CHINA BAYLES, JOHN MARLIN & BUBBA HO-TEP? ONLY IN TEXAS!

For all you China Bayles herbal mystery fans out there, you should know that author Susan Wittig Albert is now on a blog tour for the soon to be released book Nightshade. Alas, my blog is not one of the host sites, but link to the tour calendar here, and check it out: http://www.abouthyme.com/blogtour.shtml
Not only will you have fun visiting with China and Susan, you will discover some great blogs in the process, and each visit adds to your chances of winning a first edition copy of Nightshade.

Speaking of Susan, did I tell you about the Lone Star Sleuth event that was held over at Texas State not long ago? Remember, I mentioned brazenly going up to tables in the restaurant at the SCN conference recently, and inviting myself to intrude? At one of those tables was a lady named Debi Bowers. Her reply was "You aren't intruding, you were caught in our net. We sat here facing the door intentionally, hoping to nab someone interesting." If I didn't already believe in synchronicity, I certainly would now, for as it turned out, Debi was from Wimberley! She sent me an email after we got back, telling me about an upcoming event over in San Marcos, where Susan Albert would be one of the honorees. John and I had nothing better to do that weekend, so we decided to check it out.

As it turns out, this was a promotional event for a newly released anthology. It contains excerpts from the works of many different authors, all featuring Texan sleuths. I skimmed down the list of names, not recognizing anyone but Susan at first. As soon as we arrived, I spotted Debi and her husband, and we went over to say hello. The authors were seated at small tables around the perimeter of the room, with name cards in front of them, and piles of their recent books waiting to be autographed. The name card closest to me read "Doug Swanson", which rang some distant bell in my head. I glanced up at the person behind it, and thought "Hmmm, looks kind of familiar." I walked up to him. "Are you from Dallas?" I asked. He nodded. "Went to Woodrow Wilson high school?" Another nod. "Had a role in the play Charlie's Aunt?" A nod and a grin. "Well, I probably made your costume for that play," I told him. Turns out he is a staff writer for The Dallas Morning News now, and a while back he wrote several P.I. mysteries that were set in Dallas.

Next Debi and I made our way over to greet Susan Albert, while our husbands wandered off to check out the Lonesome Dove exhibit that was being held in the adjoining rooms. While chatting with Susan, my eyes fell on the pile of books a couple of chairs down. "I know those books!" I exclaimed. Sure enough, it was Ben Rehder, author of the crazy Blanco County mysteries that we introduced the Sanfords to, featuring game warden John Marlin. We bought his new release Gun Shy, and had him sign it to Tim and Chase, but of course, we plan to read it first before we give it to them (must be careful not to leave any chocolate fingerprints in it!).

I spotted John a couple of tables down, with a pile of books in his arm, and went to join him. Seated at the table were a fellow about our age and a pretty young blonde girl. John grinned when he saw me, and started waving a book in my face. "You are not gonna believe who this guy is!" he cried. I grabbed the book from his waving hand and glanced at the title. Bubba Ho-Tep? "You wrote Bubba Ho-Tep?" I exclaimed. "I didn't even know it was a book!" He gave us a special discount when he found out we were huge fans of Bruce Campbell movies. Turns out the pretty blonde was his daughter, and lead-singer of the band that was there to entertain us with some "Country Noir" music.

John showed me the other books he had purchased, and I saw several by someone named Neal Barrett. Again, a bell went off in my head. "Which one is this guy?" I asked, and John pointed to a slim, silver-haired fellow near-by. I approached him and asked if he was, by any chance, related to someone named Sibby Barrett. His eyes lit up. "Why, she's my daughter!" he replied. I explained that we had been to several of her cooking classes over in Blanco, and that we thought she was just an exceptional person all around. He seemed quite tickled. What a small, small world it is.

We were having such a lovely time, we hated for the afternoon to end. Apparently the Bowers felt the same way, for they suggested adjourning to a nearby restaurant for coffee and dessert. We lingered there for quite some time, and since the whole experience had been so synchronistic, I was not even surprised when the two husbands seemed to be hitting it off. Just another magical day in the Texas hill country.