Murder in the Magic City 2015

Murder in the Magic City 2015

Last weekend, the Southern Sisters Chapter of SinC presented Murder in the Magic City in Birmingham, Alabama. Guests of Honor were Hank Phillippi Ryan and Craig Johnson. Other participants included my Writers Who Kill colleagues Warren Bull, Sam Morton, and Linda Rodriguez and friends Stacy Allen, Sonja Condit, Deborah Malone, Robert Mangeot, Terrie Farley Moran, Larissa Reinhart, and Maggie Toussaint. I enjoyed seeing Debra Goldstein. Organizer Margaret Fenton did a phenomenal job and Tammy Lynn Rushing took the group to Murder on the Menu in Wetumpka the following day. It was a wonderful weekend for hearing about writing and mysteries.

Linda Rodriguez, Sam Morton, Warren Bull, and me

 

A Writer's Valentine

Photo by Steve Herring

What better valentine for an author than to gather with others and talk about writing? That’s what occurred on February 8 and 9 in Birmingham and Wetumpka (where Big Fish was filmed), Alabama, when I joined writers and readers at Murder in the Magic City and Murder on the Menu. The Southern Sisters Chapter of SinC initiated MMC in Anne George's memory. Murder on the Menu partnered with MMC as a fundraiser for the Wetumpka Library. Margaret Fenton, for MMC, and Tammy Lynn, for Murder on the Menu, perfectly plan the events. Thanks to all participants for a lovely weekend.

Anne George

Anne George

The Southern Sisters Chapter of Sisters in Crime, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is named for the Southern Sisters mysteries. This eight novel series (published from 1996-2001) featured two unlikely sisters, Mary Alice (large and several times widowed) and Patricia Anne (small and  respectably married to the same man for more than thirty years), who solved crimes. The author, Anne George, wrote fiction and poetry, received the Agatha award, and was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. She died in 2001 due to complications from heart surgery, but her memory and work are celebrated each year at Murder in the Magic City.

Julia Spencer-Fleming, honored guest at Murder in the Magic City 2014

Julia Spencer-Fleming

I met Julia Spencer-Fleming in May 2002 at my first Malice Domestic conference when her book, In the Bleak Midwinter, published as the 2001 winner of the St. Martin Minotaur’s “Best First Traditional Mystery” contest, received the Agatha award for Best First Novel. Born at Plattsburgh Air Force Base, she moved often with her military family, then studied acting and history at Ithaca College, and received her J.D. from the University of Maine School of Law. She has received the Anthony, Macavity, Dilys, Barry, Nero Wolfe, and Gumshoe Awards, and has been an Edgar and Romantic Times RC Award finalist.

Robert Dugoni -- Murder in the Magic City 2014 Honored Guest

Robert Dugoni and me at Litchfield Beach

Robert Dugoni, one of MMC’s honored guests, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Jury Master, Damage Control, Wrongful Death, Bodily Harm, and The Conviction. For Murder One, he was selected as a finalist for the American Bar Association’s 2012 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. With Joseph Hildorfer, he wrote The Cyanide Canary, a nonfiction account of how EPA agents and a government team prosecuted a case against an environmental polluter. I met Robert at the S.C. Book Festival, wrote a short story with him, and traveled to attend his signings at Litchfield Books (near Myrtle Beach).