It’s murder most merry time again in Bethesda, as mystery writers and fans, editors and publishers, agents and booksellers from around the country arrive at the Hyatt Regency for Malice Domestic, April 27-29. Whether you like your mysteries set in the old West, the new South, the kitchen, the garden or the mean streets, with backdrops of mutts, massages or moonshine, Malice has something for every taste.
Local writers are well represented among the 2011 Agatha Award nominees, winner to be determined this weekend by vote of Malice members, including two former Agatha winners up for Best Novel. Fan favorite Donna Andrews (Reston) is again a candidate with one of her quirky and funny Meg Langslow blacksmith mysteries, The Real Macaw. Also up for Best Novel is Wicked Autumn, the first in a new series by Alexandria’s G.M. Malliet about a former MI5 agent now a vicar in a small English village.
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Krista Davis, who now writes in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, lived in Alexandria for many years and sets her Sophie Winston, event planner, series there: The Diva Haunts the House is up for Best Novel. She also has a nomination for Best Short Story.
Washington Post book reviewer Michael Dirda’s book, On Conan Doyle: Or, the Whole Art of Storytelling, is up for the Agatha for Best Nonfiction. Best Short Story nominee "Truth and Consequences" comes from Herndon writer Barb Goffman.
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Local suspects are also sprinkled throughout the weekend’s program. Bethesda mystery novelist and journalist Daniel Stashower will interview national bestselling author Jan Burke. Stashower and several other authors will be the “inquisitors” for an interview with Malice’s first Amelia Award honoree, Elizabeth Peters. The prolific Peters, a nom de plum for Barbara Mertz, aka Barbara Michaels, lives in Frederick and is author of multiple series including the Amelia Peabody Egyptologist mysteries.
The moderator and panelists for “Capitol Crimes: All Politics Is Deadly” all have ties to the DC area either personally or through their books and characters. Dorothy St. James writes the engaging White House Gardner mysteries. The new novel by Herndon-based Alan Orloff finds his comedian protagonist at a congressional campaign fundraiser when trouble strikes.
Jacqueline Corcoran of Alexandria will sit on the panel “Murder on the Mean Streets: Urban Mysteries;” her Time Witch is set in Dumbarton Oaks. For those who like the now very popular paranormal mysteries, Alexandria writer Maria Lima will be on the “Witches and Zombies and Ghosts, Oh My” panel.
Montgomery Village’s Harriette Sackler moderates two panels: “Thou Shalt Not Kill: The Intersection of Religion and Murder” and “Making History: Our Agatha Best Historical Nominees.” Shawn Reilly Simmons of Frederick will moderate “Simply the Best: Our Agatha Best Novel Nominees.”
Sandra Parshall (McLean), author of a veterinary thriller series set in Virginia, will moderate “The Sound and The Fury: Southern Mysteries.” Con Lehane (Kensington), author of the Bartender Brian McNulty mysteries, is on the panel “Murder by the Book: No One's Safe in the Book Industry.” Lane Stone (Alexandria) will be on the “Elvis and the Commies: Sidekicks Who Provide Comic Relief” panel.
Not local but definitely worth a look: for writers looking for new ways to kill off their characters, “The Poison Lady”, Texas pharmacist Luci Zahray, will be on hand to talk about “Ethanol: An Alternative Means of Death.”
To register, for a complete list of Agatha Award nominees and the Malice Domestic Convention Program, visit malicedomestic.org. will be held Friday, April 27 through Sunday, April 29 at Hyatt Regency Bethesda, One Bethesda Metro Center (7400 Wisconsin Ave.)
