Bouchercon 2011 highlights

But first say hello to two friends I met (left and right) at the St. Louis Art Museum after Bouchercon. And now, further highlights of my favorite edition to date of the world's biggest mystery and crime fiction convention:

1) The restaurant near the convention hotel that delighted my three English lunch companions by serving corned-beef bollicks (sic).

2) Quaffing a Schlafly Oktoberfest or two at the hotel bar with Eric Stone, an author new to me whose books I will begin reading once I get done with Bouchercon posts.

3) Trying to keep up with Eoin Colfer and Colin Cotterill during Saturday's “CRANKY STREETS: WHAT'S SO FUNNY ABOUT MURDER?” panel.

4) The waitress who yelled at Jon Jordan and who, having no truck with tagliatelle, served me instead a plate of "tailgate pasta."

5) St. Louis' Walk of Fame, along Delmar Boulevard in the Loop. Many cities have Walks of Fame, but how many include Betty Grable, Bob Gibson, William S. Burroughs, and Phyllis Diller — on the same block?

© Peter Rozovsky 2011