Bouchercon – A Librarian’s Paradise

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                                                  At least for this “two-thousand year old librarian”, it is.

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                                                  I’ve always loved the quotation about heaven being “a kind of

                                                  library.”

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                                                  That definition was enlarged when I went to my first Bouchercon

                                                  in Philadelphia along with three other librarians, who also had 

                                                  never been to any mystery conferences.

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                                                  I thought I had died and gone to heaven as I looked around the

                                                  hotel lobby and saw so many of my favorite writers…and fellow

                                                  fans whose names I knew from DorothyL (a long-time mystery

                                                  LISTSERV started by librarians).

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After all, since I first began reading, authors have been my deities. They educated, informed, entertained me. They made me laugh and cry as well as question almost everything to draw my own conclusions. They led me into the library, library school and many years of helping the public find what they needed, whether it was a fact, a job, instructions, a good book to read, etc. I found a place where I could actually meet them and have conversations.

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Mysteries which include murder mysteries, crime novels, hard-boiled, noir, cozies, etc., in all kinds of setting from the U.S. South to Iceland to Africa. The characters roam through dark alleys, college campuses, small towns and metropolises, through deserts, prairies and icy tundras. And these novels are of any era from the Stone Age to the Future and any time in between. Plus there are novels of romantic suspense, thrillers, espionage, police procedurals, some with creatures that only exist in the authors’ minds, but all good reading. There are mysteries with ministers, priests, nuns, Amish communities and any other spiritual setting in which you may be interested in exploring. What a mother lode for the readers’ advisory librarian.

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So join your many fellow librarians (mostly fans, but some writers as well) as you enjoy one of the most fulfilling, fun and fantastic weekends of your life.

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– Doris Ann Norris -Fan Guest of Honor, Bouchercon XLIII · Cleveland, Ohio · Oct 4-7, 2012