Guest of Honor: Michael Connelly
Michael Connelly decided to become a writer after discovering the books of Raymond Chandler while attending the University of Florida. Once he decided on this direction he chose a major in journalism and a minor in creative writing-- a curriculum in which one of his teachers was novelist Harry Crews.
After graduating in 1980, Connelly worked at newspapers in Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, primarily specializing in the crime beat. In Fort Lauderdale he wrote about police and crime during the height of the murder and violence wave that rolled over South Florida during the so-called cocaine wars. In 1986, he and two other reporters spent several months interviewing survivors of a major airline crash. They wrote a
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| Michael Connelly (photo by Terrill Lee Lankford) |
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magazine story on the crash and the survivors which was later short-listed for the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. The magazine story also moved Connelly into the upper levels of journalism, landing him a job as a crime reporter for the Los Angeles Times, one of the largest papers in the country, and bringing him to the city of which his literary hero, Chandler, had written.
After three years on the crime beat in L.A., Connelly began writing his first novel to feature LAPD Detective Hieronymus Bosch. The novel, The Black Echo, based in part on a true crime that had occurred in Los Angeles , was published in 1992 and won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel by the Mystery Writers of America. Connelly followed up with three more Bosch books, The Black Ice, The Concrete Blonde, and The Last Coyote, before publishing The Poet in 1996--a thriller with a newspaper reporter as a protagonist. In 1997, he went back to Bosch with Truck Music, and in 1998 another non-series thriller, Blood Work, was published. It was inspired in part by a friend's receiving a heart transplant and the attendant "survivor's guilt" the friend experienced, knowing that someone died in order that he have the chance to live. Connelly had been interested and fascinated by those same feelings as expressed by the survivors of the plane crash he wrote about years before. The movie adaptation of Blood Work was released in 2002, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
Connelly's next book, Angels Flight, was released in 1999 and was another entry in the Harry Bosch series. The non-series novel Void Mood was released in 2000 and introduced a new character, Cassie Black, a high-stakes Las Vegas thief. His 2001 release, A Darkness More Than Night, united Harry Bosch with Terry McCaleb from Blood Work, and was named one of the Best Books Of The Year by the Los Angeles Times.
In 2002, Connelly released two novels. The first, the Harry Bosch book City of Bones, was named a Notable Book Of The Year by the New York Times. The second release was a stand-alone thriller, Chasing the Dime, which was named one of the Best Books Of The Year by the Los Angeles Times.
Lost Light was published in 2003 and named one of the Best Books of 2003 by the Los Angeles Times. It is another in the Harry Bosch series but the first written in first person. To celebrate its release, Michael produced the limited edition jazz CD, Dark Sacred Night, The Music of Harry Bosch. This CD is a compilation of the jazz music mentioned in the Bosch novels and was given away to his readers on Michael's 2003 book tour.
Connelly's 2004 novel, The Narrows, is the sequel to The Poet. It was named one of the Best Books of 2004 by the Los Angeles Times. To accompany this Harry Bosch novel, Little, Brown and Company Publishers released a limited edition DVD, Blue Neon Night, Michael Connelly's Los Angeles. In this film, Michael Connelly provides an insider's tour of the places that give his stories and characters their spark and texture.
His 11th Harry Bosch novel, The Closers, was published in May 2005, and debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. The Lincoln Lawyer, Connelly's first-ever legal thriller and his 16th novel, was published in October 2005 and also debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Crime Beat, a non-fiction collection of crime stories from Michael's days as a journalist, was released in 2006.
The Harry Bosch novel, Echo Park, was released in October 2006, and was Michael's 17th novel. The Overlook, the next Harry Bosch novel, was originally serialized in the New York Times Magazine. It will be published with additional material in hardcover in May 2007.
Connelly's books have been translated in 31 languages and have won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Shamus, Dilys, Nero, Barry, Audie, Ridley, Maltese Falcon (Japan), .38 Caliber (France), Grand Prix (France), and Premio Bancarella (Italy) awards.
