Bouchercon 2019: Denim, Diamonds, Death
Location: Dallas, Texas
Hotel: Hyatt Regency Dallas
Date: October 31 – November 3, 2018

Bouchercon is the world’s finest annual crime fiction event, bringing together more than 1,500 authors, fans, publishers, reviewers, booksellers, editors, and every other part of the community for a fantastic four-day event.

Tuesday, October 29, 2019
I call the day I arrive at a reader/fan convention, “travel day.” And my first author sighting was not at the hotel, but at the airport when I saw Stacy Allen. When I entered the hotel I ran into Deborah Crombie, Terry Shames, Catherine Bruns and he family, Janet Rudolph and Diana Chambers. When I checked in, my room request got screwed up, so I was upgraded to a higher floor with a view of the city.

Wednesday, October 30, 2019
Had breakfast with R Franklin James and Margery Flax. Then it was off to Dallas Hop-On Hop-Off trolley tour with Liz Milliron, where we saw among other places, the Dealey Plaza, the flagship Neiman Marcus, and the Giant Eyeball. Then we had lunch at the hotel restaurant. Registered for the convention and got our bags. Then chatted and another hug-fest. Then took a scenic route to dine at Ellen’s Diner with Catherine Bruns and her family. Ran into Matthew Clemens and the FET at the place. Then went up to the bar and amazingly hung out there for awhile with Paula Munier and Michelle Richter. Had my first drink of day (okay it was a Shirley Temple, but still). Every time I tried to go back to my room, ran into another group of people to chat with. Had a fun time trying to sneak a picture of James Patterson and thanks to Marla Cooper got a picture. Watched some of the World Series – okay the game was on a big screen. I did go up to my room, but came back down to the bar and hung out some more.

Thursday, October 31, 2019
Had breakfast at Cindy’s NY Deli with Judy Bobalik and sitting at the next table was Matthew Clemens and the FET. Their food was delicious and they made my eggs exactly as I liked them. Then it was back to the hotel with more greetings and hugs. Had lunch with Daryl Wood Gerber at the hotel’s restaurant. More sightings of friends, especially Sandra Balzo, Wendall Thomas, Tracy Clark and Cheryl Head. Then it was off to a few panels and I was the score keeper for the Jungle Red Writer’s fun panel of “Who wants to be a Mysteraire? A fun time was had. Then the best part of the day was meeting a friend I’ve known for fourteen years via social media in real life. Thanks to her SIL, Beverly Ennis Mardis, I got to hang with Eve Mardis and we chatted as if we’ve seen each other before. Then it was off to the Bouchercon opening ceremony. I forgot to mention, it was fun seeing the various costumes people were wearing. Then I was going to go to the Harper Collins signing event, but you should have seen that line. Instead went to dinner at the hotel restaurant with Eleanor Cawood Jones, Cathy Ace, and Barb Goffman. A good time was had, but I was crashing at the table. Went upstairs to my room for 15 minutes and next thing I knew it was 3am this morning.

Friday, November 1, 2019
Was up early so I headed down to lobby just to hang and saw James Patterson. He said “good morning” to me and hope that I was having a good time. Yeah, baby. Then went to Sisters-in-Crime breakfast and enjoyed the conversations with my table-mates.

Had a photo op with the members of Ramona DeFelice Long’s Sprint Club who were at Bouchercon: Annette Riggle Dashofy, Kaye George, Mary Lederman Sutton, Cheryl Hollon, and Millie Naylor Hast. (H/T Hallie Touger, thanks for taking our photo!)

I had planned to visit my uncle’s grave in the afternoon but realized it would be better if I went in the morning. So I took an uber to the cemetery. I found the location of the grave and when I went inside the office, the volunteer, Carol, said it was too far for me to walk, but will see if her husband could take me up there. When she couldn’t find her husband, she closed the office and took me up there herself. We had to stop and ask the cemetery works where was the location. I found it and spent 20 minutes talking to both my uncle and my aunt. He served in the U.S. Air Force, so I was glad he was in the National Cemetery.

Took uber back to hotel another hug-fest, laughter, and chatting ensued. Was happy to see Diane Vallere and Hannah L Dennison. But there was one person I was waiting to see and didn’t even see her when I entered the Kensington signing. We’ve known each other for 10 years and yep, another person I got to meet in real life. I’m so glad she ran up to me and the look on my face was pure joy because I finally got to meet Melissa Bourbon Ramirez. Somewhere in between all of that I had lunch with Cathy Ace, dinner with Shawn Reilly Simmons and drinks with Larissa Ackerman while chatting with Erica Ruth Neubauer, her husband and her agent (I think).

The day ended with a confab in my room with Eleanor Cawood Jones. A good day was had and today we get to do it over again. I forgot to mention that the sprinters met for a photo opportunity at the SinC breakfast. Thanks Ramona DeFelice Long for bringing us together. I also got my Catriona McPherson hug from her and her dad, Jim McPherson.

Saturday, November 2, 2019
This was a day of more chats, hugs, meals and panel attendance, and the presentation of the Anthony Awards. And at the end of the day, more sleep.

Sunday, November 3, 2019
It’s that time again to say “goodbye” and “see you next year” in Sacramento, October 15-18, 2020.

I purposely chose the first direct flight out of DFW to JFK so that I could arrive home with enough time to decompress from a wonderful weekend with my friends. The universe had other plans, as we boarded the plane and then after a 30 minute wait, had to deplane due to software issues. Delta found another plane for us, but wasn’t leaving until 2pm, so they gave us snacks and breakfast sandwiches. I went to sit elsewhere and ran into Abby L Vandiver, Linda Joffe Hull, Wendy Corsi Staub, and Alison Gaylin. While sitting, Abby and I started a conversation and the person in between us, told us she was traveling to Johannesburg. And I don’t know what led up to it, but I told her that Abby was a writer and then Abby said, “you are famous” and I’m whispering behind the person’s back as to who is she. She was Tamela Mann (she played Cora in the Medea movie franchise and sang with Kirk Franklin and The Family) and her husband David Mann.

We finally boarded on our flight at 2:40pm, four hours later.