September & October, 2006 (On the Road, Part 3)

As mentioned in the last newsletter, we stayed home in August to allow Honora to have knee replacement surgery. This takes up the story from there... (from a 3rd person omnipotent point-of-view.)

After Honora’s knee replacement surgery, she figured she’d get a chance to rest and recuperate in peace. But no! Recuperation for knee surgery requires a lot of physical therapy—at least two sessions every day, plus walking as much as possible. Susan, as Honora’s volunteer coach, had to crack the whip and get her up and moving. 

In the same time frame, the two intrepid plotters finished their second novel manuscript—“The Lawyer Who Died Trying”—and sent it off to their trusted readers for feedback. Now it’s with our publisher and should be out in trade paper and hardback early next year. 

During this period of not so much R&R, Susan said, “People are constantly asking us if we’ve written a cookbook. And we always say, ‘No, it’s a mystery—see, it has the words “who died” in the title.’ But maybe we should actually write a cookbook to go with the mystery.” So they did. Susan pulled together and tested the recipes, and Honora wrote all the introductions to the sections as if Ariel were writing them. Oh, and she got to sample all the recipes after Susan cooked them. There are also lots of quotes from famous writers on cooking. It’s almost as funny as the novel itself. It’s called “A Killer Cookbook, Volume #1: Recipes to Accompany The Chef Who Died Sautéing” And they sent it off to their publisher, who sent back a contract! (The cookbook is now available on amazon.com and either by itself or in combo with the novel makes a great Christmas gift.)  

At the end of September, Susan said to Honora, “Take up your bed and walk!” (or words to that effect). They packed suitcases with clothes for a month and headed for Madison, Wisconsin, the site of this year’s “Bouchercon” mystery conference. For those who haven’t been there, it’s one of the biggest mystery conferences of the year, with we think about 1,200 people. Honora and Susan only got to make a few new friends, but they did enjoy many of the speakers and had a couple of good panels themselves.  

Madison is one of those cities that has brought tourism into the area with an unusual art display—in this case, fiberglass cows painted and decorated by local artists. The cows were all over town, with many around the Capitol square, and since this is in the vicinity of where “Bouchercon” was held, Honora and Susan had a chance to saunter past and admire some of the incredibly creative cows on display. (Susan’s favorite cow was entitled “Half and Half,” a cow split open in the middle with pull tabs on each half that showed it was coffee creamer. Honora had a favorite grouping—“Glenda the Good Witch Cow,” right across from “The Wizard of Oz Cow” and just up from a well-dressed Munchkin cow.) 

Madison is quite a pretty city, situated as it is between two lakes. And there were many formal and informal events as a part of the mystery conference. Unfortunately, Susan and Honora weren’t invited to one of the private parties where it is alleged that some of the participants got very drunk, took off their clothes, and went skinny-dipping in one of the lakes. (Honora and Susan wouldn’t have participated—it was way too cold and way too dark. But they would have enjoyed laughing and pointing!) 

When “Bouchercon” was over, they packed their bags again and drove down to Chicago, where they caught a plane for Vancouver, BC (via Dallas, for some reason)—which is Susan’s Canadian home. They spent a lot of time with her mother, Liz Smily, the well-known Canadian artist (who did the frontispiece for both of Honora and Susan’s first two novels). Thanks to Liz’s connections, they had a lovely time attending various luncheons and putting on about seven unexpected pounds each—whoops! 

They also had a couple of speaking engagements and a very nice book signing and book talk at the West Vancouver Community Arts Council’s Center, known as The Silk Purse. This is a wonderful little Arts Center right on the water. They were also in two of the local papers. And they had a good time visiting with several of Susan’s old friends from her teacher days. 

Bidding a fond farewell to beautiful Vancouver, they boarded their plane for Chicago (via Dallas) and came back to the Central Time Zone. Then they jumped in their van and high-tailed it for Bloomington, Indiana, where they saw a wonderful production of Massanet’s “Manon” at the IU opera school. It was a magnificent production, and all the more entertaining because the soprano playing Manon was a former IU grad who had been called in on the spur of the moment because the diva of the day was suffering a throat ailment. With only a few hours to learn the blocking, she turned in a flawless performance. Bravo!!! 

