“Established in 1989, Malice Domestic® is an annual “fun fan” convention in metropolitan Washington, D.C., saluting the traditional mystery—books best typified by the works of Agatha Christie.”
The annual soft boiled mystery convention is taking reservations for this year’s extravaganza. For those not familiar with Malice, it’s a fan and mystery author based gathering that celebrates the best in cozy crime fiction. There are author panels discussing all sorts of themes in relationship to writing, publishing, etc. Fans attend panels that appeal to them. Authors sign their books in between each time slotted panel. The convention lasts three days, with a dinner on Saturday evening announcing the winners of an award called The Agatha, for Queen of Mysteries, Agatha Christie. The award itself is a large lovely teapot. Attendees vote for Best Novel, Best First Novel among other categories before the celebratory dinner.
I’ve been to the convention many times and it’s a fun experience, especially if a reader loves to talk about books and meet their favorite mystery authors.
This year’s honoree for life time achievement is Sue Grafton, not an author I thought of as particularly soft, but I suppose within the parameters of their rules. Donna Andrews, a well established author of funny mysteries with some type of bird in the title–The first in the series– Murder With Peacocks–is the toastmaster, and the Honoree is Carole Nelson Douglas. Each year a fan is singled out, as well as a dead person. Called Ghost of Honor, past selectees include Christie, Stout, and Gardner.
For complete info and loads more interesting facts visit their official website at:
http://www.malicedomestic.org/index.html