Michael was the President of the Mystery Writers of America organization in 2003 and 2004. In addition to his literary work, Michael was one of the creators, writers, and consulting producers of Level 9, a TV show about a task force fighting cyber crime, that ran on UPN in the Fall of 2000.
Michael lives with his family in Florida.
Michael Connelly's Fiction:
The Overlook
(2007) A Harry Bosch Novel. An execution on the overlook above the Mulholland Dam entangles Bosch with F.B.I. Agent Rachel Walling and Homeland Security.
Echo Park
(2006) A Harry Bosch Novel. Bosch reopens the hunt for a psychotic killer who stalked the streets of L.A. years before.
The Lincoln Lawyer
(2005) A tale about a cynical defense attorney whose one remaining spark of integrity may cost him his life.
The Closers
(2005) A Harry Bosch Novel. Harry Bosch is back with a badge. Teaming with former partner Kizmin Rider, Harry is assigned to the Open-Unsolved team.
The Narrows
(2004) A Harry Bosch Novel. Private investigator Harry Bosch confronts a villain who's long been in hiding--a fiend known as the Poet.
Lost Light
(2003) A Harry Bosch Novel. Harry Bosch rediscovers a startling unsolved murder among his old case files. He cannot rest until he finds the killer.
Chasing the Dime
(2002) Would you risk your life for a woman you've never met? A thriller about a simple wrong number that opens a line into terror.
City of Bones
(2002) A Harry Bosch Novel. When the bones of a 12-year-old boy are found Harry is drawn into a case that brings up dark memories.
A Darkness More Than Night
(2001) A Harry Bosch Novel. Both Terry McCaleb and Harry Bosch are featured in a story that is a murder mystery, a legal thriller, and a psychological drama.
Void Moon
(2000) Cassie Black is an ex-con who needs to make one more score in order to fulfill the dream that sustained her in prison.
Angels Flight
(1999) A Harry Bosch Novel. A lawyer is found murdered on the eve of a landmark trial at the foot of Angels Flight in the heart of downtown Los Angeles.
Blood Work
(1998) Terry McCaleb, one of the most effective serial-killer investigators in the history of the FBI, hunts down his heart donor's killer.
Trunk Music
(1997) A Harry Bosch Novel. The murder of a Hollywood producer has all the signs of a Mafia hit but something doesn't add up to Harry Bosch.
The Poet
(1996) A cunning, poet-quoting serial killer of unprecedented savagery executes one homicide cop after another.
The Last Coyote
(1995) A Harry Bosch Novel. After being put on involuntary stress leave for attacking his boss, LAPD detective Harry Bosch tackles his mother's murder case.
The Concrete Blonde
(1994) A Harry Bosch Novel. Four years ago, Harry Bosch shot the notorious serial killer "The Dollmaker." Now Harry is accused of killing the wrong man.
The Black Ice
(1993) A Harry Bosch Novel. Harry Bosch investigates the drug-trafficking underworlds of inner city Los Angeles and the wastelands of Mexico.
The Black Echo
(1992) A Harry Bosch Novel. LAPD Detective Harry Bosch must walk the line between criminals and crooked cops following the death of an old war buddy.
Visit Michael's website.
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| S.J. Rozan |
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| Toastmaster: S.J. Rozan
S.J. Rozan, a native New Yorker, is the author of ten novels. She has won the Edgar, Nero, Macavity, Shamus and Anthony awards for Best Novel and the Edgar award for Best Short Story. She is a former Mystery Writers of America National Board member, a current Sisters in Crime National Board member, and President of the Private Eye Writers of America. In January 2003 she was an invited speaker at the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In February 2005 she was the Guest of Honor at the Left Coast Crime convention in El Paso, Texas. A former architect in a practice that focused on police stations, firehouses, and zoos, SJ Rozan lives in lower Manhattan.
visit S.J.'s website
visit S.J.'s blog |
S.J. Rozan's Fiction:
Lydia Chin, a Chinese American private eye, and Bill Smith, an ex-Army brat, now private eye, are featured in the series books:
Winter and Night (2002)
a 2003 Edgar Award Winner for Best Mystery Novel
Bill Smith is awakened by a call from the NYPD. They're holding a 15-year-old kid named Gary—a kid Bill knows. But before Bill can find out what is going on, Gary escapes Bill's custody. If Bill is to have any chance of saving Gary and preventing a tragedy, he has to both unravel a long buried crime and confront the darkness of his own past.
