Scenes from the New England Crime Bake

Kate Flora: Twenty-two years ago, a regional mystery conference featuring New England writers was born in my living room when I said I thought we ought to have our own conference and the presidents for Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime immediately agreed to work together to plan one. Since then, every Veteran’s Day weekend, writers and readers descend on a hotel somewhere near Boston. The conference is always different–different themes, different players–but always wonderful. Surprising as it is, crime writers are an extremely nice and generous bunch, appropriately calling ourselves a community.

This year’s Guest of Honor was Deborah Crombie, a Texan who writes English police procedurals, and so the theme was very English, including a banquet where prizes were given for the best fascinator and the best cravat.

Here are some random scenes from the weekend, including Ruth McCarty wearing her Lifetime Achievement Award tiara. The event always concludes on Sunday with some forensics. This year: Junk Science, the Innocence Project, and what a private investigator really does. AND there was a chocolate party.