Left Coast Crime Recap: Saturday

I didn't actually attend any panels on Friday afternoon. After my lunch with L.J. Sellers, Peg Brantley, Drew Kaufman, Jodie Renner, Judy Yates Borger I decided to work on my blog, and posted the summary of Friday morning. (Yes, my posting timeline is confused. Have you met me?) That evening, we all went to dinner at The Shed, Tod's favorite restaurant in Santa Fe.

(left-right: me, L.J., Jodie, Judy, Peg, Drew, Tod)













Then, deciding we shoudn't take up a table at a very busy restaurant, we moved to the lounge at La Fonda. The six of us in the literature business have decided that we're going to start a collaborative blog called Crime Fiction Collective (more details coming soon). Tod offered to provide any legal services we might need.

Saturday morning began with the Established Writers Breakfast, hosted by Donna Andrews, during which the authors stood up and provided a capsule of their recent projects.

I was a few minutes late for the first panel, Pre-20th Century Historical Mysteries moderated by Clyde Linsley, with panelists John Maddox Roberts, Kelli Stanley, David Walks-as-Bear, and Kenneth Wishnia. I don't read a lot of ancient history mysteries, but I do enjoy Kelli Stanley's writing, and she's a great speaker.

This was one of the cases where I couldn't decide which panel to attend, but my other choice was in a smaller room, already full. The historical panel actually fit in very well with the next panel I attended, 20th Century Historical Mysteries, moderated by Sharon Rowse, Rhys Bowen, Rebecca Cantrell, Ken Hodgson,
Laurie R. King, and Ken Kuhlken. I have to admit that I hadn't read any of the male authors' books, mainly for lack of time.

After a quick lunch, I went to the Series vs. Standalones panel, but I think I was suffering from a food coma, because I don't remember much. The last panel that I went to was Crime Solvers Without Badges moderated by my pal Rachel Brady, Laurie R. King, Harley Jane Kozak, Larry Light, Annette Mahon, and Marcia Talley. Rachel was a fantastic moderator. After the panel introductions, she asked the questions in quiz show format, asking the authors to say the first word that came to mind in response to her clues. Absolutely wonderful, extremely entertaining, and sometimes embarrassing for the object of the question!

Afterwards, I stopped at the bakery for a pastry, and ended up having a nice chat with Judy Borger. The trip back to my room took quite a while as I kept running into people who wanted to chat. But, I did make it back in time to have a rest and chat with Tod for a while before we had to get ready for the banquet. It was a buffet, unusual for a banquet, but the food was wonderful! We sat at a table hosted by L.J., along with Peg, Drew and Wayne Arthurson and a few other people whose names I can't remember. The program was short and sweet, consisting of a speech by a representative of ReadWest (beneficiary of the Silent Auction proceeds), and the book awards presentations. (The nominees and winners can be found here.)

After the banquet, we headed up to our room to pack in preparation for our morning departure. Our flight left Albuquerque at 11:00 a.m., so we left the hotel a little after 7:00 so we could get breakfast at Flying Star before the drive to the airport.

It was a wonderful week, despite the cold, but I am glad to be home!