The Canadian Happening at Bouchercon

Well, Barbara, Mary Jane, Vicki and I made it to Indianapolis intact and still speaking to each other, even laughing together. Although I wasn’t sure if Jill, Vicki’s GPS, and I were still on speaking terms, since on several occasions I refused to follow her insistent instructions. When we didn’t take the highway to Detroit, whose multi-lane highways I definitely wanted to avoid, she kept insisting we turn back. Finally we had to turn her volume down, until she agreed that the route we were following along almost empty and much less nerve wracking roads would do just as well. But I will say that Jill came through in Indianapolis, when I accidentally took the express lane of the downtown highway and found ourselves sailing past our turn-off. Jill managed to get us on the right road and to our hotels. So Jill, you done good.

As you can see from the photo we had a great time with our O Canada panel yesterday, with Tony Bidulka in his Saskatchewan cowboy togs as the added attraction. I thought Vicki with her moose antlers was rather fetching myself and of course, Mary Jane set a new standard in Mountie attire with her frilly red blouse. And I bet you didn’t know Barbara was a closet seamstress. She made that excellent rendition of a Grenadier Guard’s hat. The less said about my hockey helmet, the better. I decided I would never make it in the NHL. I couldn’t wait to take off that tight, hot, barely-could-talk-in helmet.

We made our panel into a real Canadian happening serving genuine Canadian cuisine, such as Nanaimo bars, Cape Breton pork pies, moose droppings, chocolate covered Saskatoon berries and the like. And I must not forget the Smarties. Apparently they don't sell Smarties in the States. It was great fun and our audience loved it. They even raced out afterwards to buy our books. Sadly they were mostly phantom books, since Sleuth of Baker Street bookstore, who was bringing in all our Canadian published books, was turned back at the border. Fortunately Scene of the Crime had some books, but only our latest titles. And they quickly sold out. At one point Don thought he might even have a fight on his hands as 4 customers eyed the 2 remaining books.

Tonight we’re all going out to dinner to a restaurant Tony found and reserved months ago. It promises to be quite the meal.

And I must not forget that our Criminal Romp through Canada basket has been upgraded from the silent auction to the live auction. So it will be fun to see how much this basket of Canadian books will go for.