Bouchercon 2012, Day 4: A librarian makes my day

An oft-photographed scene in Tower CIty, Cleveland,
photo by your humble blogkeeper

As always, one of the pleasures of Bouchercon has been hearing, meeting, and becoming interested in authors I might not otherwise have noticed. In this case, I came to Sunday's politics and crime panel to hear Detectives Beyond Borders friends Lisa Brackmann and Stuart Neville and came away impressed as well with Allison Leotta. My favorite question of the panel came from the effervescent Brackmann, acting as moderator this time: "It's not really political, but what's with the golf [in your books], guys? I don't get it."

The 9 a.m. "Wartime Heroes" panel offered interesting remarks from authors Joanne Dobson and Sarah Shaber about the occupational opportunities that World War II offered to American women, the brief reversion to the status quo in the 1950s, and the explosion of feminism in the 1960s. The authors' answers were neither didactic nor preachy, and I anticipate with interest how they put this fascinating historical material to fictional use.

But I experienced no pleasure greater than an Illinois librarian's comment that she's an avid follower of Detectives Beyond Borders and that the blog has encouraged her in her choices of acquisitions for her library.

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Bouchercon is finished, except for the annual convivial post-convention dinner with Ali Karim and friends. As usual, it has passed way too quickly, and I offer special gratitude to the hospitable people of Cleveland, whom I may make the subjects of a separate post.  View the complete Bouchercon schedule here, and I'll be back soon with information about audio recordings of the panels available on CD.

© Peter Rozovsky 2012