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| Image by Janja from Pixabay |
You’re bound
to read more and better reports on this year’s Malice Domestic conference, but
here are some of my highlights. First, it was a big weekend for Writers Who
Kill. With twelve members in attendance, the blog was well-represented. With
three members as finalists for Agatha Awards, we were exceptionally
well-represented. I’m proud to be associated with Marilyn Levinson, a finalist for
Rufus and the Dark Side of Magic (Best Children’s/YA Mystery), Connie Berry
for Grave Deception (Best Contemporary Mystery), and Annette Dashofy for
Devil Comes Calling (Best Contemporary Mystery).
Best of all,
Annette was the Malice Domestic Guest of Honor. That is incredibly cool and
well-deserved. Hank Phillippi Ryan interviewed Annette in front of a packed
auditorium, and I enjoyed getting to know more about her. Well done, Annette!
Hank also
interviewed Lifetime Achievement Award winner Jaqueline Winspear. Winspear told
us about the “moment of creative grace” that gave her the inspiration for her long-running
Maisy Dobbs series. She’s a lovely, talented storyteller and author.
Malice-Go-Round,
a yearly event subtitled “speed dating with authors,” is a marathon of trying
to tell a table of eight readers about your latest book(s) in an interesting,
concise, cogent, entertaining way in two minutes or less—twenty times in a row
while nineteen other authors at nineteen other tables in the room are doing the
same thing. Hoo boy. But! You get to go around with a partner and breathe while
they do their two minutes before you both move on to the next table. The person
to team up with for this crazy dash is Writers Who Kill member Sarah E. Burr. Sarah
has enough bright energy to power both of you through to the finish. Thank you
for carrying me along, Sarah.
There are so
many moments that make Malice worthwhile to attend. I’ll leave you with one
more. Ellen Byron, the weekend’s Toastmaster, opened the conference with the
story of the warm welcome she received at her first Malice. She’d arrived
knowing no one, feeling like an interloper and an imposter, and she left
knowing she’d found friends. At the end of her story, Ellen asked first-time
attendees to raise their hands. Then she asked if any of them had come alone and
knew no one. One of those people sat directly in front of me. I quickly
consulted with my conference buddies and then invited the newcomer to have
dinner with us. She accepted with delight. We had a wonderful evening and in
one of those odd Malice quirks we kept running into each other for the rest of
the weekend. On Sunday we said goodbye knowing we’d found a new friend. For me,
that’s a lot of what Malice is about.
Here’s the
recipe for Flaming Bananas Foster that one of my sisters gave my husband and me
as a wedding present 48 years ago (along with other recipes for more sedate and
nutritious dishes). Why is this recipe appropriate for a post-Malice post? Because
after a full and exciting Malice weekend, some people might feel bananas, some
might need the rum and crème de banana liqueur, and some are on fire to get back
to the keyboard and write. Which kind of Malice attendee are you?
Bananas
Foster
Combine over
medium low heat, stirring:
1/4 cup margarine (or butter)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 bananas, sliced
Cook until
bubbly
Raise
temperature to medium high and add:
1 tablespoon rum
1 tablespoon crème de banana liqueur
Have ready
two bowls of vanilla ice cream (Or chocolate? That’s worth trying!)
When mixture gets hot enough it will burst into flame. Keep stirring until the flames stop, then pour the mixture over the ice cream and enjoy!
Molly MacRae writes the Haunted Shell Shop
Mysteries, the Highland Bookshop Mysteries, and the award-winning, national
bestselling Haunted Yarn Shop Mysteries. Visit Molly on Facebook and Pinterest, connect with her on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky.
