Your Classmates--Published Authors You Thrill to Read!

Who will be sitting beside you in the classroom?

Well, go to www.sistersincrime.org/ForensicU and look at the yellow bar at the top of the page. Click on "Attendees."

And say, "Wow."

You will be sitting NEXT to published authors, women who are well known in the mystery genre. Now imagine this, you'll be next to your favorite author. She'll lean over and say, "I didn't get that last point, did you?" You will supply your notes. She'll say, "Thanks," and you'll glow with pride.

How cool is that?

So often we newbies or want-to-be's sit at the back of the room and gaze at our idols in awe. But this conference is different. We'll be colleagues, working together to learn!

About those classes...click the link below to see the schedule

http://www.sistersincrime.org/ForensicU/schedule.html

Of course, there's always the possibility of changes, but as you can see, your brain will be packed with information by the time you head for home.

We're getting excited! We can't wait to SEE YOU IN ST. LOUIS!!!!!!

Beer, Blues and Baseball

St. Louis Insider

Like beer? Who doesn't? Tour the biggest brewery in the world--Anheuser-Busch, and have a free sample. If you're not convinced "bigger is better," we have several microbreweries to tempt your tastebuds, too.

The Mississippi has always been the inspiration for blues music like W.C. Handy's "St. Louis Blues." The closer to the River, the better the blues. We have too many blues clubs to count, but the most authentic are in the Soulard area--near the home of Budweiser, the Clydesdales and Historic Soulard Farmers' Market--in continuous operation since 1843. New Busch Stadium, home to the 2006 World Series Champs in nearby downtown, is built to look like an old-time brick baseball park. It houses a museum filled with memorabilia from the Cardinals' 115 year history. Indoor sports fans can find another one-of-a-kind treat next to Busch--the International Bowling Hall of Fame.

We can boast of another kind of blues, too--Blues Ice Hockey at Savvis Center, reachable by Metrolink. Oct. 30, Blues v Coyotes; Nov 3. Blues v Blackhawks.

P.S. Don't worry about the climate. St. Louis summers typically last through September. After that we have a mild and delightful fall which often sees flowers bloom through Thanksgiving.
Questions? Ask FedoraAMIS@aol.com

St. Louis Insider

Riverfront park (Metro--Take the hotel shuttle to the airport and light rail to the riverfront.)

We have the only one in the world--Eero Saarinen's Spectacular monument to westward expansion-The Gateway Arch. It towers over the Mississippi and two premiere attractions, the Eads Bridge and Jefferson National Expansion Park. Going up in cable cars small enough to fit inside the Arch's steel and concrete legs is not for the claustrophobic. The view at the top is worth it, though.

But the park is more than the Arch. The Arch base houses a fine little museum. On the grounds is St. Louis Basilica, the oldest Cathedral west of the Mississippi (1770) where mass is still celebrated every day. The park reaches into the city itself with the Old Courthouse and its fascinating history. You can see the courtroom where Dred Scott was denied freedom and the hall where Reese Happersett refused to let Virginia Minor vote. Both began landmark civil rights cases which went all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States.
Only blocks away you can amble around the brick streets of Laclede's Landing, a quirky place with nightclubs and a casino, wax museums, puppets and the only Dental Health Theatre in the world.

Athletic types can rent a bike or quadricycle (for 4 people) and pedal one of only two urban bike trails in the country. Converted from an old trolley line, ours roams past the industrial waterfront. The return trip offers spectacular views of the 1874 Eads Bridge. Unlike the short-lived I-35 bridge at Minneapolis,this bridge was designed his to last as long as the pyramids. James Eads built the unbuildable bridge--with a 6442 foot span, a bridge still rated above the vast majority of bridges for structural integrity.

