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Thursday, April 13th 2017 : "USA, here I come..."
A week today I'll be in Seattle, the first stop on a real, US book tour to celebrate publication there of Cold Earth, the latest Shetland novel. You'll have gathered from previous entries that I love travelling and I'm starting to get very excited about this trip. Although it'll be a whistle-stop tour, I'll be going to places I've never seen before and more importantly I'll be meeting new readers and new booksellers and sharing their passion for crime fiction. If you love detective stories as much as I do, and if I'm anywhere near your home town, it would be lovely to see you.
So here are a few more details: On Thursday April 20th, I'll be in the Seattle University Bookstore at 7.00pm. I've been to Seattle once before and loved the chilled, almost European feel for the place. It seems like a good place to begin - not too much of a culture shock. On Friday 21st, I'm speaking at a dinner organized by Copperfields Books in San Francisco. I'm afraid this event is already sold out, but I'm sure I'll be signing stock, so do go along to the bookstore over the weekend if you'd like a copy with my signature. On Saturday 22nd at 2.00pm I'll be in Southern California, chatting about my love of Shetland and the inspiration behind the Jimmy Perez novels in Anne's Book Carnival in Orange.
Sunday April 23rd takes me to Murder by the Book in Houston. I'll be there from 3.00pm - what nicer way could there be to spend a Sunday afternoon? I visited the store years ago, when Dean James was still in charge and I remember it with great affection. That Texas visit inspired one of my early George and Molly books - it was called High Island Blues and it's still available as a download from Bello press. (Definitely not my best novel, but might be interesting if you're a birder...)
On Monday 24th, I'll be in another iconic independent mystery bookstore - Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona, run by the inspirational Barbara Peters. I can remember wandering round the shop when I was a relatively new author, thinking how terrific it would be to have a US publisher and see my books on the shelves. I'll be signing there from 7.00pm-8.00pm. Please come along and make my day! If you can't get there though, I'm sure there'll be some signed copies to buy later in the week, or if you'd like a personalized copy, let the store know in advance.
On Tuesday 25th I'll be flying north to Kansas City MO, to speak in Rainy Day Books at 7.00pm. I'm very much looking forward to this one, because the owners have been great supporters, especially of the Shetland books, right from the start. The following day I'll be in McIntyre's Books in Fearrington Village, NC, which looks like a delightful place to end the tour.
After that I won't be flying home immediately though. I'll be at Malice Domestic, probably the most friendly and welcoming crime convention, in Bethesda, MD. I'll have the great pleasure of interviewing conference honouree, Elaine Viets. If you're there, please track me down and say hello. Also, thanks to the kindness of the production team which makes VERA, I've offered a rather special prize to the charity auction this year, so do check that out too.
Then it'll be home. To write. And sleep.
Posted by Ann at 09:34 AM GMT
