I’m looking forward to attending my first Bouchercon since I went to Bouchercon 1997 in Monterey. Bouchercon 2014 is taking place in Long Beach, California, and is aptly being called Murder at the Beach. For anyone who isn’t familiar with Bouchercon, it’s an annual convention that brings together mystery readers and writers, as well as publishing industry professionals. It’s an opportunity to connect with other mystery fans, meet some of your favorite mystery writers, buy books, exchange ideas and just generally have a good time with other mystery buffs.

This will the first such conference I’ve attended as a published author. I experimented with self-publishing by making my first Hunter Rayne novel, Slow Curve on the Coquihalla, available to Amazon readers in September of 2011 and the response was so encouraging I now have three novels in the Highway Mysteries series available in both print and digital editions through all of the major on-line retailers. I had hoped to finish my fourth novel in time to take some ARCs with me to the conference, but I still have a few chapters to write, revisions and edits to make, and formatting to do before it’s ready for readers.

If you’re going to be at Bouchercon, I’ll be doing an Author Focus Panel on Friday, November 14th. Look for me in Room Harbor C at 9:00 a.m. I’ll also be participating in the Author Speed Dating breakfast on Thursday, November 13th from 8:30 to 10:30. It’s something I’ve never done before, but I expect it will be a lot of fun and I look forward to meeting readers and other writers at the event.

Kings River Life, a California e-magazine with great mystery content, currently has a contest to win a free print copy of my third novel, Sea to Sky, featured as a Bouchercon coming attraction on KRL.  KRL published a short story of mine in September, partly inspired by my visit to Monterey for the 1997 Bouchercon (I’ve actually been there several times). It features Elspeth Watson, one of the main characters from the Highway Mysteries series, and is a good introduction to her rather unique personality. Check out Joggers on KRL.

Hope to see you in Long Beach!