We arrived in DC on Sunday - took advantage of the Hyatt's convention rate extension - and did some sight seeing - Arlington, various museums & monuments. Met Jon & Ruth for dinner on Monday evening, good Italian food and conversation. Had to keep interrupting Jon to explain to my husband what on earth we were babbling about. My husband told me later quite sincerely that he enjoyed the evening too - so I count that a success that Jon, Ruth, & I managed to keep him from feeling excluded.

Wednesday after supper - noticed that Typhoon RAM had hit the bar area - met Karin, Eileen, Ellen, Beth, Judi, Steve Booth, and chatted for a bit.

Thursday saw my husband off on the airplane - met a LOT of other RAMily members - and began attending panels.

Inwardly groaned at the expansion of my TBR list - need to check out Peter Lovesey. Free books included two by Michael Connelly. Already have dipped into Chris Niles who was on the Tart Noir panel - and got a few pages into _Death of a Red Heroine_ which won the Anthony for best first novel.

Panel highlights included CBS' Anthony Mason discussing how Sue Grafton, Connelly, Ed Hoch & Lovesey approach the genre as fans - how they got started reading mysteries, how they started writing, etc. laurie King, Val McDermid & Dana Stabenow booked to talk about mysteries with protagonists named "Kate" with Laurie pitching the prepared agenda over her shoulder and leading a nice discussion on mysteries in general - with Val breaking into song every few minutes - featuring snippets from Cole Porter's musical "Kiss Me Kate"

Thursday night at the bar one of the many attendees to wonder just exactly who the RAM bunch was struck up a conversation with me. Michael McGarrity invited me to check out his website and was pleased to notice I had checked his panel as one I planned to attend. Panel also included one of my favorites - Eleanor Taylor Bland - along with Lovesey & Ian Rankin. Bland has a new book out - and I need to read at least one by McGarrity - his are set in New Mexico and sound very interesting.

Then on to Tart Noir in which Vicki Hendricks provided a stunning plot summary of her contribution to the anthology to be published next spring. Suffice it to say that Hendricks comments on her research into dolphin mating mechanics left Laura Lippman open mouthed and clearly struggling for something appropriate to say. Her choice of words "I have never felt so boring in my whole life!" brought down the house - and gave us a genuine opportunity to drown out the panel on the other side of the partition which was being regaled by Harlan Coben.

Later in the day, had a chance to visit with Chuck Box whose first book _Open Season_ is an excellent addition to nature oriented mysteries. And a really intriguing discussion in the Show Business panel which included Keith Snyder. Shelley Freydont's comments about the difference between three dimensional, ephemeral arts including dance and theater, two dimensional arts like film and tape, and one dimensional arts like books were just fascinating. Have no idea what this lady's books are like, but she is fascinating!

Saturday was an hour long conversation with Joe R. Lansdale, interviewed by Doug Winter. Very interesting guys - both of them! have to put more Lansdale on the TBR list!

Had to pass on many panels featuring lots of authors I had hoped to listen to - too many good choices scheduled at the same time as other panels. Friday night in the bar was the RAM party - Ann from Oz made an extremely dramatic entrance as she dumped contents of her airline carryon on to the table. Several dozen packages of Tim Tams which were almost as quickly snatched up by all the RAM chocoholics. We later moved out of the bar area to a roomier section of the lobby, Beth passed her phone around and we all got to say "Hi" to Katy - and eventually a group of us pried ourselves away to eat some dinner.

Saturday lunch time managed to catch a little of the post 9/11/01 unsanctioned panel. Very interesting discussion - will try to get my hands on Mark's video, or some type of transcript.

Saturday evening as a few of us sat visiting Lee and Jane Child sat down close to us. This led to a conversation about monuments, use of public money, buearocratic (sp?) influence, etc, etc between Jane and Brigid with the rest of us listening & adding pertinent comments at times. I gathered up my courage and asked Lee about Reacher's girl friend - he commented that he had fallen in love with her himself, and was still not sure about her eventual future in the Reacher series. New book is at the publishers now.

Eventually we were passing NC ginger cookies and cheese straws around, sharing them with the Childs, etc, etc, and the inevitable question - "Who are you guys? and How can I find out more about what makes you such good friends?" So tried to explain to Lee how to find us on the Net - Jane stepped in and asked me to tell HER - confided that she didn't think Lee could figure it out. So careful - he may be lurking some time soon! Hope he posts at least a little.

The whole time was great. I am hoping to repeat it in Austin, with lots more of you in attendance.

See you there

A R Pickett aka Woodstock