Reflecting the Sky (2001)
Finalist, 2002 Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel
Lydia Chin and Bill Smith are hired to deliver a family heirloom to a young man in Hong Kong, but before they can deliver the heirloom, he is kidnapped. Lydia and Bill discover that the rules are different, the stakes are high, and the cost of failure is too dire to imagine.
Stone Quarry (1999)
Bill Smith has owned his cabin in the woods in a small upstate New York town - a place of refuge. All that changes when Eva Colgate, a local farmer, asks Bill to quietly recover some recently stolen possessions--items which, if known to be hers, would expose her past and a secret she has kept for thirty years.
A Bitter Feast (1998)
Lydia Chin's goes underground to investigate a case that strikes at the heart of Chinatown's dangerously shifting power structure.It's Lydia Chin's turn to go underground as the Chinese-American P.I. investigates a case that strikes at the heart of Chinatown's dangerously shifting power structure.
No Colder Place (1998)
Bill Smith is going undercover again as a favor to an old friend who wants him to investigate thievery on the 40-story Manhattan site of Crowell Construction's latest project.
Mandarin Plaid (1996)
Genna Jing is sure her latest designs are worth a fortune. That's why she is willing to pay the fifty grand to the person who stole her design book. But when Lydia and Bill Smith make the drop, everything goes wrong, and a case of extortion escalates to a million-dollar demand in exchange for a missing man's life.
Concourse (1994)
It flows through the Bronx like a river between banks of faded elegance. And at the end of the avenue called the Grand Concourse is the place people go to die, the Bronx Home for the Aged. The only trouble is the people dying there are going before their time.
China Trade (1994)
Hired to find some precious stolen porcelain, Lydia follows a trail of clues from highbrow art dealers into a world of Chinese gangs. Suddenly, this case has become as complex as her community itself--and as deadly as a killer on the loose.
Non-series books:
In this Rain (2006)
"From the mean streets of Harlem to the chilly corridors of City Hall, Rozan vividly evokes New York City in all its sound and fury." -- Booklist
Absent Friends (2004)
The secrets of a group of childhood friends unravel in this haunting thriller set in New York in the unforgettable aftermath of September 11th. Absent Friends brilliantly captures a time and place unlike any other as it winds through the wounded streets of New York and Staten Island.
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Bouchercon 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipient:
Allen J. Hubin
Then, with just one review under his belt, Hubin was asked to review for the New York Times Book Review, taking over for Anthony Boucher. In his column, "Criminals at Large," Hubin reviewed six books a week for almost three years. He hadn't given anthologies a thought until Dutton called and asked if he'd carry on for Anthony Boucher and edit the Best Detective Stories of the Year.
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| Allen J. Hubin |
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Hubin's involvement in crime fiction bibliography began innocently enough, as well. He was asked to write the introduction to the world's first crime fiction bibliography compiled by North Dakota librarian Ordean Hagen: Who Done It, (published by Bowker in 1969). During the compilation, Hubin opened his home and extensive library to Hagen and offered to help with the research. Unfortunately, Hagen passed away before the book was released.
When corrections and additions to Hagen's published work began to accumulate, Hubin decided to publish them in the pages of TAD, but they were rather extensive and a bit too random, and he had some ideas on how the information could be better organized. So, with the six-book-a-week reviews having wound down, he decided he could manage a "little" bibliographic work.
