Author Photos

Author Signing Photos
with special thanks to Jon Jordan for sharing his photos.

On September 21st, my sister Jennifer woke Ruth and I up a bit earlier than we intended to be up, That's okay, we're tolerant people and we love Jennifer. My first conscience act of the day was to rid Jennifer of a song going through her head, so thusly did I playeth the x-mas carols of Harry Connick Jr. As soon as I walked away from the stereo I heard Jennifer moving very quickly, and the music stopped. Jen-4 decided we needed to listen to some Irish music to help psych up for the days events. Which actually meant Jennifer and I dancing and singing along with House Of Pain and their song "Jump Around'. Thusly was the tone for the day set....

About half an hour later Mike Lind arrived from Madison. Mike is one of the owners of Booked 4 Murder in Madison and he came to join us for the day. (Some of you may have met him at B-Con, he looks a bit like Michael Connolly's little brother). We all headed out a bit early, which was a good thing, because Al's Run had screwed up the downtown traffic flow. (Al was Al Maguire, Marquette basketball coach, and his run is a charity event for children's hospital). We got to the store, loaded up on coffee next door at the bakery and introductions made. Very soon the store was filling and we went outside to smoke. And that's when we saw Mr. Connolly arrive with his body guard Garret. Actually Garret is a buddy of John's now living in Chicago who came up for a Rugby match, and later said that he would not take a bullet for John, however he added that he would get one last book signed before he died....

After talking a while outside, we figured that perhaps people waiting in the store might also enjoy John's company and we went in to watch the show. John once again entertained the crowd and was very gracious indeed to all his fans. Annie came in a little late (see Al's Run above), but still had plenty of time for questions and such. Moving on to the actual signing the
books bit brought out a side of Annie I hadn't seen. Some advance copies of White Road were available, and Annie desired to be an owner of one such book. However, the supply had been depleted. A nice gentleman offered to sell his to her for what he paid for it. Annie smiled and pulled out her wallet faster than a gunslinger drawing down... And said " I feel bad about this, but not bad enough to not buy your book". It was a precious moment. (let it be said that the kind soul ended up with a copy of his own in the long run). As the signing wound down we made plans...

And so, Ruth and John dropped off Garret at Rugby, and Annie and Dave (from MysteryOne) in one car, My brother Paul and Jennifer in Paul's giant pick up truck, and Mike and I in Jen4's rentawreck. We met downtown at a place called Flannery's and had lunch. Which was really nice. John hooked up with a hotel, and had to go collect Garret and run a few errands. We exchanged phone numbers and off he went, a flurry of activity. My sister Dianne joined us just as we finished. As we looked for the waitress, we had discovered that the bill was covered. (John is extremely nice). Dianne and Annie were off to some antique stores, Ruth and Paul off to buy beer, and the rest of us off to hunt books. And Annie ended up hunting books with as well after all.

Eventually we met back a my place and rested a bit. After a while we hooked back up with the boys and had a great diner (which Annie insisted on paying for, almost wrestling John to the ground) Annie finally decided to head home, so we wished her well and as she drove off, we walked to another tavern.

At this point I think I will close by saying that We had a lot of fun, and we will all need naps...........