Deadly Ink 2016

Annamaria on Monday

I offer you a photo essay of this year's Deadly Ink conference, which took place this past weekend in New Brunswick--a university town in central New Jersey.

Because it happens in the same Hyatt Regency every year and especially because many of the annual attendees are pals of mine from the New York Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, the mystery writing conference has the familiar feel of being back in the dorm with my college friends.

The attendees are a mixture of published authors, aspiring authors, and fans.  The level of discourse at the panels is extremely high.  The price of the ticket includes meals served in a hotel ballroom at round tables, where, at each meal, the participants sit at different tables with different people and we all get to know new people every day.

Friday night: instead of the typical opening evening cocktail party, a gathering
called "Deadly Desserts," and a group of writers who are from or who write about
New Jersey, telling us why the state offers locales for every sub-genre of mystery.

Panelists who discussed the importance of verisimilitude:

Seated: Peggy Ehrhart, AJ Sidransky, Nina Mansfield.

Standing:Jane Kelly, Kate Gallison, Jeff Markowitz, 

Suzanne Solomon.

Roaming the Globe with Hilary Davidson, Annamaria Alfieri, AJ Sidransky, and Roberta Rogow.

Our experts on the difference between Tropes and Cliches:
Steven Rigolosi, Charles Salzberg, Jack Getze, and Jack Bludis

Toastmaster Hilary Davidson interviews Guest of Honor Reed Farrel Coleman

EF Watkins interviews Toastmaster Hilary Davidson

My favorite: The "What If" panel where the attendees in the audience and four
authors on the dais develop an impromptu hard boiled mystery plot, to hilarious effect.
  

Deadly Ink

This weekend conference, which takes place in central New Jersey, attracts writers and fans from the local area and also a few from afar.  For my tribe of New York Metro Area crime writers, its a chance to spend a weekend talking, laughing, eating, and drinking.  The hotel is comfortable and after a few years of going back to the same location and joining in the activities, it feels a bit like being back in a college dorm--in the fun sense of that experience, where one's friends are nearby and companionship is always at the ready.  Here are some snaps of the highlights for me: 

The kick off panelists: who set their tales in New Jersey: Kate Gallison, Jeff Markowitz,
E.F. Watkins, Roberta Rogow, (standing) S.A. Solomon, Jo-ann Lamon Reccoppa.

The stars of the show: Guest of Honor--Brad Parks, Toastmaster - E.F. Watkins
David Award (tied) winners Jeff Markowitz for Death and White Diamonds and
Steve Rigolosi for The Outsmarting of Criminals.

My panel on Location, Location, Location with K. Gallison, Kim Kash,
R. Ragow, KB Inglee, me, and moderator J,. Markowitz.

I moderated  a super-fun panel, where these authors answered as their protagonists:
Jane Kelly, E.F. Watkins, Sheila York, K. Kash, B. Parks, and moi.

Our NY chapter of MWA hosted the conference Sunday brunch:
Here I am making a pitch for people to join the tribe!

Annamaria - Monday