Lisa Q. Mathews, News

Dateline: Malice Domestic 2024

Lisa here, literally just off the train from the annual Malice Domestic conference in Bethesda. I’m a little bleary-eyed and haven’t had a chance to process the whole amazing weekend yet, or organize any halfway coherent thoughts, but here are a few annotated photos (with, um, important disclaimers)…

First, the disclaimers. Some of these photos are straight off my camera, and the nice, pretty ones were taken by others with theirs. The awful, blurry ones are courtesy of Marriott Gray and my ancient, overloaded iPhone. I promise to upgrade before Bouchercon in Nashville, or I may not have any friends left.

The first thing I had to do when I arrived at the hotel was assemble my very first auction basket to benefit KEEN – Greater DC-Baltimore. I shipped the items ahead so I didn’t have to lug them on the train. A very wise decision, as it turned out—the trip from NH to Bethesda on Amtrak was a little more challenging this year.

Mary Monnin and I took pictures of each other with our baskets during setup. Hers included her awesome Intrepid Traveler Mysteries and a vial of delightful Lili Bermuda perfume (from Bermuda!). Mine included my very first ARC of THE JIG IS UP and a non-Malicious fairy (not quite visible in photo).

Here are Leslie and I at dinner Friday night with Edith Maxwell and our new friends Becky Sue Epstein and Jill Quinn (another “Q” for Quinn, yay!)

I attended several panels, all entirely amazing–really intriguing discussions and interviews!  Here are the Agatha Best Contemporary Novel panelists (including our very own Chick Ellen Byron for WINED AND DIED IN NEW ORLEANS), Leslie’s International and Off the Beaten Track panel (don’t miss Leslie’s latest MOLTEN DEATH!), and the Locked Room and Closed Circle Mystery panel. Our packed room, it turned out, was a closed door, too:

Here are a bunch of us taking a break in the Hospitality Room (right next to Ellen’s crafting/stitching table):

I had to get my picture taken with 2 of my mystery-author idols, Mindy Quigley (Deep Dish Mysteries) and Olivia Blacke (VINYL RESTING PLACE). Guess whose camera took one of them? The color came out so badly on that one that I filtered it to Noir. Apologies, Liv–and thanks for keeping an eye on my Irish bowl!

We all had a great time at the Saturday night awards banquet. More than a few speeches brought tears to our eyes. Congrats to all the nominees and winners! Somehow my banquet table co-host El and I didn’t get the memo that table décor wasn’t allowed this year (gets in the servers’ way). I think we may have been the only table wearing headgear (this year, shamrock garlands). Oops. At our table I met Asha Greyling (THE VAMPIRE OF KINGS STREET/Sept. 2024) and Matt (M.S.) Greene, who are publisher sibs of me and Cynthia–and Matt’s book THERE’S NO MURDER LIKE SHOW MURDER is coming out the exact same day as El’s A VERY WOODSY MURDER.  Matt was such a good sport about wearing his little green top hat. He even wore it at the afterparty. (Is it just me, or might he have a bit of leprechaun in him?)

By Sunday morning everyone was exhausted, but some of us managed to draw on our emergency energy reserves for a crime-fighting photo opp. Pictured here: Risa, Elisa, Lisa, and Mary!

There will be many Malice 2024 photos and stories filtering out from this week—I’m sure they’ll all bring a smile. Your faithful correspondent is now dropping onto the nearest couch to recuperate. Until next year, Everyone!

Readers, any conference stories to share? OR, if you didn’t attend Malice, tell us what fun you had or the productive things you got done!

31 thoughts on “Dateline: Malice Domestic 2024”

  1. Thanks for the Update/Buzz on Malice D! So much fun! Ran into my fave Elizabeth Crowens (“Hounds of the Hollywood Baskervilles”), big fan of hers and all the authors there! Thanks for the photos!

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  2. A little bleary-eyed this morning after arriving home in California after midnight D.C. time, but thank you for this trip down memory lane of the past four days! How fun it was to hang out with some of my Chicks, a lot of our faithful followers (J.C., looking at you!), and so many fabulous readers and authors! What a beautiful bunch of people is the crime-writing community!

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  4. Glad you made it home, Lisa! Did you take the pix of Ellen catching a serious nap in her hotel room? I’m sure you, El, and Leslie all needed a little nap time with what looked like a weekend packed with activities. Hope you were able to catch a nap on the train coming home.😘

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    1. Mostly I was trying to keep my phone and laptop from flying off my tray table on the train, Vickie! They don’t call it the Acela Express for nothing, I guess. Right now I’m at my daughter’s with her 1 and 3 year olds. No rest for the wicked!

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  7. Great photos! I’ve been enjoying all the Malice Domestic photos from Ellen, Edith & others all weekend. I didn’t make it this year, but attended Left Coast Crime for the first time. While I loved everything about the conference, getting to chat with authors whose books I love was the best. I had fun meeting several of the Chicks & brought my knitting to Ellen’s stitching table. The banquet at Gigi Pandian & Naomi Hirahara’s table was great, especially seeing Naomi win a Lefty. Hopefully will attend MD &/or LCC again in the future!

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  8. Sounds like a great weekend. I’m so hoping I can go next year.

    As to my weekend, I got lots of reading in (more than in the last few weekends), and went to my walking book club and played disc golf plus went to church.

    I’m glad I’m back at work today so I can relax.

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    1. Jen, we’re looking forward to your Edgars recap! Huge congrats again on your nom for the Lilian Jackson Braun Award–wish we could all be there to cheer you on in person.

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    1. Judging by the great response to this year’s Malice both during the conference and today, I think we’ll have plenty more company next year. A huge congrats and cheer for the tireless organizers/volunteers!

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    1. The secret fancy people’s lounge with endless H2O! And thanks for awaiting JIG with me! (Seems like forever now, lol.)

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  14. Lisa,

    I don’t know if you will ever read this or not, because I’m so late to the game.

    I had a wonderful time. Got two of the 4 charity items, one that was a major bidding war, absolutely fun to do, and I always say I intimidated the person to bow out but I know Angel was just being gracious. 😂

    I too met Matt, and was very excited to talk to him about his first book. And he was right, his outfit did not clash with mine.
    I sadly didn’t get the picture with Leslie, because we just couldn’t hook up at the banquet. Next year for sure.

    I love Malice, since that’s the reason I even started writing in the first place.

    I thank all the chicks on the case for encouraging me.

    hestia

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    1. Yup, read your reply, Hestia–thank you! Hope your trip week is starting off well. And you go with the writing!

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