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April 2nd
April 5th
April 6th
April 7th
April 8th
April 9th
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Saturday, April 2nd
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11 a.m. - 2 p.m. "Mystery and Mayhem, Teen Style"
@ Leesburg Public Library |
 Mystery and Mayhem are featured in the 12th annual Bookmark Design Contest Awards. Eustis High School Drama Club under the direction of Stuart Klatte, will present "Murdered to Death", a hilarious spoof of the best of Agatha Christie traditions by Peter Gordon. The audience will get caught up in the side splitting antics which follow the mysterious death of the house’s owner. Is it the butler, the shady art dealer, bumbling inspector or the well meaning sleuth who seems to attract murder wherever she goes.
Also, prepare to be rocked by Florida's own pop/rock sensation 'Vagrant Undertow'. This talented band has played clubs and will be headlining several 2011 events including The Shiners Chili Cook off and The Donna Deegan “Race for the Cure” Marathon event. Justin, Brennan, Charles, Kevin, and Alex will be live at the Leesburg Library! You can check out the band's music and schedule on: www.reverbnation.com/vagrantundertow.
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Tuesday, April 5th
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5 p.m. “The Mysterious Old Livingston House”
@ Fruitland Park Library
Jeffrey Lamb |
 The clues don't seem to make a lot of sense but everything comes together inside the creepy old Livingston House. Featured at the 2010 Fort Lauderdale Film Festival the movie was selected as Best Picture and People’s Choice at the Melbourne Independent Film Festival. Jeff will speak about the mystery surrounding the house and about taking the novel to the big screen. |
6:30 p.m. "Bitter Legacy"
@ Paisley County Library
H. Terrell Griffin |
Award-winning novelist H. Terrell Griffin’s fifth book in the series featuring Matt Royal, Bitter Legacy, is introduced at the Festival of Reading. After a week away, Matt Royal’s ready to get back to the Longboat Key good life—good fishing, good food, good beer, and more good  fishing. But Matt comes back to bad news: while he was away, a sniper tried to kill one of his best friends. Even worse, now that Matt’s back, someone’s trying to kill him. And whoever is trying to kill him is trying really hard.
Matt Royal had better hope he makes it to the weekend — this might be the week that ends it all! Enjoy this opportunity to meet an author whose novels may be the closest approximation we have today to John D. MacDonald according to Booklist.
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Wednesday, April 6th
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2- 4 p.m. "How to Write a Killer Mystery"
@ W.T. Bland Public Library
Hallie Ephron |
You know you’re reading a great mystery novel when you’re up at three in the morning, unable to put it down. When you finally get to sleep, the characters go romping around in  your dreams. You get to the final page and smack yourself in the head because the solution is a complete surprise, and yet so obvious in retrospect. So how do you write a great mystery? This workshop demystifies the art and artifice, and gets down to the nuts and bolts of writing a killer mystery novel. Hallie is an award-winning Boston Globe crime fiction reviewer. Her how-to-write books were Edgar and Anthony award finalists. She is the author of: Never Tell a Lie; Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel: How to Knock 'Em Dead with Style; 1001 Books for Every Mood; The Bibliiophile's Devotional; and The Dr. Peter Zak series of mystery/thrillers. |
7 p.m. "Come and Find Me"
@ City of Lady Lake Public Library
Hallie Ephron |
“[A] richly atmospheric tale. You can imagine Hitchcock curling up with this one.” —USA Today
Author Hallie Ephron’s fast paced and disturbingly creepy Never Tell a Lie is a page-turning thrill ride that maestro Alfred Hitchcock would have been proud to call his own. A descent into gripping suburban terror, this stunner by the Ellen Nehr Award-winning mystery reviewer for the Boston Globe has been called “a snaky, unsettling tale of psychological suspense” by the Seattle Times. Fans of Mary Higgins Clark, Harlan Coben, and classic gothic mystery will adore this supremely suspenseful and consistently surprising story of a yard sale gone terribly wrong. HarperCollins.com
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Thursday, April 7th
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4 p.m. "The Craft of Writing"
@ Tavares Civic Center ~ City of Tavares Public Library
Joyce Elson Moore |
 Joyce Elson Moore in her blog speaks of historical fiction. “One of my favorite props, to convey the atmosphere in a room, or a character’s thoughts, is a clock. A timepiece can set the mood while a character writes a letter. In my work-in-progress, set in the 1800s, a girl writes to her father. The ticking of the wall clock, interrupted only by a bell sounding the half-hour, sets the mood. To indicate impatience or boredom, one glance at a clock will let the reader know the character’s thoughts. Here are some interesting facts I’ve come across, while researching timepieces.” Join us for this award winning author’s tips on writing.
