Saturday, March 1, 2008

A Festival of Sleuths

Nice getting together with old friends and meeting new ones this week in Deerfield, Fla,. at the annual Mystery Writers of America convention known as Sleuthfest. Of course, there are always a few people you wish you WOULDN'T see at these things ... but for the most part, a genuinely nice, interesting bunch.
A little dark, though ...
Our Friday luncheon speaker was Dr. Doug Lyle, a terrific forensics expert. His expertise is death, and all the dastardly ways to accomplish same.
The first question from the audience: "If you're going to kill someone and dump the body into the water, how many holes would you have to poke with a knife in the lungs and the stomach to make sure the gases and what not of decompostion will have a place to escape?''
I thought I noticed the waiter looking around nervously. Suddenly, I wasn't quite so hungry for that key lime tart dessert.
A table-mate, who'd recently made a transition from writing children's books to mysteries, leaned over and said that's not the kind of query you'd get at a conference of children's authors ....