Then the weary travelers popped up to Indianapolis for a night to visit some of Honora’s children and grandchildren before making their way home. 

Ah, home! (Sigh of satisfaction.) They were there for three days, during which Honora had three doctors’ appointments and they did a Hemi-Synch workshop for their chiropractor. Then they packed up again and headed for “Magna cum Murder,” the annual mystery conference at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana. 

“Magna cum Murder” was a lovely small conference, where Honora and Susan had a chance to meet and make friends with lots of new fans, pick up more new ideas for books, and eat a lot more magnificent dinners and lunches. (Honora has not tried the scales this time when she was home—too scary!) The panels were lots of fun, too, and Honora and Susan have now started plotting a thriller, which they’re looking forward to developing as soon as book three in the “Who Died” series is finished. 

Before they left Muncie, they had the pleasure of being interviewed on a local TV show called “BookTalk.” Then they came home and were interviewed again, this time on radio, on the “Cuzin’ Eddie Show” in McLeansboro, Illinois. The radio interview was on Halloween, so they got to talk at length about the ghosts in their novels, and about Ariel as a psychic detective. Again they were home for only three days, during which Susan had a dentist’s appointment, Honora wrote her quarterly column for “Pathways” newspaper in Washington, D.C., and they did an advanced Hemi-Sync workshop for their chiropractor. Then they packed their bag yet once again and headed for Manhattan, Kansas for the Great Manhattan Mystery Conclave. 

On the way there they stayed overnight in Independence, MO, and the next morning they decided to visit the Harry Truman Presidential Library and Museum before traveling on. Truman has always been one of Honora’s favorite presidents because of his honesty, forthrightness, and willingness to take responsibility, as in, “The Buck Stops Here.” (This sign, suitable for posting on your desk at home, is available to all visitors for free as you leave the museum.)  

Because the Truman era was filled with controversy, and because opinions are still split about whether Truman made the “right” decisions in so many cases, the museum offers a lot of displays with choices about some of his decisions that actually allow visitors to vote—did he make the right decision or the wrong decision, and why do you think what you think? A “thought provoking” experience, to say the least! 

As they left the museum, Susan suggested they drive past Truman’s home and then make one more stop at an unusual architectural site up the road, which looked as if it had a spiral tower. It turned out to be the Community of Christ (Latter Day Saints) Temple and museum. Honora and Susan wanted to see the inside, if possible, and it happened that they arrived seven minutes before there was to be a “prayer for peace” service in the sanctuary that was open to the public. Also, the temple had a humongous pipe organ, and organ recitals in the temple were normally given only on weekends…and at the daily “prayer for peace” service! This was one of those little synchronicities that Honora and Susan often encounter—so they gratefully saw the inside of the temple AND got a brief organ recital. The chaplain who accompanied them on their little tour of the building noted that the prayer for peace was dedicated to a different country every day—on the day they were there, the country was Madagascar.  

From the inside of the sanctuary, it was clear that the spiral tower was actually constructed like the inside of a seashell. Honora, always interested in sacred architecture and sacred geometry, noted that the energy generated from the “golden proportion” of the seashell tower was an interesting way to bring a positive healing force to attendees. In the ancient world this healing force was generated by putting places of worship on ley lines, or the energy lines in the earth itself, or in the case of some Native American sites, by building over water sources or underground springs. 

After visiting the temple’s museum, Susan and Honora headed for Manhattan, KS. The GMMC was a small but very friendly mystery conference, with entertaining panels and speakers and a really fun “encounter” with the work of Manhattan’s own Damon Runyon. Susan and Honora actually were runners up in the trivia contest and won Rob Walker’s new “PSI: Blue” novel. They also won two door prizes at the conference dinner: a BBC travel mug, and Radine Trees Nehring’s “A Valley to Die For.” Altogether a winning evening! 

Now they’ve started planning 2007’s round of writing conferences—so far, these include “Love Is Murder” in Chicago in February; “Malice Domestic” in Arlington, Virginia in May; and “Murder in the Grove” in Boise, Idaho in June. And beyond that…who can guess where the intrepid pair will strike next?