Gala Mystery Night at the New England Mobile Bookfair

Well, we had a grand blowout party for mystery authors at the
Gala Mystery Night,
hosted at the New England Mobile Bookfair.
Great book-buying event of the season, where folks come and see their favorite mystery writers signing copies.

Although this was the 6th annual party of this type, this was the first time at the new location of the recently-moved bookstore.
To see recent posts of the bookstore's big move, click here, and Grand Opening, click here.

Love the new location- easy to move around and mingle, and find the books and people you want.
I managed to get a few pics of the celebrity writers attending, so let's get to it.

Excellent turnout, with snacks provided

You'll see many authors are holding up books written by others, because our writing community is so supportive of others, and we buy books written by our peers.

Tom Lyons, owner of the bookstore (and author and poet in his own right), gives an interview to Lorraine Seymourian of WNTN 1550

Star of the night (more on that later) Tess Gerritsen shows off her musical chops

Then it's her turn for an interview

Bookstore staff picks for the books of two good writers:
Ursula Wong and debut author Adam Abramowitz

To see an interview with Ursula, click here

Another awesome pair of writers:
Dave Zeltserman and Bruce Robert Coffin

To see an interview with Dave, click here

 To see an interview with Bruce, click here

Marilyn Brooks, of Marilyn's Mystery Reads with Tom and Dave

Connie Johnson Hambley, with Tom and Elisabeth Elo

To see an interview with Connie, click here

Edith Maxwell

To see an interview with Edith, click here

Kate Flora

To see an interview with Kate, click here

Ray Daniel (the Evil Ray,
from Episode 37, Mirror, Mirror, for all you Star Trek/SNL fans)
with Jay Shepherd

To see an interview with Ray, click here

Marshall Stein with Bruce. Connie in back, photobombing...

Mo Walsh, Joanna Schaffhausen, and Lisa Gardner

William Landay with Connie

Just a few best-selling books from this group: Leigh Perry, Sheila Connolly, and Sarah Smith

 To see an interview with Leigh, click here

 

Clea Simon joins Adam for a buy of each others' work

Connie, Sarah, Anne Macdonald, Mo

 Gary Braver looks surprised (or guilty)

Hans and Judy Copek, cornerstones of our local groups

Daniel Palmer with William Martin

Leslie Wheeler with her new book, Rattlesnake Hill

And my Zack Taylor series was selling some copies 

Edith, Elisabeth, Leslie, and Bruce

C. Michelle Dorsey makes another sale

 Some guys get all the luck: Lisa, Daniel, and Tess

Sarah with a toast

Sarah, Sheila, Mo, and Clea

Don Kaplan with Jay Shepherd

Lisa and Joanna, 

with Joanna's debut novel, The Vanishing Season

And having an award presentation makes for a better party.
Here's Tom, announcing the winner of this year's Robert B. Parker Award for outstanding mystery writing:

 Winner: Tess Gerritsen!

Lovely award

Solemn crowd for this

So Tess joins Linda Barnes, a previous recipient of the award.

Adam and Dave sign more books

Da guys: Gary, William, Ray, Joe Finder, Daniel

And debut author of a children's book on the bookstore shelf,
Sharon Kathrn

Here she gets a copy from Daniel, joined by Lisa

The ever- wonderful Hank Philippi Ryan was also there, and I did not get a pic of her.
So here's one from a previous signing at the old location

Here's John Wasowicz with his debut novel

So a great time, and people have a lot more books to read! 

If you missed it this year, make plans for 2018.
Always the first Thursday in December.

Remember, books make great gifts- so get on down to the Bookfair and get some gifts for yourself, and for others!

Gala Mystery Night 2016

For the fifth year, the biggest and best mystery bookstore north of New York, the New England Mobile Bookfair held a Gala Mystery Night, with top-name mystery authors, many of them NY Times best-sellers. We had authors from all over New England.

Once again, I was a featured author with these literary lights. It's great to be in such good company. Lots of my fellow Sisters in Crime were signing as well.

Thanks to owner Tom Lyons and the hard-working staff (Lisa and Amanda deserve special thanks) who made the night glorious and fun!

To see a writeup and pics of previous year postings of this annual celebration, click here.

 Once again, we had a big crowd of buyers and supporters.

Here's our two biggest supporters- Robin and Steve. They come to chat with the authors and buy a basketful of books. Thank you on behalf of all of us!

 

 Here I am, looking authorly. with Coralie Jensen and Clea Simon

 

Our erstwhile host, Tom Lyons. on the right

Here's author Bruce Robert Coffin, with wife Karen and fan Jay Shepherd. 

Bruce's debut novel, Among the Shadows, is terrific, and tearing up the charts with richly-deserved sales. And is now on sale on Kindle that is irresistible.

To see an interview with Bruce, click here

Tom strikes a pose with author Ray Daniel

To see an interview with Ray, click here

Superstars of the mystery writing world: Linda Barnes, Kate Flora, and Connie Johnson Hambley

To see an interview with Kate, click here

To see an interview with Connie, click here

Gina Fava with Arlene Kay and Jay

To see an interview with Arlene, click here

Judy Copek, Susan Oleksiw, and Hans Copek

Coralie with a new fan

Ben Coes, a writing star, discovers a wonderful new author (yes, he bought the first book in my Zack Taylor series, A Memory of Grief)...

William Landay, another star (yes, I made him pose with his own books)

Frances MacNamara, who sat next to me

Ray with Joe Finder

 

Linda Barnes gets in the spirit

Gina got her spot placed right under some Adult Books. Ahem... Hi, Mom!

Then it was time to give out the annual Robert B. Parker Award, given each year for outstanding long-term achievement in the mystery world. Here Tom announces this year's winner- Archer Mayor

Here's a previous winner, Linda Barnes, with Tom and the most recent winner

And Connie with her sweetie and Number One Fan

Not pictured were others, who slipped away from the roving camera eye: Michael Urban, Robin Stratton, Steve Ulfelder