Hello there! Day 3 of my posts about the Malice Domestic convention that I attended a few weeks ago. Today, we will talk about auctions and books. The two conventions that I have attended have both had a 'Silent' Auction and a 'Live' Auction. There are great prizes for attendees to bid on and the proceeds go to local charity programs - always a good thing. Some of the prizes included baskets of books, baskets with books and other special items, art, a 'Little Free Library', opportunities to have a character named for the bidder in an upcoming book, all sorts of great things. The auctions at this Malice benefited KEEN Greater DC. It was great because between the two auctions, something over $10,000 was raised. Yay!
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| Silent Auction Room |
This picture was taken in the 'Silent' Auction Room. Lots of fun things to bid on, plus attendees could get a glimpse of the items that would be available at the 'Live' Auction, held on Friday evening. The 'Silent' Auction concluded on Saturday afternoon. I bid on several items here, but since I was busy as a 'panel monitor', I wasn't able to check in at the last minute and so didn't get to increase my bids. Ah well. It's all good and I'm glad I got to 'bid up' some items for the great cause.
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| Hank Phillippi Ryan and Elaine Viets encouraging bidding at 'Live' Auction |
The 'Live' Auction was held on Friday evening and included lots of yummy desserts at the tables to put attendees in the mood to 'bid it up'. There were 4 authors that served as 'Auctioneers' - Hank Phillippi Ryan (and yes every time I saw her at the whole convention, she was wearing 4-inch heels - amazing!!), Elaine Viets, Dana Cameron, and Christine Trent. There were some great prizes and the ladies did a good job of reminding us why we were bidding, but also making the most of the items. There was a chance to be a character in Ann Cleeves' next Vera Stanhope book - plus, if the person could get to the UK in late summer, a trip to the TV set to meet the cast. There was an uncorrected proof of Louise Penny's upcoming book - Glass Houses, which went for a lot of money! Hank Phillippi Ryan offered two prizes (one won by my table mate), a 'Book of the Month' by your favorite authors - signed, and a 'Guppy Book of the Month' -signed as well. The 'Guppies' are new authors and members of Sisters in Crime. Many well known authors were once Guppies. I did win an item that I'll show below in a picture. The last item offered was an edited manuscript of The Painted Queen, the final Amelia Peabody mystery, started by Elizabeth Peters and finished by Joan Hess. More about Joan tomorrow. Happily, the bids on that manuscript were quite high too, as they should have been.
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| Book Dealers Room (more than books) |
I was happy to get to spend a nice amount of time in the Book Dealers Room. Lots to see and check out. Bought a few books - put a few back - put a few on my 'wishlist'.
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| My 'win' from the 'Live' Auction - all of Marcia Talley's Hannah Ives series. |
Marcia Talley was the Toastmaster for this convention and I've heard about her mystery series for a long time. Have not read any of the books though. I decided to bid on a basket that contained all the books in the series, 15 of them. And I won! I'm not going to list all the books with links. You can look those up if you like. I will provide a link to her page on Stop You're Killing Me - here. The first book in the series is Sing It To Her Bones (1999) and the most recent, Footprints To Murder (2016). Most of these were signed by the author.
These were books that I either bought, came in my registration bag, or were given to attendees of the final Agatha Tea on Sunday afternoon. None of them are signed.
Faithful Unto Death - Stephanie Jaye Evans (bought)
anthology of short stories by various authors (bought)
anthology of short stories by various authors (bought)
Mississippi Blood - Greg Iles (book bag)
Death in Rough Water - Francine Mathews (book bag)
Murder on the Orient Express - Agatha Christie (provided to all at Agatha Tea)
Once Upon a Midnight Noir - Carole Nelson Douglas (book bag)
A Perfect Manhattan Murder - Tracy Kiely (book bag)
The Suspicion at Sanditon - Carrie Bebris (book bag)
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| Signed Books |
I was able to attend the author signings and get all of these autographed by their creators. Some I bought, one came in my book bag, and two were gifted to me by the author.
The Lanvin Murders - Angela M. Sanders (bought)
Angela, who also writes cozies under the name Clover Tate, was one of the first duo of authors at the Malice Go Round. I decided to try one of her books because she's from Portland!
A Front Page Affair - Radha Vatsal (book bag)
Circle of Influence - Annette Dashofy (bought)
Sign Off - Patricia McLinn (bought)
Patricia was the other author in the first duo at Malice Go Round. Her series is set in Wyoming.
Black Cat Crossing - Kay Finch (bought)
Kay is from Texas, sets her series in the Texas Hill Country, and shares my name - autobuy!
Birthday Party Murder - Leslie Meier (gift from author)
British Manor Murder - Leslie Meier (gift from author)
So delighted to meet Leslie. I'll share more in my next Malice post about why she gifted me two books!
Cover Me In Darkness - Eileen Rendahl (bought)
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Enough for today! Next Tuesday, my encounters with authors. Some were longtime favorites, some are new favorites, and some will no doubt become favorites.
Such great authors at the conference. I've met a few of them at other book events.
ReplyDeleteSome fine author for sure.
DeleteHow fabulous! I've never been to one of these, but now I want to do so. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteIt's a lot of fun. Just listening to the authors talk about their books and writing - and then lots of other things too.
DeleteWow! Congrats on winning a basket of books! Looks like you had a blast.
ReplyDeleteYes, I did give the basket itself away. Just too big to ship. It was a lot of fun.
DeleteYes, it's a lot of fun - for book people anyway.
ReplyDeleteKay, you are a lifesaver! At a time when I've blown through most of my new gift books and am floundering for a bunch of mystery titles, you gave me a bushel-full!
ReplyDeleteOn GR, I must have added about half of either the authors or books you mentioned, so I wouldn't forget to look for them. I intend to hit up the used book store and the library this weekend, so I am confident I'll score one or more of these books. I'm in the mood recently for cozy mysteries or light(er) suspense and they fit the bill.
On a side note: Isn't H.P. Ryan gorgeous? She stays the same... and I love her books. I should read for her older series while waiting for more of the newest one. And I read Circle of Influence just a couple of month ago by Annette Dashofy and enjoyed it.
Yay for a basketful of Marcia Talley. Winning a whole series is the best gift a reader can get-- because you can space them out, lend them out, or binge on them and they're right on your shelf. Enjoy all~
Glad you enjoyed finding new books, Rita. Hope your library or used bookstore have a few of them. And, yes, HP Ryan is beautiful - I still couldn't believe she could stand those heels! Ha!
DeleteWhat fun this sounds like!
ReplyDeleteIt was a great time for me!
DeleteThis sounds like a mystery lover's dream vacation. I imagine your car was overloaded!
ReplyDeleteWell, if we had driven, it would have been. Since we flew, I had to ship the books home. LOL
DeleteThat is wonderful how much money was able to be raised for such a good cause. I bet it's so hard to decide which books to get with so many available! Congrats on your winning bid and can't wait hear how you like your books!
ReplyDeleteNice! I remember Hank Phillippi Ryan being a beautiful force when I saw her at Bouchercon years ago.
ReplyDelete