Last week was Edgar week, and I'd have reported in as it was going along except I was having computer trouble which, because it was Edgar week, I didn't have time to sit down calmly and fix. For me, sitting down calmly and fixing the computer means calling my friend John and screaming HELP!!! Not really -- when I did finally get the time, I tried a system restore and a couple of other things. When they didn't work I called John and screamed. He sat down calmly on his end of the phone and told me what to do. I did it, and now the thing works, though he also gently suggested I might start to consider what I'm going to replace this old warhorse with.

Anyway, the warhorse is staggering on for now, though I think what we did amounts to steroid shots -- great while they last, but ultimately worthless. But here's the Edgar week report.

Tuesday night: launch party at Mysterious Bookshop for the new MWA anthology, VENGEANCE As usual at MB, crowded and jolly. Afterwards, dinner with Doug and Eve Allyn, Michael Stanley (or half of him, anyhow), Reed Farrel Coleman, and Sara J. Henry (who went on to win the Mary Higgins Clark award, and has just won the Agatha at Malice Domestic). We went to a hand-pulled noodle joint in Chinatown, had big slurpy bowls of soup.

Wednesday: the Edgar symposium. Heard some good panels, then moderated a panel with Sandra Brown (MWA's incoming Pres. -- I called her "Madame President" but she said she preferred "Your Majesty"), Dandi Daley Mackall, Meg Gardiner, and the redoubtable Sara J. Henry. The topic: Smart Women, Smart Books. Leaving aside the idea that if we were so smart we wouldn't be in this business, it was a terrific panel. They're all rock stars and made my life very easy with their thoughtful, authentic and often funny responses.

Thursday: a bunch of cocktail parties and then the Edgar Banquet itself. I sat at a table full of people I really like, including Les Klinger, Michael Dirda, and Neil Gaiman, who told me about his beehives -- who knew he keeps bees?

After that, some more drinking and schmoozing, hanging out with people I rarely get to see, writers who don't come to town all that much. Sam Reaves, Marcia Talley. A little more of that on Friday. Now, back to real life.