Check it out: Magna Cum Murder: Charles Todd, John Gilstrap, William Kent Krueger, more

It's Bouchercon week in San Francisco, and guest of honor Laurie R. King (with her web maven Vicki) is making sure those of us who can't be there can still get the flavor of the huge and prestigious mystery convention; peek at their work here.

But there's more coming up to think about! Thanks to recent e-mails from "McM," I've been reading a lot about the upcoming MAGNA CUM MURDER gathering, Oct. 29-31, and I wish I'd known about this annual Indiana event sooner. The roster of distinguished guests is top-notch, yet the gathering is small enough to meet and talk with everyone. Here's a description from the event web site:   

Lovers of crime writing will enjoy a weekend of panels, programs, interviews, and presentations by forty or so of their favorite writers! Each year an amazing array of crime fiction authors, fans, booksellers, and other publishing industry professionals meet in Muncie, Indiana, for Magna cum Murder Crime Writing Festival. The enthusiasm generated by the last fifteen Magna cum Murders has made this event one of the most popular and well respected forums for crime fiction aficionados in the United States."It's a murderously fun house party for several hundred of your closest friends."

One of the treats of the McM website is that the interviews with Todd, Gilstrap, and so on are archived on the site, easily accessible. Todd (a son-and-mother team) writes haunting British detective novels set during and just after the Great War (World War I); Gilstrap provides fast-paced espionage; William Kent ("Kent") Krueger's Cork O'Connor investigations are rich with the out-of-doors. And Parnell Hall, a New England author with a talent for puzzles, will also be on hand this year.

Worth browsing the website -- and if you're able to fit attending McM into your schedule, I envy you! Registration deadline is (gulp) October 15.