I'm off to Alaska in the morning--heading for Bouchercon and looking forward to meeting old friends and making new ones.

The great thing about the mystery world is the friendships I have made. I would not have believed, when I wrote my first mystery 11 years ago that I would have a circle of wonderful friends who are important in my life. Any of you who have not been to a mystery convention, I really recommend trying one--they are all over the place and at various times of year. We…

I got home last night after three weeks in Europe. I'm trying to put my impressions on paper and I realize that the bad still outweighs the good.

We flew into Frankfurt and took the train to Dresden. I'm glad we saw it--it is a completely recreated old city. You'd think the buildings had stood since the middle ages but actually most were faithfully rebuilt after WW2. Still, it was pleasant and we had the most fabulous duck and red cabbage.

Then on to Prague, which to me was a…