Why I love mystery writers

The ALA (American Library Association) conference in Dallas this weekend was, and I knew it would be, HUGE. So large in fact that it took me a half-hour to find my own publisher's kiosk, and they were co-SPONSORS of the event. But, as always, one hangs around with one's own kind and with a full day of mystery at the Pop Top stage that means hanging around with other mystery writers.

Three things I love about mystery writers:
     1. They speak good English, probably a result of getting their hands spanked by editors, but I love people who honor our language by trying to do it right.
     2. They tend to be irreverent and clever. Lots of laughs.
     3. They are big-hearted and friendly. This may be due to the fact that they can take their frustrations out on characters in their stories. Feel like killing someone? Change his name, the color of his eyes, and do him in with Microsoft Word.

One of the panels I was on was about humor in mysteries and I imagine the other panelists felt the same as I. I can't be funny on cue. Only when it just pops out. But it worked out well. Joanna Slan (blonde on the right) was asked about the research she does and she told about the difficulty of getting a taxidermist to work on a road-kill armadillo. This led, somehow, to stories about dead mice, frozen mice, snakes eating mice, and mice in general. It went downhill from there. Rosemary Harris (far left), Rachel Brady (between me and Rosemary) and I all had strange but true experiences with mice, dead and alive. It was nice to discover I had so much in common with other mystery writers.