Book Event with Cara Black and Tess Gerritsen

Just got back from an absolutely lovely event I did in New England this past weekend. It was notable for two reasons:

– I shared the stage with my good friend Cara Black (who’s on tour with her new novel, MURDER BELOW MONTPARNASSE, and also Tess Gerritsen, who, if you’ve been reading SAY THE WORD, is one of my favorite female crime writers). As is Cara.

– I haven’t spent time in the “real” New England in ages. I’d forgotten how small everything is, how crowded together everything is, and how old the buildings, cemeteries, and architectural styles are. Compared to the wide open spaces (relatively speaking) in the Midwest, I don’t think I could go back east on a permanent basis. I did start to feel a little claustrophobic. Which might explain why I moved to Chicago 35 years ago.

At any rate, the event itself was a fund-raiser for the Claire Carney Library at U Mass-Dartmouth and was organized by Mel Yoken and his wife Cindy. (You can maybe see the event up in lights on the billboard.) Over 200 people attended the Sunday afternoon tea, which was done quite beautifully with scones, crumpets, egg and tuna sandwiches… and the requisite cucumber sandwiches. The mayor of New Bedford attended, as did the Chancellor of the University, but for me the best part was sharing stories with Tess and Cara. We learned that we are all “seat of the pantser” writers — we don’t outline. We also learned we tend to procrastinate as long as we can until a deadline looms. Most of all, we shared our beliefs about the nature of evil, and how the conventions of the mystery genre give us an opportunity to explore them, as well as other social, political, and historical issues.

And we managed to keep them laughing most of the time. Which isn’t easy when you’re talking about evil.

Now here’s the fun part.

I met the Yokens last year in Havana! They were part of the tour that my daughter and I took, and we became friendly. (That’s Mel with me.)  Just proves that I’ll go anywhere, including Cuba, to get a book gig.

Thank you, Mel and Cindy, and everyone else on the library board who created such a lovely day. I only wish every event could be as delightful.