Only a Moron...
...would start a blog the day before leaving on a book tour. Let me introduce myself. Yep, that's what I did, and that's why you haven't heard from me for almost a month. The book tour was great, however. I was accompanied by Caroline Todd (the mother half of the Charles Todd duo, and Elena Santangelo, famous for her Pat Montello series. We set off under the guise of "Three Ladies of Mystery" and made tracks from Lancaster to Harrisburg and back to Collegeville and Doylestown, stopping at numerous bookstores along the way. At some point we were accused of "Menniniting." This is a Menninite tradition of traveling without stopping at public hostels, but staying with friends instead. Our friends were very hospitable. At one home we shared bed and breakfast with 1 dog, 4 cats, 1 parrot, 1 rabbit, 2 snakes, 13 white rats, and a half dozen Brazilian cockroaches. (Actually, the rats, snakes and roaches occupied separate beds.) And we all found food for future stories there. The Mechanicsburg Bookstore was one of our nicest stops. We lingered to browse, rest, and chat with Debbie Beamer whose shop is a goldmine of mysteries--old and new. Debbie took charge of our sales at the New Cumberland County Library, giving us time to socialize with our audience and pig out on the array of Pennsylvania Dutch baked goods provided by the "Friends of the Library". One of the high points of our tour was the appearance, not once, but twice, of the owners of the RAC Bookstore. Ann and Robin cheered us on from the front row in Lancaster and New Cumberland. Way beyond the call of duty and deeply appreciated. We missed them at Malice this year. Which brings me to the next blog: Malice XX. Tune in tomorrow...
