Thursday, March 22, 2007

Laura Lippman Day

Jim Winter, by the power vested in him (who knew?), has declared today Laura Lippman Day on the occasion of her having made the NYT Bestseller list. I first met Laura in the hospitality room of some Bouchercon (Monterey? There was an excellent hospitality room at that one.) years ago. She was just starting out as a mystery writers, and we talked a little about her past work for the Waco, Texas, newspaper. She probably doesn't even remember the conversation, but I kept up with her after that. She's done moderately well, wouldn't you say? Writes damned good books, for sure.

Another memorable encounter occurred at the Milwaukee Bouchercon when I was on her team in some kind of Family Feud game. The one during which I couldn't name a mystery novel that had been made into a movie. Ah the humiliation (I blame Harry Hertel, not Laura). I certainly hope she's forgotten this event. I've tried. God knows, I've tried. We won, anyway.

So here's to Laura Lippman. Long may she reign on the bestseller lists of our land.

5 comments:

Cap'n Bob said...

You "won" because the emcee screwed up. Not that I'm bitter after all these years or anything.

Unknown said...

Or possibly we won because Laura Lippman was on our team.

Harry R. Hertel said...

Any belief that Bill's team won due to my alleged "screw up" or Laura's infinite charm are totally false and defamatory . . .er, wait a minute, Laura was darn charming. Plus my brother Ted said something about "fixing" any problems with the competition at the same time he appreciated his appreciation for Laura's work. Yeah, that's it, that's the ticket--it's Ted's fault! So, Bill, you don't have to pick on me anymore in the apa . . .

Harry "Richard Dawson" Hertel

Harry R. Hertel said...

Make that "expressed his appreciation" Damn lack of editorial control!!!

Unknown said...

Harry, the circle of punishment is coming full circle this month, as I've been assigned the Richard Dawson role at Armadillocon for Fannish Feud. I can only hope I do half as well as you did.