Malice Domestic 23 / April 2011

Anne Murphy, the witty and gracious Fan Guest of Honor.

Apologies to Sue Grafton for this awful picture, but I couldn't leave out the woman honored with Lifetime Achievement.

This is Katherine Hall Page and Hank Phillipi Ryan really enjoying their charity auctioneer roles.

Louise Penny took home the teapot for Best Novel. I wanted to take home her husband Michael!

Breakfast with Douglas Green, Steven Steinbock, and Dorothy Cannell.

Wilmington NC

After dropping in on a judge friend's courtroom last week and hearing a dozen or so of the 300 felony cases on her docket that morning, we went out to Airlie Gardens. Very few of the hundreds of azaleas were in bloom, but the tulips and daffodils were glorious and I visited the Airlie Oak, which probably sprouted from an acorn in 1545. It's an amazing tree. In this picture, to give you an idea of its massiveness, I'm a good 150 feet away

This was our view from our hotel room of the battleship North Carolina, which can be seen moored in the Cape Fear River. It was in every major battle in the Pacific during WWII, yet lost only 10 of her crew.

Finally, this is a detail of the Bottle Chapel at Airlie Gardens. When the sun shines through these wine bottles, it's better than a stained glass window. (For more views, Google "Airlie Gardens Bottle

Chapel.")