This year’s conference in honor of the mystery writer and critic, Anthony Boucher, was held in Madison, Wisconsin at the Congress Hotel. Having graduated from the University of Wisconsin and lived in Madison at various times for 25 years, the experience proved nostalgic and beneficial.

The nostalgia derived from such simple events as enjoying a lunch time Plaza Burger at the Plaza Bar which has changed hardly at all in 25 years. The pool tables remain in the same place, the booths have the same vinyl coverings, and the burgers are topped with the same secret sauce.  Also much the same as 25 years ago is the side street off the Square that served as the location for the opening scene in my first novel, Penal Fires. Though the brick planter at the head of the street has disappeared as has the Rennebohm’s Drug store on the corner, the apartment doorway where my first fictional victim was knifed to death remains.   

Vivid as these memories were, Bouchercon provided new career opportunities. Whether at the ant hill of activity at the book stores or in the downstairs bar or at the publisher receptions or in the hallways between author panels, I met a host of new interesting people and reestablished a number of acquaintances. John Reisinger, my co-host at our ”Cold Cases and Cold Facts” salon and author of Master Detective: the Life and Crimes of Ellis Parker, America’s Real-Life Sherlock Holmes, heads the list. Carl Brookins, a Minneapolis SinC member and mystery writer, discussed with me the Minnesota Crime Wave’s latest anthology, Resort to Murder, for which I’m contributing on a story. I shared coffee with Mike Manno, an Iowa lawyer who published his first mystery novel, Murder Most Holy, and tipped wine glasses with Hallie Ephron at the Minotaur writers reception. Marshall Cook, a Madison mystery writer and journalism professor, moderated a provocative panel on realism while David Morrell discussed the social implications of thrillers with his panel members.

All in all, Bouchercon provided vital momentum to for my writing career.  More about it with my next post.