I was very fortunate this last weekend to be able to attend the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. This is an annual affair held in beautiful Corte Madera California which is in Marin County north of San Francisco. The agenda was extremely full and beginning on Thursday July 24^th at 4:00 to Sunday July 27 at 4:00 there did not seem to be a moment that wasn’t filled with delicious craft, scene, publishing and support. I have to believe this is the best conference of its kind in the US. The mission of the conference founders was to provide the writer with a full toolkit for success and to do it with the most talented faculty that can be found.  On Thursday, I will list the agenda to give you an idea of the subjects covered. Today I want to list the faculty so you can get a feeling of how exciting it was to be present. The faculty members were committed to be at the conference for the full four days and they were present at all meals and functions. There is an unwritten rule that all egos need to remain outside and that the conference is an opportunity to share ideas and improve writing skills.

You must imagine how thrilling it is to sit with these wonderful people and share stories, plot, challenges and triumphs. This went on at each meal and during regular classes.

Here is the faculty and imagine having coffee, breakfast, dinner, or lunch with them individually and being able to hear wonderful stories about their writing career.

Isabel Allende – Author of Maya’s Notebook, Zorro, Portrait in Sepia, Daughter of Fortune and Ripper

Ace Atkins – Selected to continue  the late Robert B. Parker Spenser series

Cara Black – Author of the Aimee Leduc mysteries

Rhys Bowen – Author of The Royal Spyness and Molly Murphy mysteries. Winner of the Agatha and Anthony awards

Susan Breall – Superior Court Judge San Francisco

Peter Busch – Superior Court Judge San Francisco

Kimberly Cameron – Literary agent and President of Kimberley Cameron and Associates

Karen Catalona – Senior Felony DA San Francisco

David Corbett – Private investigator and author of Do They Know I’m Running and Done for a Dime

George Fong – Director of Security at ESPN and former FBI agent and author of Fragmented

William Gordon – Author of several mysteries including The Chinese Jars and The Halls of Power

Elizabeth Kracht – Literary Agent at Kimberly Cameron

John Lescroart – Author of over twenty-mystery novels

Chelsea Lindman – Literary Agent Sanford J. Greenburger Associates

D.P.Lyle – Physician and author of Howdunit Forensics and Forensics and Fiction

Tim Maleeny – Author of the Cape Weathers series

Jill Marr – Acquiring Agent at Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency

Vilaska Nguyen – Public Defender San Francisco

Otto Penzler – Owner of the Mysterious Bookshop in New York and author of over fifty anthologies

Anne Perry – English author of over eighty books and most known for Thomas Pitt and William Monk series

Willaim Petrocelli – Co-Owner of Book Passages and author of The Circle of Thirteen

Valerie Plame – Former CIA Operations Officer and author of Fair Game and Blowback

Amy Rennert – Literary Agent

Ansy Ross – Literary  Agent

Priscilla Royal – Author of numerous Crime novels

Kirk Russel – Author of three Inspector Ben Raveneau Novels and four Marquez eco-thrillers

Sheldon Siegel – Former attorney and author of Special Circumstances, Perfect Alibi and Terrorist Next Door

Tom Rob Smith – Author of the Child 44 trilogy and the thriller The Farm

Jacqueline Winspear – Author of the NY Times best sellers A lesson in Secrets, The Mapping of Love and Death and The Care and Management of Lies