Bouchercon is a guaranteed good time. Seriously. Even if you never leave the bar and spend all your time listening to conversations, you’re bound to meet up with some great people and hear some really cool stuff. Here are some of the gems we overheard this year:
“John Connolly smells am-ayyyyyy-zing.”
“Lee Child smells pretty good, too.”“I ran into Mary Higgins Clark in the elevator. I am no one, but she was so lovely and gracious to me even so.”
“Daniel Palmer could sell ice to Eskimos. He should be a professional auctioneer.”
“Or a professional con man.”“The only thing my ex’s lawyer didn’t call me in court was a whore. And that’s the only one he could have legitimately have gotten away with.”
“Dana Cameron is on fire.”
“I don’t know who that is, but she must be an agent. Look at how much attention everyone’s paying to her.”
“I can’t believe I won the character naming in E.J. Copperman’s book in the raffle. I just love those books!”
“I can’t remember the last time I slept.” (We heard this, we said this, we lived it.)
This year, Bouchercon honored a number of great people. We thought it was probably a moral imperative for us to indroduce you to them, if you haven’t already met. So in order to give you a chance to get to know any you haven’t already read, we’re giving two lucky winners each a set of five books!
• From Elizabeth George, American Guest of Honor: The Edge of Nowhere, first in a paranormal YA trilogy about a teenager with unusual gifts whose need to escape her criminal stepfather leads her to Whidbey Island, just a ferry ride away from Seattle, but a world away form anything she’s known.
• Edited by John Connolly, Bouchercon’s Toastmaster, Books to Die For is a collection of commentary on great mystery novels by great mystery authors. Co-edited by Declan Burke, it includes contributions from Michael Connelly, Kathy Reichs, Mark Billingham, and Ian Rankin, among many, many others.
• From Mary Higgins Clark, recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award, The Lost Years is a mystery about a daughter who fears her Alzheimer’s-afflicted mother may have murdered her father. However, as her father was also a biblical scholar who believed he’d discovered a letter from Jesus himself—later stolen from the Vatican—a worldwide family of believers may be at stake along with her own.
• From Robin Cook, honored for Distinguished Contribution to the Genre, medical thriller Death Benefit involves cutting-edge research in creating replacement organs and Wall Street schemers finding new ways to profit from death.
• From Les Roberts, Special Cleveland Guest of Honor, The Cleveland Creep is the 15th in the series about local private eye Milan Jacovich, a now-aging shamus who, in this installment, has to tackle the scummiest elements of today’s voyeur culture while training his new protegee.
This sweepstakes has ended.
TO WIN, just be a registered, logged in user for the site and leave a comment on this post. Tell us something funny you’ve overheard...either at a convention or anywhere!
TIP: Since only comments from registered users will be tabulated, if your user name appears in red above your comment—STOP—go log in, then try commenting again. If your user name appears in black above your comment, You’re In!
NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. Sweepstakes open to legal residents of fifty (50) United States and the District of Columbia, who are 18 or older. To enter, fill out entry at http://www.criminalelement.com/blogs/2012/10/overheard-bouchercon-honorees-have-books-to-die-for-and-so-can-you-john-connolly-mary-higgins-clark-les-roberts-elizabeth-george-robin-cook beginning at 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time (ET) October 9, 2012. Sweepstakes ends at 10:59 a.m. ET on October 16, 2012 (the “Promotion Period”). Void outside of the 50 US and DC and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules at http://www.criminalelement.com/page/official-rules-the-bouchercon-honorees-comments-contest. Sponsor: Macmillan, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010.
