Off to BEA

Naturally, last minute things mean I’m running down to the wire to catch my train to DC to attend Book Expo America – which doesn’t kick off in earnest till tomorrow. Then it’ll be non-stop action, trolling the floor and the like. Reports will appear for the most part at GalleyCat, but if there’s anything particularly mystery-oriented that’s of note, it’ll appear in these pages.

And before I run, I also wanted to say that last night’s launch for Hardboiled Brooklyn may have been the best book party I’ve been to. Partially because there was plenty of food and drink, a writer pretty much everywhere I looked (Gerald has a rundown on the boldface names, which also included Rebecca Pawel and Soho Press’s Kathy Daneman & Katie Herman, HBB contributor Tim Sheard looking swell with the fedora, Megan Abbott convincing one of her students that he absolutely must buy THE PRONE GUNMAN, and many more) and best of all for me, a surprising number of my relatives.

Why? They were there to cheer on Joe Wallace as he read from the phenomenally awesome “Dead Man,” which leads off HBB and had the crowd riveted almost from the beginning. And while it’s plenty cool to see your friends get kudos and naches for their work, it’s especially gratifying when it’s family. Say hello to Joe when he’s at BCon; he’s someone you’ll be hearing much, much more from in the future.

So thanks to the crew at Bleak House (an imprint of Big Earth Publishing) especially Alison Janssen and Benjamin “I can do a mean cartwheel” LeRoy. This party absolutely killed.