Every year, the writers and biggest fans of the traditional mystery world gather together in the Washington, D.C. area to celebrate all things mystery at the Malice Domestic convention. Now in its 31st year, next week the convention will feature such panels as Malice Go Round: Author Speed Dating; A Little Spot of Poison: Luci Zahray, the Poison Lady, discusses the characteristics of a good poison; and You’ve Got Fan Mail: Honored Guests Discuss Interesting and Fascinating Fan Mail. Further, there will be numerous panels featuring many of the hundreds of authors in attendance. I am especially looking forward to meeting some of the many authors I have interviewed and reviewed over the last few years, including Molly MacRae, Donna Andrews, Gin Jones, Leslie Budewitz, Nancy J. Cohen, and numerous more writers.
Malice Domestic has five special guests. Donna Andrews (for reviews of each of Andrews’s acclaimed Meg Langslow books, visit here) will be the Guest of Honor. Chris Grabenstein will serve as Toastmaster. The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Parnell Hall. The Fan Guest of Honor will be P.J. Coldren. And finally, the Malice Remembers honor goes to Sue Feder.
The convention will wrap up its main events on Saturday evening, May 4, at the Agatha Awards Banquet, where the top mysteries published in 2018 will be awarded. We attendees will get to vote on the winners in each of the following categories: Best Contemporary Novel, Best Historical Novel, Best First Novel, Best Short Story, Best Children’s/YA Mystery, and Best Nonfiction. You can check out the nominees here. Each table at the banquet will feature at least one author, and we attendees got to name our first three choices of whom we would like to join.
Stay tuned next week as I cover my first ever fan convention at Malice Domestic!
I look forward to meeting you, Vicki!