Preparing to Launch: Meeting My Mates

Some days are blessed.  Yesterday was one of them.

The Great Mystery Bus Tour is an enterprise mysterious in a lot of ways. From the get-go, The most perplexing mystery for me was my bus-mates.  John Connolly and I have met and talked before, but only very briefly.  M.J. Rose, I’ve known only by reputation.  And Liza Marklund was a brand new name to me. So the prospect of spending eight days trapped on a bus with strangers was the most unsettling element of this entire proposition.  But I like to think that I’m nothing if not adventurous, so what the hell.

We were all to meet yesterday afternoon at the Atria offices for an interview with Sirius/XM radio.  Just before that I had a great lunch with Sarah Branham, my ab fab editor.  She’s remarkable in so many ways—a great editor, a smart woman, a proud mom, a convivial lunch companion, and she’s from Texas, so every once in a while that quintessential “Y’all” slips out.  I love her.  Bottom line: Terrific lunch.

Afterward I sidled over to Atria for the radio interview.  I bumped into John first, and the guy’s so disarmingly charming who couldn’t like him?  Upstairs I met Liza for the first time.  She’s Swedish, and I’m from Minnesota, land of not only 10,000 lakes but also a gazillion Swedish immigrants, so she looked like half the neighbors on my block (well, not exactly; she’s ten times more gorgeous).  And M.J. proved to be two things—a fount of good advice on promoting this tour and really delightful woman.  The interview was a great success.  And my greatest fear was laid to rest.

I celebrated with dinner at O’Hurley’s, a fine Irish grill I stumbled onto at the corner of 72nd and Broadway.  Here I am toasting the day and all the blessings it delivered.  That’s a Harp, not a Leinie’s in my hand.  But I am wearing a Leinenkugel’s shirt!

We launch tonight at Otto Penzler’s Mysterious Bookshop.  Then hit the road.

I’ll tell you all about that tomorrow.

1 thought on “Preparing to Launch: Meeting My Mates”

  1. It’s very cool to see Atria resurrecting one of the classics with this bus tour. I have to admit to a certain trepidation with regard to placing so many people with so many brilliant ideas about how to commit murder in such close quarters for so long, but I’m sure it’ll probably be fine. …Maybe…

    Best of luck for a safe and successful tour!

    P.S. When it comes to gorgeous, exotic women, remember that ol’ tried-and-true number from Writing 101: Show, don’t tell…

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