CHRIS HOLM

I'm utterly floored to see THE KILLING KIND has made BOLO Books' list of favorite books, by year, for the past decade. BOLO Books is the Raven Award winning blog of Kristopher Zgorski, whose list includes so many novels I utterly adored—from the likes of Megan Abbott, Steph Cha, Laura Lippman, and Attica Locke, to name but a few—I feel compelled to pick up all the ones I haven't yet read. If you know what's good for you, you'll do the same. Many thanks, Kristopher!

By now, many within the mystery community have heard about Max Allan Collins’ turn as a presenter at last weekend's Shamus Awards, during which he complained that this year’s nominees would be difficult to pronounce, on account of all the “foreigners” on the list.

Maybe he was joking. Maybe not. I wasn’t there, and I don’t know the guy, so I couldn’t say. Truth is, it doesn’t matter. His words served to alienate, demean, and diminish the very writers breathing new life into a subgenre that—as recently as a few years ago—seemed destined for ossification, and he deserves to be called out for that.

Collins’ transgressions, however, aren’t the ones at the fore of my mind; I’ve been too busy pondering my own.

Although I didn’t attend the Shamus Awards, I was in Dallas this weekend too, for Bouchercon. It was, by and large, a blast. I ate my weight in tacos and brisket. Cheered my wife on as she moderated one of the most kickass panels I’ve ever seen. Stayed up way too late, and laughed…

Holy heck! October is drawing to a close, which means Bouchercon 2019 is nigh! If you too are Dallas-bound, and would like to find/avoid me, here's where I'll be:

Keep Those Pages Turning Friday, 11/1 2:30 to 3:30 PM Reunion A w/Anne Hillerman, Daniel Palmer, Ed Ruggero, Carter Wilson, and Terri Bischoff (m)
More Real Than the Housewives: Unlikeable Women* Friday, 11/1 4 to 5 PM Reunion G-H Megan Abbott, Jennifer Hillier, Angie Kim, Laura Lippman, J.M. Redmann, and Katrina Niidas Holm (m)
In addition, I'll be around all weekend, and I'm always** happy to chat or sign books, so if you see me, please don't hesitate to say hello.

*Astute readers will note that I'm not actually on that second panel, but I'll be there anyway because a) my lovely, talented wife is moderating and b) it features several of my favorite writers.
**Bathrooms excluded. Hiding in my hotel room strongly discouraged***.
***Unless you bring pie****.
****This is a joke. Pie or no, please don't hid…