Dispatches from Bouchercon from Cathy Ace

Jim Napier, Officer Julie Meeks, Rick Blechta and Cathy Ace 

Author Cathy Ace has a great Bouchercon round up for us today. Bouchercon is the world's largest mystery convention and this year it was hosted in Toronto, Canada. 

This year was a very different Bouchercon for me in many ways, but exactly the same as others in one key respect…I came home from it with the second horrible head-cold I’d had in three weeks, so had to allow myself to collapse and get better for a while – hence the slight delay in writing this post. 

Bouchercon is the biggest, truly international crime reader and writer convention held each year; with it being held in Toronto, Canada this year I, as the current Board Chair of Crime Writers of Canada (CWC), have been working with the volunteer committee since 2015 to try to ensure the best possible experience for every attendee. Helen Nelson and Janet Costello were the co-chairs of this year’s Bouchercon, and more than 1700 conventioneers benefitted from their efforts, and those of the 30+ people who planned and worked hard to make it all happen.

Lisa de Nikolits with just some of the book bags! 

The Opening Ceremonies were extremely well-attended, and allowed me the chance to welcome around 1000 people to Canada on behalf of CWC, and to introduce Peter Robinson to speak. 

On Friday evening I hosted the International Reception, where a veritable “Mount Rushmore” of past CWC presidents welcomed authors from the UK, Iceland, Thailand, Guatemala, Finland, France, Australia and Singapore, to name but a few of the countries represented. 

CWC Past Presidents -  L to R: Cathy Ace (Chair), Mike Martin (Vice Chair), Rick Blechta, Barbara Fradkin, RJ (Robin) Harlick, Mary Jane Maffini, Peter Robinson, Howard Engel, Maureen Jennings, Cathy Astolfo.

That evening a pub-style trivia quiz I’d organized on behalf of CWC was attended by over 150 people, who were led in teams by CWC members like Maureen Jennings, David Morrell and Linwood Barclay. 

Linwood Barclay

The winning team received a super bag of goodies, including books, and even Three Pines pins and mugs donated by another of CWC’s members, Louise Penny, who was Canadian Guest of Honour at the convention. 

CWC's pub quiz winners

Canadian Guest of Honor, Louise Penny

Panels and interviews were well attended – though the perennial problem of “I wish I could be in three places at once” persisted this year. 

Cathy Ace is the Bony Blithe Award-winning author of The Cait Morgan Mysteries and The WISE Enquiries Agency Mysteries.  She has an anthology of short stories – MURDER KEEPS NO CALENDAR – featuring those where Cait Morgan and the WISE Women first appeared, in December 2017. You can find out more about Cathy, her work and her characters at her website, where you can also sign up for her newsletter with news, updates and special offers: http://cathyace.com/ 

PHOTOS: Cathy Ace books

Back Space Bar in New Orleans

The 2016 Bouchercon Mystery Convention was held in New Orleans, Louisiana. Kerry Hammond is here to tell us about a great literary-themed restaurant she found in the Big Easy.

While attending Bouchercon 2016, there were plenty of restaurants and bars to choose from, but one day I wandered down a side street right near the conference hotel and found a hidden gem. Back Space Bar is a literary-themed restaurant located at 139 Chartres St. and I was drawn to it by the typewriter key that is their sign.

The French Quarter bar has a literary theme, a casual and comfortable vibe, and a 1930s feel. The decorations inside consisted of several antique typewriters and books on bookshelves—a perfect find for a getaway during a mystery readers conference.

Lest you think that the bar is all personality and no substance, I can attest that the menu was great and the food tasty (I can recommend the Grown Up Grilled Cheese). The “Prologue” of the menu contains several other sandwiches to choose from, and the “Epilogue” provides Cookies and Milk for dessert.

And then there were drinks, this is New Orleans after all. The menu consists of great choices and literary legends, Death in the Afternoon is a shout out to Hemingway and the Vesper Martini the drink of Fleming’s James Bond.  

Check out their website for a full list of food and drinks plus a cute video. When you hover over the typewriter keys at the top to change the menu of items, you hear typewriter keys clicking. Very cool!

Charles Todd Tea at Bouchercon 2016

Harper Collins sponsored a Charles Todd author tea at this year’s Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans, which featured the writing duo Charles Todd and Caroline Todd, interviewed by author Deborah Crombie. Kerry Hammond was there in person and she wanted to tell us how much fun she had.

Bouchercon is the event for fans of the Mystery genre, and I attend the conference each year to meet new authors and make friends with other mystery fans. Each year Harper Collins brings some of their best authors for book signings and panels. This year they offered another special event that I was lucky enough to attend, the Charles Todd afternoon tea. 

We were seated in a private room and each table was full of trays of sandwiches, scones and desserts. We enjoyed our tea and treats while we listened to Deborah Crombie interview Charles and Caroline Todd. The Todds were more than happy to discuss their characters Bess Crawford and Ian Rutledge, and to talk about the new book The Shattered Tree (my review of the book is here).

Deborah Crombie is the author of the Duncan Kincaid and Gemma James mystery series and she talked about her series and her travels through England. Her book Garden of Lamentations is due out early next year.

The three authors weren’t strangers and in addition to delving into their books, they regaled us with a few funny stories from their travels, on the road at author signings. They told us that the best place to meet the locals are the British pubs and gave us a bit of information on how they research their books.

After the talk, the authors joined the guests at the tea tables and Deborah Crombie sat at our table and talked to us about anything and everything. Harper Collins couldn’t have put on a cozier event. 

Next year, Bouchercon is in Toronto, and you can read all about it here. 

Final Day of Bouchercon 2016 in New Orleans - Blood on the Bayou

It's the last day of Bouchercon New Orleans and everyone is wrapping it up and packing their books into their suitcases, hoping that each bag weighs less than 50 pounds. We will post more Bouchercon highlights later, but here are a few fun photos of the conference.

Mystery Playground's Deborah Lacy's short story is in the Blood on the Bayou Anthology alongside David Morrell.

David Morrell received the Lifetime Achievement Award and was interviewed by Lee Child.

The parade to the Anthony Awards was rained on but not rained out. Fans and authors turned up for the festivities.

Stay tuned for more recaps from Bouchercon 2016.