Malice Domestic 38

By Catherine Dilts

Malice Domestic is a fan-focused fiction conference appealing to cozy, amateur sleuth, and traditional mystery readers. The perfect fit for my writing. The perfect conference for my new-author daughter, Merida Bass, to meet the fans for whom she’s writing.

We signed up months in advance, booked flights, and reserved a hotel room. Yikes! The conference is so popular, all we could get was a room with one king-sized bed. Ugh!

The day arrived sooner than expected. I scrambled to pack. My husband drove us to the airport, and we were off! After half a day of travel (as opposed to two solid days if driving), we rode the subway to the hotel. A scary proposition for a small-town girl like myself, made scarier by being late at night.

The Metro subway

The hotel desk clerk switched our room to two double beds (big sigh of relief). We crashed for a few hours. I’m a morning person, rising with the sun. Well, the sun rose two hours earlier in Maryland than it does back home in Colorado. I got up at 4 am (mountain time) instead of my usual 6 am.

Didn’t matter. We were both wired up and ready to go. Friday morning, we had breakfast in the hotel dining room and met a lovely woman who clued us in on MD38. Then we went to Malice 101. I had only been to one Malice, twelve years ago. It was helpful getting an update. Nearly five hundred mystery fans and authors would attend this weekend.

“Malice Go Round: It’s Like Speed Dating, but with Authors,” was right after orientation. I participated in the Left Coast Crime Denver speed dating-style event in 2025. I was glad to be an observer this time.

Merida moderated a panel in the first slot of the conference titled “It’s Ms. Marple, Thank You.” Authors with senior sleuths answered questions, chatted about their love of Agatha Christie, and introduced their own novels. For the rest of the conference, people approached to tell her what a good job she did moderating. Proud Mom Moment.

Merida Bass, Michelle Cullen, Eileen McIntire, Nan McCann, Barbara Barrett

I attended panels all day Friday. My brain was full of inspiration, new ideas, and more new books to read. We’d been informed the Live Charity Auction was a blast. So we went that evening. And it was a blast. My goodness, the friendly competition pushed bids higher than I imagined possible.

Saturday, bright and early, Merida participated in the “Meet the New Authors of Malice” breakfast. Ellen Byron conducted brief interviews with each author. Brave folks made their debuts in front of a roomful of people.

Malice Domestic new author breakfast - the debut authors

I was lax about attending panels on Saturday, not even trying to hit every session. Instead, we met with another mother-daughter writing team, Renee and Charlie. Multi-published author Jennifer J. Chow joined the conversation. They encouraged Merida to join Mystery Writers of Color.

Renee, Charlie, Catherine, Merida, Jennifer

The Short Mystery Fiction Society arranged a lunch at the hotel. The good news - dozens of writers showed up. The bad news - the group ran out of seats. Oh well, I did get to meet several well-known short fiction authors. 

Right before the Agatha Awards Banquet, I met Molly MacRae, author of numerous cozy series. Then we enjoyed a nice meal and cheered for the winners of the coveted Agatha Awards. I turned in early, leaving the partying to younger, hardier folks.

Catherine and Molly

My panel was on Sunday morning. The authors made our potentially dry “Cozies: Realism vs. Entertainment” into a lively discussion. Sometimes, what you want is a happy ending, the mystery to be solved, and the bad guys or gals to be punished, even if the story stretches credibility.

Then we had a plane to catch. We had to miss the Agatha Tea. All too soon, we were riding the subway back to the airport.

Was it worth the travel and expense to attend this conference? Yes. For authors of cozy and amateur sleuth mysteries, this is the place to be. Will we return? My daughter wisely suggested we put Malice Domestic in a two-year rotation.

This fall, we hope to participate in a Colorado conference, the Mesa Verde Literary Festival. In the spring of 2027, Left Coast Crime is in Santa Fe, New Mexico. No airplane tickets to buy! If we talk our husbands into driving the RVs to each, there's no hotel expense, either. Very fiscally sensible.

Despite the distance and cost, Malice Domestic is definitely in my plans for 2028.