Post-Edgars, Pre-L.A.

Well, you've probably heard by now that Bill Crider didn't win an Edgar for "Cranked," his much-lauded Damn Near Dead story. However, Bill's Lone Star-style tie was the hit of the Edgars Banquet. And the award for Best Short Story did go to Charles Ardai, a good friend of Secret Dead Blog. So that was nice.

The highlight of the night for me was shaking hands with Donald Westlake (a.k.a. Richard Stark), a longtime hero of mine. I didn't totally fanboy out, but I came close. Thank God for Sarah Weinman, who not only managed to get Westlake's attention for me, but also kept the conversation going when the only word in my head was darrrrrrrrr....

But there's no rest for the starstruck. Today I'm headed out west for the L.A. Times Festival of Books, and tomorrow I'll be at the Crime Time Books booth with Victor Gischler, followed by the Book 'Em Mysteries booth at 3 p.m., and finally the Mystery Bookstore booth at 5 p.m., with both Gischler and Sean Doolittle. If you're at the festival, definitely stop by and say "yo."