TAoD tour, day 5

Lexington is a gorgeous town. Clearly, that is the reason people at the event tonight drove from Cincinnati and Columbus, to see Lexington. I’e2’80’99m glad to have given them an excuse of a LRK event. But we know the truth.

This was one of those rare days with large gaps in the schedule. The first time this happened to me was years ago during a tour to Minneapolis in January. Minneapolis is a downtown with gerbil tubes crossing above the streets for pedestrians, but the tubes go in and out of shops, and the shops are closed a lot on weekends. I was, of course, there on a weekend. Having not thought to bring work with me, knowing no one in town, and not having clothes warm enough for a stroll in the four degree weather, I went through the books I had brought in no time at all.

This time, I had my laptop and I had work’e2’80’94a short story I’e2’80’99ve promised Michael Connelly for a collection he’e2’80’99s editing for the Mystery Writers of America. It’e2’80’99s an anthology about The Badge, so he suggested a story about Kate Martinelli, and I tried, but I think she’e2’80’99ll only appear in part of it. The main character is someone we’e2’80’99ve seen before however, in the second Martinelli novel. That’e2’80’99s right, Brother Erasmus returns. However, since To Play the Fool clearly says that Kate never saw him again, I couldn’e2’80’99t make her the cop in question.

Anyway, I got seven pages done, maybe a third of the story, so it was a productive day even if I didn’e2’80’99t sign a ton of books. I had a radio show by telephone in the morning, then this afternoon Barb the media escort took me to sign at a couple of faraway stores. The evening event was at a really great independent called Joseph-Beth, which has a number of stores up and down the area. I hope all of them are as great as the one here in Lexington.

Tomorrow, driving to Nashville, with a promised stop at the exotic palace of biscuits-and-eggs called Cracker Barrel. Stay tuned for a restaurant report, tomorrow.

Posted in

9 Comments

  1. KB on June 6, 2006 at 4:08 am

    Glad to see you found a way to entertain yourself in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport, other than jumping out of the way of those obnoxious motorized carts that are always sneaking up behind you and honking! I think that’s one of my least favorite airports, although I’m not apt to try the one you described so vividly (parts from prior plane crashes? Oh my!)any time soon. either.

    My local bookstore had a “crash and burn” telling me your books didn’t arrive on time at their store. And, other than just plain old me, seems there were several other unhappy customers. The clerk told me you were “really big” in his store. So, I boldly asked him why you weren’t signing there (Vancouver, WA). He hemmed and hawed and I said I’d come back for the book!

    I missed Lee Child’s signing in Seattle so have requested a signed copy from Stacey’s in SF. But, I’ll be there to see you with a book in hand, no matter what!

    Cheers, Kim

  2. Anonymous on June 6, 2006 at 2:42 pm

    Oh, hooray! Brother Erasmus is one of my favorite characters, so I’ll have to seek out this story.

  3. Anonymous on June 6, 2006 at 5:19 pm

    You’ve never been to a Cracker Barrel?? I thought that was a USA thing, must just be in the East or directly S of Ontario.

    This Cdn’s been to more than one 🙂

    Now if only you went N not S to TN and came and saw us on the other side of L. Erie.

    Finished Art of Detection. Took me a little bit to read it. Can’t skim your books or you miss something.

    Thank you for another entertaining story and I look forward to the next.

  4. WDI on June 6, 2006 at 9:36 pm

    My husband and I took several vacations to Lexington when we lived in West Virginia, and that Joseph-Beth featured prominently in all of them.

    Funny story about Minneapolis. I visited there for the first time last month and was amazed by the gerbil tubes. I read in one of the big lobbies I checked out that the skyway network now covers something over 50 blocks. Wild!

    Cracker Barrel restaurants have OK food and maddening table games, and are a mainstay of the annual road trips my girlfriend and I (sometimes accompanied by my daughter) take to our women’s martial arts camp every summer. Try the blackberry cobbler — it’s pretty good.

  5. Anonymous on June 6, 2006 at 11:17 pm

    Cracker Barrel, the roadside plate of the south! Hope you get dumplings (they are a real puzzle to most non-southerners). And candy, try the candy! Say “ya’ll” and “yes, Mam” and they think you are a local.

  6. Anonymous on June 6, 2006 at 11:54 pm

    Hi Laurie! I’m back from the American Iris Society Convention in Portland, Oregon, with more tales to tell than you have space for here. I’m delighted to hear that you are revisiting Brother Erasmus. To Play the Fool was the first of your books that I read, and it remains my favorite. I would dearly love to read your thesis on the Holy Fool. Any idea how I could get my hands on a copy? I may end up writing you a snailmail letter about my trip, which I know you would enjoy. Iris Lady

  7. L. Crampton, LAc on June 7, 2006 at 12:20 am

    Sorry, Anonymous, but it’s not true that if you say ‘ya’ll’ and ‘yes, ma’am’ we’ll think you are a local/Southerner; we just have too good manners to let on that we know you aren’t. :~) But, it’s always wise to say ‘ma’am’ if possible, so carry on. Laurie, do try the red-eye gravy if you get far enough south to find it. Yum.
    I had big plans to come see you in Pasadena tomorrow, but I’m sorry to say that between not being able to get off work until five and then spending two hours (if I’m lucky) burning $3.50/gallon gasoline in rush hour traffic across L.A. to reach Pasadena, it isn’t going to happen. I know we haven’t got the beloved Midnight Special to draw you to Santa Monica any longer, but could you do a SM/West L.A. signing next time around?

  8. Rebecca on June 7, 2006 at 2:09 am

    Lexington? For a moment when I saw Lexington, Cleveland, and Cincinnati in the same sentence, I thought you meant Lexington, Ohio. Ah, well. Have fun in Kentucky.

  9. Vicki Larson on June 7, 2006 at 2:18 am

    Well, I’m from Minnesota and my sister lives at a condo that has access to the Minneapolis skyways, those things that you so scathingly call gerbil tubes. She can leave her apartment in 20 below zero weather and travel to over 50 destinations with no fear of freezing to death. There is a Hilton Hotel close by and Barnes and Noble and….. no limit. She can also go go Orchestra Hall by the same system, or the Convention Center. I, myself, think it’s great. Makes life in the great freezer tenable.

Leave a Comment