That work mushroomed into a massive and seemingly never-ending project laboriously begun during the typewriter era, and in 1979, The Bibliography of Crime Fiction, 1740-1975 was published. Hubin could have left it at that, but he had in mind to add another five years of coverage and a new feature or two. Crime Fiction, 1749-1980: A Comprehensive Bibliography appeared in 1984. And that was not the end. Others followed, and by the year 2000, the end of the 20th century seemed to Hubin a more fitting climax to what would be more than thirty years of bibliographic effort, bringing him to the current Crime Fiction IV: A Comprehensive Bibliography 1749-2000! This impressive work contains author and title indexes to over 106,000 books, the contents of more than 6,600 collections, and identification of over 4,500 movies.
A 2008 revised edition of the bibliography has been published on CDROM (by Locus Press). In addition, given that hundred of pages of new/corrected material has since accumulated, a 2009 edition (still with the 12/31/2000 cutoff date for new publications) is contemplated (again on CDROM by Locus Press). Much of this material for the 2009 edition can be found (with linkages and enhancements that won't appear in the CDROM) at www.crimefictioniv.com.
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Fan Guest of Honor: Kathryn Kennison
Of course, Kathryn read the Nancy Drew mysteries when she was a child. “I remember one set in Canada about a doll filled with emeralds, but the title escapes me -- would love to find it.”
Reading has been her abiding passion, but she came to crime fiction relatively late when she was in my early thirties. A friend gave her The Daughter of Time and Kathryn was hooked -- favorites have always been the masters from the golden age....Josephine Tey, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Edmund Crispin, Cyril Hare, etc.
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| Kathryn Kennison |
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Kathryn says that there are so many wonderful, supremely talented writers within the genre today it would be difficult to name favorites. She has a hard time, actually, distinguishing "mystery" fiction from "literary" fiction. “A good novel is a good novel, period, and it seems to me that every truly good novel has at its heart something unknown that must be revealed, so why is there a distinction?”
She loves 19th Century literature and has recently come to adore Anthony Trollope. Her job at the Center brings her in contact with lots and lots of people who love to read as much as she. “So, I get to constantly indulge in another abiding passion -- talking. About books. God is good.”
When asked when and where do she read? How many books, she replied, “Anytime and any place I go, and as many books as I find that strike my fancy (and that's a lot!) I don't often read two books at the same time unless one is fiction and one is non-fiction, but I read serially. I never finish one book that I don't have another one to move into. A lot of people I know say they never stop a book once they've started it. Not me. With very few exceptions, if I don't like a book within the first 20-or-so pages, I don't think twice about abandoning it. There are too many good books out there to waste time on something I have to slog through. And I ALWAYS read before I go to sleep, no matter what.”
Kathryn says that being involved in the mystery community has brought her so much more than she ever anticipated. “Crime writers are the brightest, the nicest, the most interesting and erudite, and the least egotistical people in the world. And so many of them are involved in other professions and pursuits outside writing that they bring a wealth of knowledge and expertise to everything they do. The same can be said of readers and, indeed, most people connected with the community. My lucky stars were shining their very brightest when I stumbled into this world!”
Kathryn is best known in the mystery community for her involvement and whirlwind enthusiasm for Magna cum Murder. She explains how Magna came about:
“Back in 1993, Joanna Wallace, Associate Dean of Extended Education at Ball State, and I were tasked with developing a weekend program for alumni that would be edifying, instructional, and entertaining. We had no idea it would grow into Magna cum Murder in one short year. Heck, we hadn't even heard of Bouchercon or Malice Domestic -- we thought we were onto something unique! 2007 will be the fourteenth Magna and it seems, at once, as though it couldn't possibly have been that long, and that it's all happened in the twinkling of an eye. I have so many fabulous Magna memories I couldn't begin to list them -- firing the gun (blanks) in the Indianapolis airport and the James Crumley banquet speech are just two, and I'll tell you about them in person when I see you!" |
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