Monday, March 24, 2014

Left Coast Crime: Act 2


 First, let's get past the pesky issue of the who was stalking whom at Jeff's panel.   Here is my evidence, exhibit A.

The Defense rests.

MIE authors had many proud moments.  Jeff took some time off from stalking me to write about them in his previous blog.  Here is one of my favorites:

Our own Cara Black, just after she was interviewed by Louise Penny


Another highlight of the conference was an interview of Sue Grafton, during which she revealed that her first best seller, "A" is for Alibi, was her eight published novel.  A consoling and encouraging thought for many writers who have not yet reached those heights.

Following that interview,  I repaired to the bar with some friends for a preprandial libation.  A tall Frenchman came up to me as we were ordering our drinks and told me, in a charming accent, how much he admired what I had had to say.  I was pleased with the compliment and imagined he may have attended my panel earlier in the day.  I thanked him and shook his hand.  He told me he was so impressed that he was going to read all of my books.  What author would not want to hear such a statement?  I again thanked him, but I had some niggling doubts about what this all meant.  Then he said, "I was particularly impressed when you gave zat slap in zee face to zoze fools in Hollywood."  It was at that point that I realized, he thought I was Sue Grafton. I was taken aback, not imagining that this could be possible.  I didn't want to embarrass the man, so I thanked him a third time and said I hoped he would enjoy the books.  We shook hands again and he left.

Sue

Not Sue
I only wish all of her fans would mistake one of my books for one of hers!



Annamaria - Monday






16 comments:

  1. Annamaria, the first photograph above may be your "Exhibit A," but it's my "A is for Alibi." As is corroborated both by your experience with that Frenchman at the bar (don't get jealous now, Everett) and your comely photographs three and four, it was never my intent to stalk you: I was after Sue Grafton. :p

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    1. I will leave it to the jury to figure out why the prosecutor is mounting a defense.

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  2. So, shall we call you Annamaria? Or Patricia? Or Sue?

    I'm sue confused...

    And who was the shiny forehead in the first photo? It looks like they slapped 'censored' black-bar across his mouth because they were offended by something he was saying!

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    1. Let's try to be sympathetic to Jeff. Perhaps he was only trying to hide from Sue Grafton, who--he imagined--was stalking him.

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    2. Just like a devil like Everett to mistake a halo for a shiny forehead.

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    3. Though it is out of character for our roles of sibling rivals on this blog, Jeff, I have to say: you are hilarious!

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  3. wow thanks A for that great photo

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  4. And you, Annamaria look radiant as I hadn't seen you in ages! Makes me very happy!
    Nico

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    1. Thanks, Nico. Being with my tribe always makes me glow.

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  5. ARGH! I have additional evidence to offer - I fell asleep last night before I could email it to Annamaria!!! (I'm sorry!!)

    I had a wonderful time at the conference - it was delightful to meet Jeff, and to spend time with Jeff and Annamaria and Lisa (I'll be sending you a YouTube link within a few days....YOU KNOW WHY).

    As far as the Great Stalking Calamari Trial of '14 is concerned, I think the verdict is obvious...

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    1. Susan, come back and give us another guest blog, PLEASE.

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  6. YESSSS! I can see why he thought you were Sue!!!!! You could be twins in these pictures!!!!! T. Jackie Straw in Manhattan, who is often mistaken for a Renoir painting by a lady at the 92 Y!!!

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    1. Thelma, I only wish my royalty statements looked more like hers. :(

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  7. I can really see the resemblance, too!

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    1. L, I feel bad. I had been thinking that French guy had really bad eyesight or was a bit crazy until I looked for a picture to put here. I thought the evidence would show he was really off. But... As I said to Thelma, I would rather my sales to looked like hers.

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