Presenting to Book Groups

I enjoy the opportunity to present to book groups. I do this in person and through Zoom. I belong to three book groups and like reading books I otherwise might not have known about. Next week I’ll be doing a Zoom presentation to a book group of lessons I’ve learned as an author.

Men of Mystery

One of my favorite events is the annual Men of Mystery one-day conference. This year 31 authors will give one-minute presentations along with guest speakers, lunch and a book signing. It will take place on Saturday, November 4, at the Grand in Long Beach, CA.

Readers Panel at Bouchercon

Being an author, one of my favorite panels at the Bouchercon mystery conference is the Readers Panel. Most of the panels feature authors, but I like hearing readers’ experiences, likes, dislikes and recommendations. This panel featured Kat Tromp, John Thomas Bychowski, Grace Kashida, Nikki Bonanni and Dru Ann Love. Some of the panelists read hundreds of books a year.

Senior Sleuth Panel at Bouchercon

We had a great turnout for the Senior Sleuth panel at Bouchercon in San Diego. In preparation I tried an experiment: I went on ChatGPT and typed in “senior sleuth jokes.” The AI search engine returned with nine jokes. I used two of them on the panel:

1.     Why did the retired detective become a gardener? Because they wanted to keep digging up the truth, one plot at a time!

2.     Why did the old detective prefer solving crimes during the winter? Because they could always rely on cold cases to keep them busy!

Two observations:

1.     ChatGPT wants to be gender neutral.

2.     It likes explanation points.

Here’s a picture of me with the panel members Steph Broadribb, Ellen Kirschman, Lisa Q. Mathews and Anna St. John.