Do you have cats? How do you research your mysteries? Do you have a day job?
I got to meet a zillion* librarians and their colleagues last week at the Public Library Association’s bi-annual conference last week in Philadelphia, and it was a blast. My publisher Severn House provided copies of my upcoming Cross My Path and trade paperbacks of my 10th Dulcie Schwartz academic mystery, Into The Grey, to sign and giveaway – this being a librarians’ conference, after all – and I did my best to chat with everyone who came by. I came home with a raw throat (those convention centers are LOUD) and renewed respect for the library professionals who are dealing with shrinking budgets and safety concerns as they work to meet the needs of the population at large. Yay, Libraries! (And you do know about the Sisters in Crime We Love Libraries grants, don’t you? Please click through if not.) I also got to gab with the wonderful Robert Rosenwald, of Poisoned Pen Press, which will be publishing my Fear on Four Paws this summer.
But what always interests me are the questions I get. Librarians know a ton about books and the writing/publishing process. That means, I’m often asked if I’ve heard about favorite authors of theirs (Philip Kerr, RIP) or imprints. At one point, three of us got into a discussion of young adult books, and whether mine could crossover. (My take was that the Dulcies could, but the others might be too rough.) And, then, at a wine and cheese (“and murder”!) reception hosted by Booklist, I got to chat with Con Lehane, Bill Ott, Karen Olsen, and various others about writing, publishing, and yeah, cats.
I came away tired and happy, and grateful for the sharing of new-to-me names and photos of cats. Grateful as well for the one question we crime writers sometimes get, and which I will answer here. Have I ever found a body? No, and I’m glad. Have I ever killed anyone? Only on paper, my friends. Only on paper…
Do you have a favorite question? One you would like to ask, or to be asked?
*This may be a slight exaggeration.