This weekend’s book signing is at the Manassas Mall.  Saturday, I’ll be at the Waldenbooks there from 1 pm to 4 pm.  If you’re nearby I hope you’ll visit me at the Mall, at 8300 Sudley Rd, Manassas, VA.

I seem to have started something with these bad puns.  I was recently reminded that a person who is a voyeur is a peeping Tom.  However s a BOOK about voyeurism is a peeping TOME.

Last weekend was one of the most fun times I’ve had in a while. What made Magna Cum Murder such a terrific event was the warm and welcoming attitudes of the Midwestern mystery fans. The conference has a few unique activities like round robin discussions for the authors and voting on resolutions. I got to be part of a great panel with debut author Wilfred Bereswill and leading mystery author Barb D’Amato during which we guided the audience through writing a mystery short story. Everyone present had a great time.

Then I joined Mary Monica Pulver, Marion Moore Hill, Louise Penny and Sarah Wisseman on a panel to discuss how we create characters that are like us and some who are not. People are still talking about that panel. And I left Muncie with several new friends. You can meet some of them on my web site, where several photos are posted.

In the meantime I posted a guest blog on Acme Author Link on October 21st. My comments on how to market novels were popular enough to convince the bloggers to accept two follow-up posts, answering comments and questions from my first blog there.

This weekend I’ll be live and in person at the Magna Cum Murder Crime Writing Festival.  Lovers of crime writing will enjoy a weekend of panels, programs, interviews, and presentations by forty or so of their favorite writers!  Each year this festival draws an amazing array of crime fiction authors, fans, booksellers, and other publishing industry professionals to Muncie, Indiana.  Sponsored by Ball State University, Magna is one of the most popular and well respected forums for crime fiction aficionados in the United States.

The festival starts Friday afternoon.  I’ll be gathering comments for one of the resolutions Saturday morning at breakfast, and Saturday afternoon at 4:30 I’ll join two other fine authors, Wilfred Bereswill and Barb D’Amato, in guiding an audience of fans through the process of writing a mystery during our “You Write The Story” panel.  Then I’ll sit on a panel Sunday at 10 am called, “You Are What You Write” on which Mary Monica Pulver, Marion Moore Hill, Louise Penny, Sarah Wisseman and I will discuss writing about characters who look like or don’t look like us.

If you’re a big fan you should try to attend.  And if you’re within sight of the festival, please send me an e-mail before Friday so we can perhaps plan to meet.  Magna Cum Murder is held in the Horizon Convention Center, 401 S. High St., Muncie, IN.

As much as I love playing with the language, I recognize that too many puns can sometimes cause confusion.  For example, one joker remarked:

I used to be a lumberjack, but I just couldn’t hack it.  So they gave me the axe.

Cute, I thought, but if they gave him the axe, it sounds as if they wanted him to return to lumberjack duty.

Oh, and just a reminder: yesterday I told you that today my guest blog is on Acme Author Link.  Go read it, so they’ll know I have a friend or two. http://acmeauthorslink.blogspot.com/

This week you can spot me in some rather different places.  For example, tomorrow I will be a guest blogger on Acme Author Link.  That blog is a place where eight great crime writers regularly share their writing life, everyday life & whatever writing tips they’ve learned along the way.  I’m both proud and flattered to have a chance to appear there.

It has indeed been a fun week, topped off with a fine showing signing my novels at the Borders Express in Dulles Town Center. We ran completely out of two of my titles - The Troubleshooter and Collateral Damage - but if you’re in that area, don’t worry. They’ll order more.

Also, my new Blood and Bone trailer turned up in a few new places including on BN.com and popular video site Revver.  And I was a guest on the BlogTalkRadio program Book World News. You can still Listen to the Book World News Interview. 

But best of all, in the aftermath of Bouchercon, yours truly was name checked all over the internet. My publisher, Karen Syed mentioned me in a Bouchercon recap in her blog about “The Life of a Publisher.”  Then Jared Case referenced me on his “Post-Game, and Onward” blog entry on his excellent blog, A Case of Murder.  Fellow mystery author Persia Walker mentioned me in the post “Bouchercon & Good News” on her blog, Criminal Musings.  And I turned up in Dana King’s Bouchercon recap on his blog One Bite at a Time.  Finally, co-author Lisa Spahr thanked me for my part in the book “WWII Radio Heroes” on her insightful blog, POW Letters.

 And even that’s not the BIG news.  The Troubleshooter, the book that introduced my fictional private eye Hannibal Jones, is now available for the first time in hardcover! It’s not in any bookstores yet, but Amazon.com is running a very special promotion for the book, bundling it with two other Hannibal Jones novels for a phenomenal price. Seize the opportunity to be among the first to see Hannibal between hard covers.

I told you that tonight I’ll sign books at the Borders Books at 8518 Fenton Street in Silver Spring, MD.

Tomorrow’s book signing is at the equally reliable Borders Express in Dulles Town Center Mall.  Folks who’ve seen me there before can pick up the books they’re missing from my collection from noon to 4 pm.  That Mall is at 21100 Dulles Town Circle, Dulles VA

This week will be a bit calmer than last, but I’ll still get my signing time in.  Friday I’ll return to Borders Books in Silver Spring, MD.  That store is busy at night, so I’ll get there at 5 pm and probably stay until about 9.  If you’re in that area you’ll find me at 8518 Fenton Street.