Appearance: Maine Crime Writers Staged Reading, 4/9

Hey, do you like things that are awesome? Then join me Tuesday, April 9, for Portland Stage's third annual Maine Crime Writers Staged Reading, in which their wildly talented actors will be performing work by local scribes Dick Cass, Kate Flora, Gayle Lynds, Julia Spencer-Fleming, and yours truly.

Most of the readings will be excerpted from novels. Mine's a short story in its entirety—specifically "Not Forgotten," which first appeared in the 2012 anthology SHOTGUN HONEY PRESENTS: BOTH BARRELS.

The event is pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $10 in advance and $15 at the door. It kicks off with a reception at 6:30PM (which, last year, featured free wine, beer, and Flatbread pizza); performances begin at 7:00PM. There will be books for sale if you're interested, and I suspect we writers will hop onstage for a quick chat when the performances are through. Hope to see you there!

Appearance: Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee, 11/3

Next weekend, Katrina and I are headed to the land of beer and cheese for one of our favorite events around: Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee. Here's a taste of what we have in store:

Slow and Low (11AM) Lou Berney in conversation with Katrina Niidas Holm

Body Movin' (1PM) Matthew FitzSimmons, Andrew Gross, Libby Fischer Hellmann, Chris Holm, Nick Petrie, and Susanna Calkins (m)

You can check out the full schedule here. Honestly, you won't find another that's half as action-packed for $40, so if you're anywhere nearby, I highly recommend you register now.

The Stalker's Guide to Finding Chris (and Katrina) at B'con 2018

I'm not sure how it snuck up on me so quickly, but Bouchercon 2018 is right around the corner*! If you, too, are B'con-bound and would like to stalk** me, but can't be arsed*** to scour the program for my name****, here's where I'll be:

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7TH

The Inside Scoop: What Reviewers Want You to Know*****

11AM to 11:45AM

Avery-Chancellor

Oline Cogdill, Andrew Gulli, Jon Jordan, Katrina Niidas Holm, and Peter Rozovski (m)

Bring Your Shovels: How to Move a Body

1PM to 1:45PM

Majestic

w/Lou Berney, Jamie Mason, Clare O'Donohue, Daniel Palmer, and Matthew Clemens (m)

In addition, it's exceedingly likely that, in the morning, you'll find me near a source of strong coffee and, in the evening, wherever beer and wine are flowing freely. If so, please feel free to say hello. I'm always****** happy to chat and/or sign books. Safe travels! Hope to see you there!

*Temporally speaking, that is. Geographically speaking, St. Petersburg is a solid fifteen hundred miles from my couch.

**This is a joke. Please don't stalk me.

***Yup. Totes******* just pulled off "arsed."

****Which, frankly, seems a little lazy of you, but whatevs.********.

*****An astute reader might note that I am not actually on this panel. My lovely and talented wife, however, is, so you'll find me front and center.

******Bathrooms excluded. Lurking in my hotel room closet strongly discouraged.

*******Also totes just pulled off "totes."

********Less convinced that I pulled off "whatevs."

All right, already. You get the point.

Howdy, blog-folk! If you're reading this, you probably know by now that I'm a regular contributor to Do Some Damage's 7 Minutes With podcast, so it seems a little silly to post about it every two weeks, when an episode goes live (as the fifth one did today).

If you're in the market for some dumb jokes and fun recommendations, maybe give us a listen. If not, then you're in luck, because I'm gonna stop bugging you about it here.

Stuff & Nonsense

The lovely and talented Alex Segura was kind enough to feature me in his latest newsletter, in which we discuss what I've been working on lately, recent reads I'd recommend, and the only reason I'm not morbidly obese. Give it a gander, and consider subscribing while you're at it!