Reds prepare to take Bouchercon... again!

HALLIE EPHRON: Last year, there is no disputing that Reds took Bouchercon. We did a hilarious panel game show, a la Family Feud with Hank in the role of Richard Dawson.  The ballroom was crammed to overflowing. The audience laughed and called out answers and got prizes.

I was working the WRONG and RIGHT answer buzzers and the projector and trying not to pee in my pants. Julia's husband Ross kept calling out... let's just call them "inspired" answers--resulting in Rhys wrestling the buzzer away from him. While Rosemary, Debs, and Lucy racked up the score for their sides.

This year we're doing something a little different. "Somewhere Along the Line" invites you to guess the correct first line. And we'll be playing against each other AND the audience. So plan on grabbing an early lunch -- we will be!

Because the panel is FRIDAY, September 21 at 12:30 in Room 6!

So are we in training for this or what?
HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: I'm rereading the classics. Moby Dick. Jane Eyre. Rebecca. A is for Alibi. I know Rhys is going to try to stump  us. But WE'RE going to try to stump YOU! (And there'll be prizes, too!)  But Rhys, how is this going to work again?

RHYS BOWEN: Since I have been given the task of keeping this unruly mob in order, I've already started work at finding fabulous/interesting/unbelievable first lines hoping to stump a very knowledgeable audience. I also plan a few surprises to keep my panel on their toes-. After all, we have to let Julia's husband Ross come up with his own brand of wacky wit. 

There are so many panels that duplicate other panels from past conventions that our aim is to be fresh and different and amusing--and of course the best panel at the convention!

LUCY BURDETTE: Oh geez, way to set the bar high Rhys! I'm studying the basics of English grammar and syntax. I have no idea how this might the team, but I figure Hank's got the classics covered. If that doesn't work, I plan to twerk...

ROSEMARY HARRIS: I'll be keeping tabs on you gals from afar. I'll be at the Brooklyn Book Festival that weekend, at the other end of the Hudson River. My training for that event will be vastly different. I'll be channeling my inner "fuggedaboudit" and communing with my peeps. But Hank and I did a version of this at Deadly Ink and it was a great success. Except for the ridiculously obscure lines some people threw out.

No fair using any of the authors in Sarah Weinman's anthology!


JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: I'm preparing by doing sprints, push-ups and leg lunges - all so I can hurtle across the stage, tackle Ross, and muzzle him if he gets totally out of control.

Since Rhys is the mistress of ceremonies, I have ordered and will read the entire ouevre of British childrens' author Edith Nesbitt so I shall be ready when we get the opening of The Wouldbegoods. I'm also going to swot up on sexually explicit romance novels, because I think Rhys might play against type. And if she doesn't, I've spent the month reading sexually explicit romance novels. Really, there's no downside.

Finally, I plan on  carrying this mug to the event.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am, and will be, totally unprepared. I will depend entirely on telepathic communication from the audience, so they had better be on their toes!

As for our mini-quiz, I think I got five out of seven. (Am trying really hard not to cheat...) I do, however, recognize my own first line!

HALLIE: As for me, I'm looking for the Zone so I can get in it and practice my laser focus. Also wondering: will Google Watch be out in time? It's got to be the next best thing to writing first lines up and down the inside of my arms.

To work up our excitement, I've prepared a little pre-panel quiz. This should be a piece of cake compared to the challenges in store for you at Bouchercon.

Your challenge: Match the first line with the book by a Jungle Red Writer.
1. RAIN OR SHINE, that's what Ivy Rose had put in the yard sale ad.
2. "Listen, Jane. I don't think she's my real mother."
3. It was a hell of a night to throw away a baby.
4. Lots of people think they'd love to eat for a living.
5. As deliveries went, this one was somewhere between a balloon telegram and a bulletproof vest wrapped around a dead fish.
6. Erika Rosenthal woke, her body jerking to the whump of the bomb, the flash of light from the incendiary flickering against her closed eyelids.
7. There are two disadvantages to being a minor royal.

a. The Wrong Girl - Hank Phillippi Ryan
b. Her Royal Spyness - Rhys Bowen
c. Where Memories Lie - Deborah Crombie
d. An Appetite for Murder - Lucy Burdette
e. Never Tell a Lie - Hallie Ephron
f. In the Bleak Midwinter - Julia Spencer Fleming
g. The Bitches of Brooklyn - Rosemary Harris

A copy of one of these books to the lucky person chosen who guesses them all right! Did I say no fair using Google??