Killer Konference

Last weekend's Killer Nashville mystery conference was a huge success. Attendance doubled from the previous year, and the folks I talked with gave it rave reviews. KN has grown to the ranks of second tier conferences (Bouchercon, Malice Domestic, Left Coast Crime would be first tier). As such, organizer Clay Stafford announced that the 2011 edition would move from its Marriott Cool Springs (Franklin) location to downtown Nashville.

One of the reasons for its success is the tireless efforts of my writers group and Murderous Musings blog colleague, Beth Terrell (author of Racing the Devil). Beth serves as Executive Director of the conference, handling everything from scheduling panels to supervising volunteers to keeping things moving smoothly.

Thriller writer Jeffery Deaver, author of a long string of best sellers, served as Guest of Honor for the fifth edition of Killer Nashville. He showed his laid-back attitude in a session where he was interviewed by Clay Stafford. In a following session, he discussed how he goes about the job of writing thrillers. And he made no bones about it. It's a job.

"Writing is a business," he stressed. You get up in the morning, sit down at the keyboard, and start writing. People in other professions don't get up and say "I don't feel like working today." Neither should writers.

One of the most popular features of the conference was pitch sessions with agents and editors. For most of three days, writers trooped in and out for ten-minute pitches with four agents and two editors. Several authors have succeeded in getting agents and publishing contracts from previous years' pitches, so the hopes were high among the current crop.

The rather pricey Guest o f Honor Dinner Saturday night was well attended. Awards presented included the Magnolia Award (from Southeast Chapter Mystery Writers of America) to Charles Todd, the Silver Falchion Award to Radine Trees Nehring for Journey to Die For, the Claymore Dagger Award to Tom Wallace for Gnosis, and the TBI Crime Scene winner was Laura Hayden. After Jeffery Deaver received his unique Killer Nashville Guitar, writer Don Bruns played it and sang one of his songs.

If you've never attended Killer Nashville, now's a good time to be looking ahead to August 19-21, 2011.

Check out the contest for my new book, A Sporting Murder, at my website.

Making the news pays off

This article appeared in last week’s issue of the I-24 Examiner, a weekly tabloid newspaper in Cheatham County, Tennessee (the county seat is Ashland City):

Cheatham County
Public Library Hosts
Nashville Author
Chester Campbell
September 5

Years after a dangerous chemical is dumped behind a small plant outside Ashland City, its toxic effects ravage the small community below the hillside location. Placing the blame for what happens is the plot of The Surest Poison, a new mystery novel by Nashville author Chester Campbell.

The Cheatham County Public Library will host Campbell for a book signing on Saturday, September 5, from noon to 3 p.m.

The Surest Poison is the first book in the Sid Chance Mystery Series. Chance is a Nashville private investigator, formerly a Green Beret in Vietnam, a National Park ranger and a small town police chief. It was just voted best book and received the Falchion Award at the 2009 Killer Nashville Mystery Conference.

The state comes after the plant owner to pay the enormous cleanup cost, but the pollution occurred before he bought the property. Chance is hired to find who was responsible since the original company disappeared a dozen years ago. The guilty party doesn’t want to be found, however, and three murders occur, one of them an Ashland City man, as Chance pursues the investigation.

The book features many Ashland City locations. The main characters visit the newspaper office, and a news story leads to one of the main clues in solving the mystery.

The Surest Poison was published in April 2009 by Night Shadows Press. Campbell has also written four books in the Greg McKenzie Mystery Series, set mostly around Nashville. The books include The Marathon Murders, Deadly Illusions, Designed to Kill and Secret of the Scroll. They will also be available for purchase at the library signing.

Campbell is a former Nashville newspaper reporter, magazine editor, advertising and public relations writer. He retired as executive vice president of the Tennessee Association of Life Underwriters.

A portion of the day’s sales will be donated to the Friends of the Library. For further information, contact Library Director Brooke Mulligan.

End of story

The signing event turned out quite well. The newspaper story brought in several people, including one woman who had the clipping stuck in her pocket. The interesting part is that the newspaper printed the story word-for-word as I submitted it, right down to the headline (and the misspelling of the library director's name, which should have been Mullican). You may have heard this before and wondered, but here's living proof--small newspapers love to get ready-to-print copy. If you can write a decent news story, send it in. Note I began with the chemical pollution angle, a familiar subject these days.

If you're doing a small town signing, take advantage of the opportunity for a news story. It can pay off.

The Silver Falchion Award

I spent last weekend at Killer Nashville, the mystery conference co-sponsored by chapters of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime, in cooperation with American Blackguard Film & Television and Clay Stafford, the originator. It was large enough to provide something for everybody, but small enough that most of the participants got to know each other.

The highlight of the event for me was the Saturday night dinner, where various awards were presented. One of them was The Silver Falchion Award, for the best book by an author attending the conference. It was voted on by the registrants. A lot of great books were nominated, so I didn’t count on being too successful. Lo and behold, the winner was announced as:

Chester Campbell, for The Surest Poison


The plaque displayed here is not the real one. The ballots weren’t counted until five o’clock that afternoon. After receiving the award, I had to give it back so my name could be engraved on it. Photos were made of the event, but I haven’t received one yet.

Another award was presented to my good friend and writers group colleague Beth Terrell, who also blogs with me at Murderous Musings. Beth received the Magnolia Award from the Southeast Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. It is presented annually to a member who has demonstrated outstanding dedication and service to the chapter. Beth has gone above and beyond the call of duty to help plan and coordinate programs for Killer Nashville.

The program featured a great mix of talks and panels covering four tracks—Writing, Marketing, Fans, and Forensics. Retired detective Lee Lofland gave several presentations on police procedures. Former ATF Agent Sheila Stephens and three Tennessee Bureau of Investigation agents added to the insider information picture. A large array of published authors discussed a variety of writing and promotion topics. Two literary agents and an editor listened to pitches from writers looking for representation.

Another great feature was TBI Special Agent Dan Royse's crime scene, featuring a murder in the hotel boiler room. Registrants had the opportunity to visit the scene, check out all the forensic evidence, and complete a report identifying the murderer and how it happened. Lee Lofland said it was the most realistic crime scene he had encountered.


Panelists from left to right are Allan Ansorge, Stacy Allen, Jennie Bentley, Chester Campbell.

I served as moderator for two panels, one on Creating Depth Through Character Relationships, the other on A Writer’s Guide to Building Buzz. The panels ran nearly an hour and a half, giving plenty of time to cover the subjects.

A major feature of the conference was two sessions on Saturday afternoon that involved an interview and a solo presentation by J.A. Jance, author of 15 J.P. Beaumont books, 8 Joanna Brady books and 2 standalone thrillers. She did a great job. Then when she was presented her Killer Nashville Guitar as Guest of Honor, she sang a country song she’d written.

I highly recommend everyone attend Killer Nashville in 2010. It’s August 20-22 at the Cool Springs Marriott. See you there.