Oline Cogdill

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The intimate Deadly Ink Mystery Conference is back on track with the 12th convention scheduled for Aug. 2 to 4 at the Hyatt Regency, 2 Albany St., New Brunswick, NJ.

The conference organizers certainly have chosen well for its guest of honor.

Hank Phillippi Ryan, whose novel The Other Woman has garnered a lot of buzz, critical acclaim and five award nominations, is scheduled to be the guest of honor. Well, anyone who has read the novel about adultery, politics and murder, and a few “other women,” knows why Ryan has been getting a lot of attention lately. Ryan was profiled in Mystery Scene's Fall 2012 issue, No. 126.


Ryan will be joined by toastmaster Rosemary Harris, left, author of the Dirty Business series featuring Paula Holliday, a former television exec with a passion for gardening and sleuthing.


At this point, Deadly Ink has about 45 people signed up but the organizers are hoping to top 70 people.

As usual, authors will lead an array of panels and workshops. The conference kicks off with a full day of Deadly Ink Writer’s Academy classes for aspiring writers, on Aug. 2. Ryan will present “Writing Your Mystery—All You Need to Know Before You Start.”

Rosemary Harris will teach “Characters and Setting,” followed by Jane Cleland with “Red Herrings.” Classes wind up with “The Top 10 Reasons Your Novel Is Rejected,” by author and agent Lois Winston.

Authors scheduled to attend include Brad Parks, Jeff Cohen and Donald and Renee Bain, authors of the Murder She Wrote series, and Patricia King who writes as Annamaria Alfieri.

“Deadly Ink is New Jersey's own mystery conference, and like our state, we may be small but don't count us out,” said author Roberta Rogow, vice-chair of Deadly Ink. “New Brunswick is right in the middle of everything, only a few blocks from the train station, with plenty of parking for day trippers.”

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Unlike Bouchercon and Malice Domestic, Deadly Ink is a more smaller conference, which several authors said was an asset.

“I enjoy smaller conferences where you get a chance to interact with virtually everyone there – whether it’s because of a panel, a smaller breakout session or just a chat at the bar. Also, Hank Phillippi Ryan is Guest of Honor and Rosemary Harris is Toastmaster this year, and they’re both awesome. I figured I couldn’t go too far wrong,” said Brad Parks, right, the author of the Carter Ross novels including Faces of the Gone, Eyes of the Innocent, and The Good Cop, his latest. Parks is the winner of the 2010 Shamus Award, the 2010 Nero Award and the 2013 Lefty Award. A profile of Parks ran in Mystery Scene's  Spring 2013 issue, No. 129.

“The conference is small and I do like that, because I get to talk to actual readers and not feel like I'm trying to be noticed in the third tier of Yankee Stadium,” said Jeff Cohen, author of the Comedy Tonight series. Under the name E.J. Copperman, Cohen writes the Haunted Guesthouse Mystery series, which began with Night of the Living Deed and continues with An Uninvited Ghost, Old Haunts, and Chance of a Ghost. The series will continue in November 2013 with The Thrill of the Haunt.

Registration is still open. For more information, visit the Deadly Ink web site, or like it on Facebook.

 

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