News and so on...

Just returned home from two back-to-back family trips, one the tri-annual reunion of the Moriarty family (yes, fellow Sherlockians, I am aware -- there is also a John Watson in the family tree), the other to visit my husband's family near Buffalo.  I have been working even on the road, but on this day of laundry and washing out a suitcase attacked by a loose tube of toothpaste (yes, we usually put such things in plastic bags, etc.) and sorting through mail, I have looked up and seen that I am again long overdue in posting here.

So some news, with more to come:

I've written a supernatural story for a new collection edited by Charlaine Harris and Toni L.P. Kelner, Games Creatures Play.  The story I wrote is about dodgeball and stolen children -- in the sense of those taken by the fae -- read the haunting W.B. Yeats poem, "The Stolen Child" to see what I mean.  These lines from the poem

Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.

are quoted in the story, which (mostly) takes place during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962.

As we get closer to the pub date of April 2014, I'll have more to say, a picture of the cover art, and so on -- but since anthologies can be hard to find if you wait too late to order, I thought I'd give you a heads up now.


I've recently completed a story about Frank Harriman.  When you read it, you'll get to see Frank as a rookie, just before he meets Irene.  As soon as I have word from my publisher, I'll let you know when it will be available.

Other stories are listed on the short story page of my Website.

Events:

I will be speaking at the Orange County Sisters in Crime meeting on July 28th.

On October 19th I'll be at the Forensic Foray sponsored by the Arctic Cliffhangers, the Alaska Chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Next year, in March I'll be at Left Coast Crime 2014.  Jerrilyn Farmer and I will be teaching the Writing Workshop there, which has limited space available -- sign up now.

And in November, I'll be at Bouchercon in Long Beach, California!

Photo credit: Scott Liddell http://www.scottliddell.com

Left Coast Crime 2010 - Part II

The convention organizers graciously agreed to work with the Crime Lab Project and the California Institute of Forensic Science to sponsor a special event on Wednesday, March 10.

The Left Coast Crime 2010 Forensic Science Day. They also very generously agreed to donate all proceeds from the day to the Crime Lab Project Foundation, to be given to the CSFI. Rose Ochi tells us that these funds will be used to help graduate students purchase materials to carry out their research.

So not only were we offering something unique to attendees, they were supporting a great cause!

The day took lots of planning and preparation, and we're all indebted to the CFSI's Rose Ochi for her early support of the event, to Harley Sagara for his many efforts, and to Howard Ho for his additional help.

This was a full-day event at the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center at California State University, Los Angeles. The HSFSC is a new facility that houses forensic science services for the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department. It is the largest "full service" crime lab in the country. It also includes training and research facilities as well as classrooms.

Attendance was limited to 75 and the event sold out weeks ago.

Here's a quick look at our day.

8:30-8:45 Welcome

We were honored to be welcomed by Cheryl L. Ney, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Graduate Studies at CSULA.

Rose Ochi, the Executive Director, California Forensic Science Institute and I, in my role as head of The Crime Lab Project, made additional opening statements. Harley Sagara served as our ringmaster throughout the day.

A series of excellent presentations followed:

8:45-9:45 The Crime Scene

Don Johnson, CSULA School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics

9:45-10:45 Questioned Documents

Mel Cavanaugh, Questioned Documents Examiner, Sgt (Ret.) LASD Scientific Service Bureau

11:00-12:00 Forensic Science and the Courts

Myrna Raeder, Professor of Law, Southwestern University School of Law

After lunch, we split into smaller groups for a tour of the HDFSC. The tour was followed by three more excellent presentations:

2:00-3:00 Firearms

Allison Manfreda, Criminalist II, LAPD Scientific Investigations Division-

Firearm Analysis Unit

3:15-4:15 Trace Evidence

Lynne Herold, Senior Criminalist LASD Scientific Service Bureau/Trace Section

4:15-5:15 Biology-DNA

Katherine Roberts, CSULA School of Criminal Justice and Criminalistics

I did an informal follow up session for writers on using what we had learned. Each attendee also received a handout with lots of additional information.

The feedback from our attendees has been incredibly positive and their reviews of the day have been stellar. I'm sure we'll do another event at the HDFSC for CFSI, and I've been talking to other convention organizers about doing a similar program at a future Left Coast Crime. When I know more about that, I'll let you know.

I was especially glad that my husband, Tim Burke, was able to join us for this day. He hears me talk about this stuff all the time, and we've donated to CFSI, but this was his first chance to actually look around inside the building!

Tomorrow: LCC 2010 - Part III

That Time of Year

I have taken an informal survey among friends, and found that many of us are having moody -- if not down right cranky -- days during this run up to the holidays. So if you're feeling a little blue or irritable, your misery has plenty of company to love.

I've at least temporarily taken care of my own moodiness by going to beautiful Kaua'i. Tim and I went to celebrate the wedding of our friends Toni and Billy, who are also Tim's bandmates in Down Tight. We had a great time there and enjoyed the company and kindness of new and old friends.

You may not be able to fit a trip to Kaua'i into your plans, so I'll offer a reminder that another Christmas season tradition is available to make you laugh: the Chicago Tribune's annual "Scared of Santa" photo collection. Enjoy!

Lots to catch up on

I'm way behind in posting news to you, and responding to comments -- a combination of post-travel discombobulation and working on finishing a book.

Which doesn't mean I'm short on news! It has been a great week! As some of you know, Kidnapped has been nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Novel, which will be voted on and given at Bouchercon. I know people joke about this, but really, it is an honor to be nominated, and this year I find myself in fine company. You can see the full list of nominees here.

The Summer 2007 issue of CLUES: A Journal of Detection is just out. Ed Gorman has posted some kind comments about my essay in it on his blog. I wrote about Charlotte Armstrong, and like Ed, I hope a small press will reissue some of her best books — she was a master of suspense.

Some of you have mentioned that it is now hard to find a photo of my dog Britches on my Web site. Cappy's on the cover of the books -- his one brown, one blue eye face always appeals to photographers more than Britches, who not only fails to sit still for them, he disappears into his own dark fur. So above, I've posted (or tried to -- Blogger seems not to be cooperating) a photo I took a while ago of him -- "helping" Tim to do a push-up.

More soon!

Looking forward to

1) The Down Tight gig at The Starting Gate next weekend.*

2) Getting my copy of the final installment of Harry Potter's adventures at midnight. I will NOT spoil the book for the rest of you, so don't be afraid to read the blog after today. ;-) I can't tell you how many Web sites and television broadcasts I've been avoiding this week.

3) Going to the NIJ Annual Conference next week!

4) The appearance (on July 22) of a post I wrote at the request of Rhys Bowen for The Lady Killers blog. They've been gathering posts from friends on the theme of "wish you were here/wish I was there."

*Sorry about the mix-up -- I had the wrong date up here for a few hours!


Photo above courtesy of Scott Liddell (hotblack), from Morguefile.com

Listen in -- and watch, too

If you're online at 9 PM Pacific Time (GMT-8) tonight (11/26), you might want to wander over to the livestream for the bands playing at BB King's Live -- that is, if you aren't actually going down to BB King's at the Universal City Walk. One of the bands my husband, Tim Burke, is in will be playing there tonight -- the band is Downtight, and they'll be on right after Lisa Tucker, who was an American Idol finalist.