Leavin’ on a Jet Plane

Well, after five days spent in Baltimore, my wife and I are finally heading home to Seattle. Bouchercon came off this year without any obvious flaws, everyone appeared pleased with the work Ruth Jordan and Judy Bobalik did, and I managed not to add too many pounds of books to my luggage. I had never been to Baltimore before this trip, but I hope to return again someday. Laura Lippman should be proud of her city for the reception it gave all of us. I’d been expecting some rain, but the weather here over the last few days was nothing but sunny and clear. Roaming about the city streets, visiting Fell’s Point, checking out the restaurants in Little Italy (and even seeing a street-corner opera performance!)--what a treat.

I have a great deal more to say about this event, but I shall wait until I’m sitting again at my own desk, and not trying to work from a hotel computer. For now, there’s more packing to be done.

MORE BOUCHERCON MEMORIES: “Once Upon a Bouchercon,” by Gerald So (If You Want to Know About My Life ....); “The Blur of the Con,” “Post-Bouchercon Letdown,” and “More Bouchercon,” by Sandra Ruttan (On Life & Other Inconveniences); “A Fortuitous Meeting” and “Bouchercon Crime Fiction Festival 2008,” by R.J. Ellory (The Ellory Journal); “Washington, Baltimore, Movies, Books, and Music,” by Peter Robinson; “Back from Bouchercon,” by David J. Montgomery (Crime Fiction Dossier); “Bouchercon I: Drinks with Ice,” “Bouchercon III,” “Bouchercon IV: All the Schmooze That’s Fit to Print,” “Bouchercon V: One Too Many Mornings ...,” “The Big No-Sleep: Post-Bouchercon Miscellany, Part I,” and “Too Many Strangers on a Train: Post-Bouchercon Miscellany, Part II,” by Peter Rozovsky (Detectives Beyond Borders); “Bouchercon,” by Patti Abbott (Pattinase); “Bouchercon in Bullet Points,” by Sarah Weinman (Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind); “Bouchercon Wrap-up,” by Alexandra Sokoloff (Ghost Writer).