Bouchercon 2022

 

I’m the author of two cozy mysteries set in the village of Bishop Hill, a former communal society of Swedish immigrants founded in 1846 on the Illinois prairie of Henry County. I consider that place and its history as important to my work as any other character.

I haven’t been to a big mystery-based conference since the solar eclipse almost overlapped Killer Nashville in 2017. I was part of a panel then, I don’t recall the exact title, probably due to the last-minute changes that shuffled me off in a different direction from my original request. I’ve waited months to find out how I’d fare with my Bouchercon 2022 panel placement.

When I first looked through the list of my fellow panel members for the upcoming Bouchercon in Minneapolis, I couldn’t figure out why B. A. Shapiro seemed so familiar. I went to my bookshelf, to the area where I keep the special books, the ones I used for reference, background, and fact checking—and there she was!

The Art Forger was one of the few books I’ve ever allowed myself to mark up. I remembered how her information on noted forgers of the past and the prevalence of forgeries in general were eye opening and aided the development of my forger in Clouds Over Bishop Hill, my first cozy mystery.

I checked through my blog posts and found that Shapiro and The Art Forger came to my attention through a library sponsored book club. I went on to mention her and the book three times on posts between 2014 to 2015, basically the time period between NaNoWriMos, National Novel Writing Months. I credited her with helping me work with POVs and providing some technical terminology. Much needed since I didn’t have a strong background in painting.

This time around I and my book are part of a panel that will discuss the merits of The Mystery of Multiple Points of View and Multiple Timelines.

 

Along with B.A. Shapiro (The Art Forger), I’ll be sharing space with

Marty Ambrose (Lord Byron Mystery series),

William Boyle (Shoot the Moonlight Out),

Julie Carrick Dalton (Waiting for Night Song),

and Stanley Trollip (Wolfman), as moderator.

[These titles only represent a small sampling.]

 

This Bouchercon conference might be the best ever for me. I can’t imagine having a better experience than spending quality time with these authors.

 

Bouchercon 2022 Minneapolis, September 8-11

https://www.bouchercon2022.com/

 

https://marydavidsaver.blogspot.com/2014/11/first-person-present-tense.html

https://marydavidsaver.blogspot.com/2015/08/getting-things-right.html

https://marydavidsaver.blogspot.com/2015/11/nanowrimo-2015.html

Find links for Clouds Over Bishop Hill and Shadows Over Bishop Hill at: https://marydavidsaver.weebly.com/

Or find me at the conference.