Launch at the Castle

Never in my wildest I’ve-Always-Wanted-to-be-a-Published-Author dreams did it ever occur to me that I’d one day be signing books at a castle! But that’s exactly what happened last month when Dead Man Dancing made its UK debut at historic Ludlow Castle in Shropshire. 

Thanks to the efforts of dear friend and fellow author, Kate Charles, bookseller Stanton Stevens of Castle Bookshop, and Lizzie Hayes from Mystery Women, CrimeFest at the Castle was a sell-out.  Over one hundred people paid five pounds each for admission (to include a glass of wine) to hear a panel of crime novelists discuss their work -- Kate, Phil Rickman, Caro Peacock, Rebecca Tope, Priscilla Masters, Andrew Taylor, Anne Perry, Deborah Crombie and me.  I’m still pinching myself.

Castles are hard to find in Maryland, so the US launch of the latest in my Hannah Ives mystery series will be a bit more low-key.  I will have several book-signing parties at some of my favorite mystery bookstores.  The first is 6 – 8 pm on Monday, October 13 at Mystery Loves Company in Baltimore, MD where my friends, Deborah Crombie and Kate Charles will be joining me.  The second begins at 6 pm on Friday, October 31 at Mystery Lovers Bookshop in Oakmont, PA as Cornelia Biddle, Donna Andrews, Ellen Crosby and I help Richard and Mary Alice Gorman celebrate Halloween and their store’s eighteenth birthday.  (Come check out the Halloween hat I bought at Aurora Gallery especially for this occasion!)  And for my hometown friends, please mark your calendars for the gala Annapolis launch party at 7:30 pm on Thursday, Nov. 6 at the Barnes and Noble in Annapolis Harbour Center.

If you can’t make a signing, autographed copies can be ordered from a fine Independent Bookstore near you, like my good friends at Mystery Loves Company, Mystery Lovers Bookshop, Creatures and Crooks, or The Poisoned Pen.  You can also pre-order copies from Amazon or Barnes and Noble; they tell me books will be shipping soon.

Dead Man Dancing is a first-edition hardcover, so you'll be doing a kind deed for me—and a lot of other people—if you request that your local library order a copy for their mystery collections. A trade paperback edition should be released in the spring of 2009. 

And since some of you have asked, allow me to mention that my next Hannah Ives mystery will be set in the Bahamas.  Golly.  Research can be hell.

In the meantime, enjoy Dead Man Dancing, and know how grateful Hannah and I are for your support.

Comments

[Lis Gordon]

Hi Marcia! Please tell me your book will be available at Bouchercon??!! I am making a list of new books I want to buy and have autographed there, and I hope yours will be one of them. Since I live near Boston, I cannot be at any of the signings you mention, although I was sorely tempted when I saw that you, Kate and Deborah would be in Baltimore Monday night to stay over and go. But I have to pick up a friend at Logan Airport Monday night so there's a physics principle that says I cannot be in two places at once. By the way, your signing at the castle must have really been amazing - I have just started reading Phil Rickman's books and he's becoming a new favorite. See you soon.