This morning I got up to four inches of snow and read Lee Goldberg's report from sunny El Paso and Left Coast Crime . Mary and I aren't convention goers but I guess we are at this one in spirit since Five for Silver was nominated for the Bruce Alexander History Mystery Award, much to our astonishment. Speaking for myself, I'm sure the novel will do a much better job of representing me than I would.

Our detective, John, is Lord Chamberlain to the Emperor Justinian and you can bet he has a lot more social graces than I do. I tend to lose my head when there are too many people around. At least at a mystery convention the figurative would not lead to the literal, as it might at Justinian's court, but nevertheless I would probably end up shooting myself in the foot. What? And I call myself a writer? You see, just the thought of a crowd and I'm mixing metaphors.

Although the Lord Chamberlain's true value to the emperor is as a personal advisor, he officially deals in matters of protocol such as arranging processions and banquets. So John will know exactly how to conduct himself at an awards banquet.

I, on the othr hand, have always been a loner, one of those maladjusted teenagers who spent all his time in his room reading. Some maladjusted teenagers mature into well adjusted adults. Others just get older and start writing mystery novels.