What a great party! We had an overflowing crowd and many books were sold. A big thank you to Vroman's for hosting, to Ruby Vassar for wrangling, and to DiAnne Cooper for manning the champagne! Some highlights:
We started with a hefty pile of books and ended up with only 13 remaining.
I wish I had a better picture of my tables. Gold table cloths; candlesticks with garlands of autumn leaves, board with generous wedges of cheese and grapes; another board laid with sliced meat; a bowl of olives and cornichins; a basket of crackers and another basket of almond wafers. And champagne! The next table had the champagne glasses, the goodie bags, and the basket to raffle.
And then the knights! After refilling our champagne glasses, we all toddled downstairs to watch a duel to the almost-death.
Look! They recovered!
Then we settled back in (with more champagne) and I did a little reading and a little talking about the book. Some good questions from the crowd, I must say. We set out more chairs but it was still standing room only. Quite a bit more than last year's crowd for Veil. We were are very pleased.
Then we got down to the work of signing. (That's Ruby in the background with the reddish shirt. She handled it all very well and the line was well taken care of.
The night finished up with everyone invited to join us at a no-host dinner at El Portal across Colorado Blvd. where we enjoyed the warm California evening dining outside on terrific Mexican food and very large margaritas.
The next day we meandered over to West Hollywood for the West Hollywood Book Fair. A big thank you to Corey Roskin for putting together a wonderful event.
I started at the MWA booth. With me is aspiring author Ginny Lieberman.
Then on to my historical fiction panel with me, Michelle Moran, Robin Maxwell, and C. W. Gortner.
Then signing here... ("I'll have a double.")
...And signing there, at the LA Sisters in Crime booth with Sue Ann Jaffarian.
Altogether an exhausting weekend, but well worth it. The book tour has begun! I'm off to Indiana this week. But first, there are southern California stops:
Wednesday, Oct 7–7 pm, talk and signing, Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore–7051 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., Suite 302, San Diego, CA 92111, 858-268-4747
Thursday, October 8, 2009–Two Events! 1 pm, talk and signing, Mysteries to Die For–2940 Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91362, (805) 374-0084—AND–signing, 7 pm Mystery Bookstore, in Westwood 1036 Broxton Ave # C, Los Angeles, CA 90024-2824, (310) 209-0415
Are you special or what...Getting squeezed by two handsome knights?!!! I just finished Veil of Lies and hope to start Serpent in the Thorns later this week. Thank you for creating such a complex man as Crispin and writing a book that kept me reading all night. Good luck!
Posted by: Ani d'Onofrio | October 06, 2009 at 01:05 PM
It ain't bad, is it? And thank you for your kind words, Ani.
Posted by: Jeri Westerson | October 06, 2009 at 01:14 PM