Friendships & Book Recommendations

One of the many things I have long enjoyed about the crime-writing community is the friendships I have made.

My first publishing contract was with the University Press of New England, and the advance was bad (never ask a novelist to calculate their hourly rate for a book), so I asked UPNE to pay for me to attend a mystery conference each year for the duration of a three-book contract. I attended Bouchercon. It was a wonderful experience. I met heroes, contemporaries, best-sellers, fledglings (like me), and most importantly people who loved books and the crime genre.

Three years ago, I moved to Michigan for my day job, leaving New England and the writing community there behind.

This is where things get interesting. In August, I was reading a back issue of Edgar Award magazine, came across an article on Andrew Gulli, managing editor at The Strand. He had accepted an article I wrote a couple years back. And, lo and behold, he lives in Michigan. I reached out. We had dinner, and in passing I asked for a book recommendation. “Something interesting. Something I can’t get at a Barnes & Noble,” I said.

“The Beast Must Die,” he said.

I ordered the book by Nicholas Blake on Amazon (yes, I probably could have ordered it on B&N, I know) while we ate.

I’m only ankle-deep into The Beast Must Die, and it’s good. But that’s not the point. The point, dear Type-Mers, is that friendships in the crime writing/reading community run deep.

I hope you have (or soon will have) similar experiences.

Now, I’m going back to my book so I can give Andrew my review at our next dinner.