The 40th Bouchercon World Mystery Convention will be held in Indianapolis, Indiana, October 15 - 18, 2009. Author Michael Connelly will be the Guest of Honor.
Mystery author Rex Stout was born in nearby Noblesville, Indiana and there are two popular fictional detectives who call Indy home.
Ronald Tierney’s character Dietrich “Deets” Shanahan is a 70-something former Army intelligence officer and semi-retired private investigator, and Connecticut author David Levien’s Frank Behr is an ex-cop private investigator.
The Anthony Awards, named in memory of mystery writer and critic Anthony Boucher, will be given out at a ceremony on Saturday, October 17.
The five Best Novel nominees are Trigger City by Sean Chercover, The Brass Verdict by Michael Connelly, Red Knife by William Kent Krueger, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and The Cruelest Month by Louise Penny.
The Cruelest Month has already won this year’s Agatha Award for Best Novel and is nominated for the Macavity and the Barry awards as well as the Anthony.
Louise Penny is an author that I suggest to readers often and they never come back to me disappointed. The New York Times attributes this success to the “elegance and depth” that she brings to her traditional village mysteries.
Penny’s detective is Armand Gamache, Chief Inspector of the Sûreté du Québec, in the village of Three Pines, in southern Quebec. The recently released The Brutal Telling is the fifth title in the series which began in 2005 with Still Life, which won numerous Best First Novel Awards, including the Anthony.
This year’s nominees for the Best First Novel Anthony – which is perhaps the most exciting category – include Pushing up Daisies, the first of the Dirty Business mysteries by Connecticut author Rosemary Harris.
Harris’ amateur sleuth Paula Holliday is a 30-ish former TV executive who opens a landscaping-gardening business in fictitious Springfield, Connecticut.
If you would like a chance to meet Rosemary Harris and wish her good luck at Bouchercon, the Usual Suspects discussion group will be sponsoring a get-together with her on Saturday, October 10th at 2 PM at the Lakeside Diner in Stamford, which was the inspiration for Babe’s diner in the series.
There will be coffee and donuts, a free raffle and a good time, for sure. RSVP to me by e-mail or phone at 291-4836.
