Yes, That’s Me Behind the Mic

Evidently not everyone knows this about me, but I absolutely hate speaking in public. The very notion makes me break out in flop sweat. Every time I stand up before a crowd waiting for wisdom to pour forth from my mouth, my mind goes utterly blank. When I was asked years ago to give an address to a train load of history buffs, bound from Seattle, Washington, to Portland, Oregon—my subject being the Olmstead Brothers’ landscaping work in the Pacific Northwest—the only way I could do it was by printing out my remarks and then reading directly from those pages. More than one person reassured me afterward that I hadn’t completely embarrassed myself.

Despite all of this, when Deadly Pleasures Mystery Magazine editor George Easter invited me to take part in a panel presentation at Bouchercon in New Orleans this coming September, I said “yes.” I must have been in a good mood that day. Or maybe a suicidal one. Regardless, George convinced me, along with several other U.S. crime-fiction critics, to join in what I hope will be a lively discussion about our favorite works in this genre, old as well as new. On the panel, too, will be Meredith Anthony and Larry Gandle, both from Deadly Pleasures, and Oline H. Cogdill of the South Florida Sun Sentinel; George is set to moderate. The hour-long event is titled “Crime Rave: Mystery Reviewers Talk About Their Favorite Crime Fiction,” and it’s scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, September 5, in Salons F-H at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel on Canal Street.

George hasn’t told me yet how he’d like to structure these deliberations, or how many books we should each have prepared for presentation. But I’ve already started amassing “favorites,” based in part on the many “best of the year” lists I have published over the last two decades (some such picks being compiled here). I don’t want to limit myself to releases of recent memory, though. Yarns by Ross Macdonald, Erle Stanley Gardner, Ethel Lina White, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Thomas Dewey, Vera Caspary, Ellery Queen, Celia Fremlin, Arthur Lyons, and others are no less deserving of mention. Maybe we can hand out lists of other books we haven’t time to honor in 60 minutes’ time.

Over the next month and a half, I will likely over-prepare by re-reading some of the tales I plan to recommend. And of course, I shall fill up 3x5 cards with notes. Enough to save me during that instant when the audience’s focus turns my way ... and everything I know about crime, mystery, and thriller fiction is suddenly forgotten.

Wish me luck!

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On the topic of this year’s Bouchercon, I received word today that Lucinda Surber and Stan Ulrich have won the 2025 David Thompson Memorial Special Service Award, “for their extraordinary efforts to develop and promote the crime fiction field.” That prize will be presented during the convention’s opening ceremonies.

The couple are responsible for the valuable Web resource Stop, You’re Killing Me!, which was created by Bonny Brown in 1998; Surber (a former educator) and Ulrich (a retired lawyer) took it over in 2006. In addition, they’ve been involved with Bouchercon organizing since 2007, and are described in a press release as being “the driving force” behind the annual Left Coast Crime convention.

The David Thompson Award is named after a beloved Houston bookseller who passed away in 2010. Previous winners include Crime Writers of Color, Les and Leslie Blatt, Janet Rudolph, Bill and Toby Gottfried, and The Rap Sheet’s own Ali Karim.