls)

What: Malice and Festival of Mystery

When: April 25 – 28, 2008

Where: Washington D.C.; Annapolis, MD; Pennsylvania turnpike; Oakmont, PA.

Why: If there is a mystery event, a Good Girl will probably come.

Summary: After “stopping” quite a bit more than “going” in the stop-and-go traffic on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, I arrived at Malice on Friday morning to drop off two auction baskets, one travel-themed basket for Getting Away is Deadly and another with lots of signed GG books. Since all paths cross in the Hospitality Suite (second only to the bar as the most popular meeting place), I immediately ran into Heather Webber, Katherine Hall Page, Meredith Cole, and two Good Girls, Laura and Diana. Malice feels more like a family reunion every year. Laura already covered our too brief meet-up in the bar, so I won’t rehash that, but suffice it to say the meetings of the Good Girls this year were far too short and we missed Tasha terribly.

The banquet is always a highlight of Malice. Diana and I again hosted a table together and had a lovely time with people who actually chose to eat with us! The food was surprisingly good, too. Sally Fellows moderated my bright-and-early Sunday morning panel, Murder and Domesticity. Everyone played nice and I had a fun time chiming in with Maggie Sefton, Heather Webber, Sheila Connolly, and Kate Collins.

Marcia Talley invited me to participate in a Sunday night signing in Annapolis with her, Donna Andrews, Rhys Bowen, and Kate Flora. I was honored to be included with such a great group of authors! I’d been having allergy issues and by that evening my voice had descended into the husky range. Thank goodness there was a microphone and an attentive audience! The next morning Diana and I hit the freeway for a soggy drive to Pennsylvania. My voice was scratchier and you can imagine how frustrated I was—two Good Girls on a five-hour road trip and I could barely croak out a few sentences. Irritating to say the least! We took a few scenic—and unintentional—detours along the way, but managed to arrive at the Greek Orthodox Church Hall early.

The Festival of Mystery, in its thirteen year, was the most amazing event I’ve ever seen! People lined up hours before the doors opened, then they flooded in. These people were serious book buyers. They browsed, they chatted, they bought books, and they listened to the author interviews. My hat is off to Mystery Lovers Bookshop. Richard and Mary Alice know how to do a mystery book fair up right! Afterwards they treated all the authors to pizza back at the bookstore. By then my voice had gone from Kathleen Turner to Minnie Mouse, so I didn’t say much, but I enjoyed being part of the fun. Monday was another five-hour drive back to the reality of laundry and billpay.

Respectfully submitted,
Sara Rosett, one happy mystery author