What I shot on my vacation

Detectives Beyond Borders is still hard at work on what I'd call side projects if I were a rock group. In the meantime, here's one picture I shot in Cleveland after Bouchercon and another from the day after I returned home.

Regular programming will resume shortly. In the meantime, think of these as your test patterns.

Ohio City, looking toward downtown Cleveland. Cleveland is a flat city, and I didn't even visit the Flats.

I took this in Philadelphia just to finish up the roll of film. That's right, roll of film.

© Peter Rozovsky 2012

Bouchercon 2012 and after: Stray encounters and sh**ting stars

"I'll take two," I said to the fruit vendor at Cleveland's West Side Market, delighted to find star fruit at just two for two dollars.

"Five for four," she said, filling my bag, "and here's an extra."

"For you," she said, handing me star fruits numbers seven and eight with my change.

So I'll be eating star fruit for a week. Thank you, Cleveland!

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Michael's Produce, West Side Market, Cleveland
Photo by your humble blogkeeper

Among my pleasant Bouchercon encounters were those with Eric Beetner (it was good to be able to compliment him on his Dig Two Graves) and Julie Hyzy, who confirmed the partial paternity I'd claimed for the title of her novel Affairs of Steak and who also won the Anthony Award for best paperback original. (Stanley Trollip, a member of my "Murder is Everywhere" panel, won a Barry Award in the same category for Death of the Mantis.)

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I met the gregarious vendors after Bouchercon. But even during the convention, I heard stories from my fellow attendees about Clevelanders' hospitality: the police officer who, asked directions by one attendee, gave her a lift to her destination. The staff member at a popular attraction who, though guided tours were out of season, said, "Come on," opened a door, and let another attendee snap some photos. The museum volunteer who ran outside to assure me that the couple who had slipped into a taxi ahead of me were not usurping my place in line, that the volunteer had, in fact, called a cab for them earlier.

Thank you again, Cleveland.

© Peter Rozovsky 2012

Look out, Cleveland

I'm busy selecting my Bouchercon wardrobe, so posting may be light, erratic, or both for a few days. At left is Harvey Pekar's Cleveland, part of my research for my first trip to this year's Bouchercon city.

I also know a bit about Cleveland through the crime writer Les Roberts, a former Chicagoan and Californian who writes mysteries about a Slovenian American P.I. named Milan Jacovich and has become so favorite a Cleveland son that he's one of this year's Bouchercon guests of honor. I read one of the novels years ago, before Detectives Beyond Borders, and I found Jacovich a highly engaging regular-guy protagonist.

Once I get to Cleveland, I'll moderate a Bouchercon panel called "Murder is Everywhere" with authors Timothy Hallinan, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Cara Black, Jeffrey Siger, and Stanley Trollip (Michael Stanley) on Saturday, from 10:15-11:05 a.m. (Here's the complete Bouchercon schedule.)

I'll also head for the West Side Market and the Cleveland Museum of Art, though I'll miss the Harvey Pekar statue dedication. And I'll look for some good kielbasa, because it's there.

© Peter Rozovsky 2012

Bouchercon, Cleveland, and what I'll do there

The Bouchercon 2012 schedule is up for public viewing. I’ll moderate a panel called “Murder Is Everywhere” Saturday, Oct. 6, with panelists Timothy Hallinan, Yrsa Sigurðardóttir, Cara Black, Jeffrey Siger, and Stanley Trollip. Trollip is one half of the team that writes as Michael Stanley, and the panel takes its title from the name of a blog to which all five authors contribute.

I know all five and have panelized with three of them at previous Bouchercons, included twice before with Yrsa. I interviewed Tim Hallinan in 2008 here at Detectives Beyond Borders, and I’ve met and chatted with Jeffrey Siger through the others.

In this case, familiarity will lead not to contempt but to good questions, as I’ll want to avoid queries that I (and others) have asked the authors before. Such challenges are among the joys of moderating a panel. The first time I had the job, at Bouchercon 2009 in Indianapolis, for example, my panel included two translators from other languages into English, one who translated from English into French, and an author. The search for common elements among these three categories of panelists led to questions I’d likely not have come up with had I had to quiz them separately, in groups consisting solely of their exact peers.

I’ve already come up with a couple of good questions, but you won’t read about them here, because then the authors might read them. I always feel that a bit of mystery is best at a crime-fiction convention.

I’m also developing an itinerary of things to do in Cleveland, with the help a colleague who comes from there. The Cleveland Museum of Art tops the list, and Bouchercon’s opening ceremony happens at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Other recommendations include kielbasa, kraut, pierogies, the West Side Market, East Sixth and Prospect Avenue, the Flats, and jazz clubs on West Sixth Street. Unfortunately I’ll have left town by the time the Harvey Pekar statue is dedicated, but such a statue leaves me with warm feelings about Cleveland.

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"Murder is Everywhere" happens Saturday, Oct. 6, 10:15-11:05 a.m. View the Bouchercon Web site for more information.

© Peter Rozovsky 2012