America's cheerleader poet Walt Whitman loved to look at the Eads Bridge by moonlight. He called it a "Structure of perfection, beauty unsurpassable."
Questions? Ask FedoraAMIS@aol.com

St. Louis Insider - Otherworldly

• You could not choose a better time of year to visit St. Louis legends than the haunting season. Until recently, an eerie light from a painted-over window spooked passersby on the Campus of St. Louis University. Walking by DuBourg Hall on a chilly night makes the imagination whirl with tales of Jesuit priests exorcising a teenage boy possessed by demons. Yes, St. Louis not Georgetown, inspired William Peter Blatty to write his best-selling 1971 book the Exorcist.
• St. Louis has a trove of terrifying places--like Lemp Mansion, home of multimillionaire beer barons--and scene of debauchery, madness and suicide which too much money can bring.
• A short ride across the Mississippi ends in one of the most haunted towns in America. Be sure to bundle up. Anyone might get a chill by walking across the cold ground where once stood the Alton Prison--a place of death for thousands of Civil War soldiers. People still check into the Alton hotel, the ones who have the nerve.
• For those who truly love the macabre, November 2 offers something most extraordinary-- a witching hour tour of one of the most ghostly places in the country--Alton Illinois.
  Since these tours sell out quickly, don't delay. Make sure your heart can stand the excitement--and your mommy lets you stay out past midnight.
• Questions? FedoraAMIS@aol.com

St. Louis Insider

Don’t expect much free time between November 1 and 4, but if you are able to arrive before Forensic University or stay a few days afterwards, St. Louis has a smorgasbord of one-of-a-kind delights to tempt you--many of them low-cost or free.

From now until mid October, I will be tantalizing you with an insider’s menu. History, entertainment, shopping, food, even a touch of the bizarre--you can find it in St. Louis--if you know where to look. It would be my pleasure to help you fill your plate with special favorites. I can serve up tasty maps, directions, hours, reservations, suggestions.

Here’s an appetizer you might savor during free time on Friday evening, November 2. If Lady Luck is your favorite dish, you are invited to go casino hopping with a world-class poker player who has promised to share some of his secrets. Want to add your name to our poker party? Tell me.

If your palate prefers other food, I’ll be making suggestions in the upcoming weeks. Questions? Just ask FedoraAMIS@aol.com.

Law Enforcement Quiz

How well do you know your law enforcement procedures?

Check out this quiz by Joyce Tremel and Lee Lofland. It's just a sample of what you can learn at Forensic U!


http://workingstiffs.blogspot.com/2007/07/law-enforcement-quiz-for-writers.html

This Idea Has Legs!

In Hollywood, if a project has a lot of instant appeal and generates buzz, they say it “has legs.” That’s how it’s been with Forensic University. Michelle Becker and I were discussing recent writers’ conferences we’d attended. We both thought we needed more forensic information, and better access to the forensics instructors. So…wouldn’t it be cool to put together an all forensic conference?

A couple weeks later, Sisters in Crime President Libby Fischer Hellmann and her pal Judy Bobalik were visiting our chapter. I mentioned the idea Michelle and I had. The next day Libby called from her car on the way back to her home in Chicago. She’d talked with Rochelle Krich, and they loved the idea. I emailed Jan Burke for help. Michelle emailed Dr. D.P.Lyle. Both were immediately enthusiastic. They brought along Eileen Dreyer and Lee Lofland. The national board approved and Forensic U became a national conference.

Boom! Just like that our idea had legs.

Now we’re more than half-way there. We have 95 people registered—the maximum is 200—and we’re four months out.

Thanks to the viral nature of the internet, I’m busy fielding questions and inquiries from around the world. One of the most interesting came from David Webb and Dr. Iain Pretty, who write and maintain the All About Forensic Science Website http://www.all-about-forensic-science.com/ Check it out! You’ll find all kinds of fascinating links and information.

Now you might ask, what’s in it for me? Especially if you write cozies. (And all of us at Killer Hobbies do write “cozies”—our mysteries feature amateur sleuths, off-stage violence, and puzzles solved through a knowledge of human relationships.) With more and more attention paid to such television shows as CSI, Bones, and Law and Order to name a few, our readers are ever so savvy about forensics. But here’s a better reason to attend Forensic University: It’s a mother lode of great ideas.

Books aren’t written in a vacuum. They’re a lot like beef vegetable soup: you’ve got your meat (your main idea), your water (the setting), major veggies (your characters) and spices (your ancillary characters and tidbits). Each time I hear someone in law enforcement or forensics talk, my brain buzzes with new ideas. I keep several “pots of soup” boiling at once.

Which is why the nickname of our conference is “ForU” and the tagline is 50 Ways to Catch a Killer. We have a lot in store “for you” and I’m positive you’ll walk away with more than 50 ways to catch your killer! Check out the conference blog http://forustl.blogspot.com or sign up at http://www.sistersincrime.org/ForensicU