Last week I asked Deb Baker to post for me since I was arriving in Northern Virginia late to visit old friends for several days before the Malice Domestic mystery conference in Arlington, VA.  Arlington in my hometown, where I grew up.  Just a stone’s throw across the Potomac River.  And the old friends I visited grew up there with me.  We lived directly across the street from each other as primary age school children, then junior high schoolers, then high schoolers. . . well, you get the picture.

There’s nothing quite like visiting old friends who “knew you when.”  Old friends keep you honest.  And haven’t you noticed that you “pick up the conversation” where you left off? 

After a wonderful visit with those two sisters and their husbands in their gorgeous homes in Vienna, Va, I merged into the crazy Metro DC traffic and drove to the spacious Marriott hotel where our mystery conference was being held.  While there, I had a great time renewing acquaintances with fellow writers.  I also got to have meetings over coffee and lunch with my agent and my editor, separately.  Always an informative experience.

But the most endearing experience of the conference was—as always—meeting the readers.  Seeing some familiar faces and discovering new friends of Kelly Flynn and her adventures.  At the Agatha Awards banquet, at the panel presentation I participated in, and during the booksigning following the panels—-I met the greatest people:  mystery fans.  It was so much fun to hear some readers tell me—as I signined their books—that this was their first Malice Domestic.   And they were loving it. 

Meeting the readers—former acquaintances and new ones—and talking with them, sharing the love of all things mysterious—-that’s what makes a conference special for me.  And Malice Domestic is still one of the best and most memorable conferences around.  And one with the most memories, too.