Mainly, I'm looking forward to Killer Nashville (August 15-17), a conference for writers and fans of mysteries and thrillers. It's my honor to be one of the author sponsors of the event and also the volunteer coordinator. Dr. Bill Bass, renowned forensic expert and creator of "The Body Farm" is the guest of honor. There will be three tracks of panels, critiques, agent/editor pitches, and breakout sessions. Organizers Clay Stafford and Phillip Lacy of American Blackguard are doing everything in their power to make this an unforgettable event. This will be the third year I've attended, and I believe they do what they set out to do. If you can possibly get there, it's a conference well worth attending.

December, 2007 (Some questions for the readers)

The second book in the Jared McKean series has been completed and sent to a potential agent. Now I'm working on the third and trying not to get my hopes up. I'm also considering beginning a blog, so I have a question for all of you. What would you like to hear about? What sort of blog topics might interest you? If you have suggestions, please contact me at "bethterrell at comcast dot net" but close up the spaces and use the appropriate symbols for "at" and "dot." Sorry I can't just type out the address, but the spambots will harvest it and I will get even more offers for Viagra than I already get. (Darn trolling bots.) Another question: how can I make this website more useful to you?

November, 2007

On the second Tuesday of November, the Nashville Chapter of Sisters in Crime met at Davis Kidd bookstore in Green Hills. Chris Grabenstein was our guest speaker. He gave an informative talk on story structure. He even generously provided a spoiler for his first Ceepak mystery, Mad Mouse, in order to demonstrate his points. Now, of course, we are all morally obligated to buy it! This is fine with me, because everything I have read or heard about Chris's work has been wonderful. His books come in two different flavors. The Ceepak books (Mad Mouse, Tilt-A-Whirl, and Whack a Mole) are funny and touching. His Christmas books, Slay Ride and Hell for the Holidays have a darker tone.

October, 12-14, 2007

The Southern Festival of Books was held on Legislative Plaza in Nashville this year. The Nashville chapter of Sisters in Crime manned a booth, where literature about the organization and books by members were available. There was also a limited number of Dastardly Dishes, a cookbook made up of recipes and short stories by chapter members. The chapter hosted three panels, one on thrillers (with our own J.T. Ellison), one on sex and violence (ever-popular topics), and one called "Writing With Criminal Intent." I was on that one, along with Mary Saums, Lonnie Cruse, and Joan Garcia. As our approaches are all quite different, this was an interesting panel. I consider it an honor to be on the panel with them. We read each other's books beforehand so that we could ask each other questions (no moderator), and I enjoyed them all.

August 15-17, 2007

It was the second annual Killer Nashville Conference for writers and fans of the mystery genre. Michael Connelly was the Guest of Honor. Michael is the author of the renowned "Harry Bosche" series and also of "The Poet," one of my favorite crime novels of all time. Michael was presented with the very first Killer Nashville guitar, and author Don Bruns played a beautiful original song on it. Agent Donna Bagdasarian and editor Maryglenn McCombs allowed participants to pitch their books. Both were funny, intelligent, and charming. Maryglenn is a dog lover, as am I. And I had the honor of driving Donna from and back to the airport. My impression? She's a genuinely nice person. Her description of the publishing process was one of the most valuable parts of the conference. Other guests included Hallie Ephron, Rhonda Pollero, both halves of the writing team P.J. Parrish, Maggie Toussant, Kathryn Wall, and Chuck Sambuchino. An FBI investigator set up a crime scene in one of the hotel rooms, and attendees gathered clues to "solve" the crime. In short, it was a great conference. Even so, Clay Stafford and Phillip Lacy, the organizers, are already working on ways to improve on it. If you can attend in 2008, you're in for a treat.

March 19, 2006

The Hermitage AARP was gracious enough to allow me to speak at their meeting and sign books afterward. What a gracious and insightful group they were. A million thanks for letting me be a part of your meeting.

March 17, 2006

I had a signing of Too Close to Evil at a local author's night at the Opry Mills Barnes & Noble. Among the other authors featured were Chester Campbell, author of the acclaimed Greg McKenzie mystery series, Glennice Perkins, author of a memoir about her experiences in the music business, and Darren Johnson, whose timely book on ridding our lives of "stuff" seems destined to become a best seller. A special thanks to Barnes & Noble's Amber Clark, who allowed me to be a part of this event. She did a great job of organizing everything.

Late September, 2005: Musings from Bouchercon

I attended the Chicago Bouchercon, sharing expenses with fellow Sister in Crime Susan Robinson. I spoke on a panel about cross-gender writing, sold a few (very few) books, and met some very kind and supportive people. Knowing Dennis Lehane would be there, I entertained a few fantasies about buying him drinks and impressing him so much he felt compelled to introduce me to his publisher and help catapult my little book onto the bestseller lists. Barring that, I thought I might get to shake the hand of the great one. Alas, though Dennis was a delightful speaker and I was glad for the chance to hear him, I am still too shy to approach one of my heroes with much more than a self-conscious, "I...um...really like your books." GAAAARGH!

Actually, I never even got that close, as he spent most of the conference besieged with braver people than I. On the other hand, I got an unexpected treat in the form of the inimitable John Connolly. I hadn't realized he would be there, and while I could get out little more than, "I...um...really like your books," he was gracious and charming. Since I already had a copy of his newest book (Black Angel, check it out), but hadn't gotten the promotional CD meant to go with it, he gave me one of the CD's and thanked me for "being such a nice person." I basked in the pleasure of that one for some time. If you haven't read John Connolly's books, and if you like your novels on the darker side, I urge you to pick up his Charlie Parker series.

Some of the other people who stood out were: Barry Eisler, who, despite the success of his John Rain series, remains approachable and helpful (not to mention pretty darn cute); Kathryn Wall, author of the Bay Tanner Mysteries, and Patricia Sprinkle, author of the acClaren Yarbrough series, who have gone out of their way to make a self-published new kid on the block feel like a full-fledged member of  the "real" writer's club; and Charles Benoit, author of Edgar nominated Relative Danger.

I met Charles completely by accident--sort of. He was handing out bookmarks, and I said, "If you give one, you have to take one" and handed him one of mine. This was perhaps the bravest thing I have ever done. After that, we had a bona fide conversation, during which he gave me some writerly tips and advice.

So, if you're looking for something good to read and want to reward some good folks at the same time, check out Kathryn Wall, Patricia Sprinkle, Chester Campbell, Barry Eisler, Charles Benoit, and John Connolly. you'll find links to all of them on the "Other Authors" page.

September, 2005

Too Close to Evil received an Honorable Mention in the Genre Fiction category of the 12th Annual Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards. The book was listed in the August edition of Writer's Digest and was also be listed on their web site, www.writersdigest.com. The book received 5 out of a possible 5 points in three out of the four areas critiqued: plot, characterization, and grammar. (The fourth area, cover design, received a 4.)

For reviews and reader comments, click here.

May, 2005

Thanks are in order to Roslyn Breitenbach, Sharon Marchisello, and the rest of the Atlanta chapter of Sisters in Crime, for inviting me to speak at their May meeting, which was held at a delightful bookstore called Books and Cases and Prints, 1710 DeFoor Ave., NW, Atlanta. If you get a chance to browse around in there, I highly recommend it.

January, 2005

Chester Campbell and I and several other local authors had a signing at the Cool Springs Barnes & Noble on Friday, Jan. 28th. Despite some dicey weather, the turn-out was good, and the signing went well. Thanks to all of you who came by to offer your support, and a special thanks to B&N's Robbie Bryan for setting up the signing and allowing us to be a part of it.