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5 p.m. "CSI: Fruitland Park"
@ Fruitland Park Library |
A priceless painting has been stolen from the Fruitland Park Library! Who took it? Was it an inside job? Follow the clues and see if you can figure it out. Experts in the field of fingerprinting, trace evidence and hand writing will be on hand to help catch the thief. The Secret Service will be in the library and a breath analyzer truck will be parked outside the library. Can you solve the mystery?
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6:30 p.m. "A Night of Murder, Mystery & Mayhem"
@ Astor County Library |
Join us in a night celebrating Murder, Mystery and Mayhem with local author Elise VanCise. She will be talking about writing her latest novel "Half", during a 30-day noveling at NaNoWriMo, an annual novel writing project that brings together professional and amateur writers. Ms. VanCise will discuss how and where she gets her ideas for her novels, her writing process, etc. Half features character Valeska Gorstef who is trying to live a normal life. She must now face her dark half to save all that she loves. Discover which half will win!
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7 p.m. "Mama Gets Hitched"
@ Tavares Civic Center ~ City of Tavares Public Library
Deborah Sharp |
Deborah Sharp is a former USA Today reporter, who ditched the news biz to write funny mysteries. Her latest is Mama Gets Hitched. Mama's planning the “Wedding of the Century” as  she ties the sacred knot of matrimony . . . for the fifth time. But when her caterer turns up dead in the kitchen of the VFW, what's a Bridezilla to do? Like the main character in her "Mace Bauer Mysteries," her family roots were set in Florida long before Walt Disney and "Miami Vice" came to define the state. As a Florida native, and a former, longtime reporter for USA Today, she knows every burg and back road. “I’ve visited spots not found on maps: Molasses Junction, Muse. And now, Himmarshee, my own tiny slice of ‘Authentic Florida.’” Mama Does Time and Mama Rides Shotgun are traditional mysteries with a comic, Southern edge. Agatha Christie Meets "My Name is Earl." Mama, married four times, wears sherbet-colored pantsuits and performs beauty parlor aromatherapy at Hair Today Dyed Tomorrow.
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7 p.m. "Electric Barracuda"
Minneola Schoolhouse Library @ the Minneola City Hall
Tim Dorsey |
 Readers who can’t get enough of lovable serial killer Serge A. Storms can rejoice. He’s back in Electric Barracuda—the latest outrageous romp through the Sunshine State by Tim Dorsey, master of the zany crime thriller. This time Serge is a fugitive running from the police, and murder and mayhem have never been more over-the-top hilarious. Tim Dorsey’s Electric Barracuda is not to be missed. The Miami Herald put it best: “Nobody, but nobody, writes like this guy.” HarperCollins.com Moderated by Dr. Patricia Campbell, Chair, English Department , Lake-Sumter Community College.
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Friday, April 8th
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10 a.m. - 4 p.m. "Author Events"
@ Mount Dora Community Center ~ hosted by the W.T. Bland Library
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10:00a.m. — 11:00a.m. "Masters of Mayhem"
Sharon Potts, Deborah Sharp, H. Terrell Griffin |
These best-selling and diverse mystery writers share the clues to a successful writing career. Award-winning novelist H. Terrell Griffin is a board-certified trial lawyer who practiced in Orlando for thirty-eight years. His mystery/suspense series featuring Matt Royal “may be the closest approximation we have today to John D. MacDonald.”Booklist Deborah Sharp is a former USA Today reporter, who ditched the news biz to write traditional mysteries with a comic, Southern edge. Agatha Christie Meets "My Name is Earl."  Sharon Potts, wrote her first psychological thriller, In Their Blood, after retiring from the business world. It is the winner of the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Award in the Mystery/Suspense Category and was awarded the Silver Medal, ForeWord Book of the Year Award—Mystery Category. |
11:00a.m. - 12:00p.m. "Twisted and Dead"
Tim Dorsey |
| Serge Storms, that loveable thermonuclear vigilante and one-stop-Florida-trivia-shop, has been leaving corpses strewn across the Sunshine State for more than a decade. The authorities—especially one tenacious state agent—have begun to notice the exponential body count, and send a police task force to track down Serge. Could his luck finally have run out? Meanwhile, armed with his perpetually baked sidekick, Coleman, Serge decides to blitz the state and resurrect his Internet travel-advice website—which, of course, must be the finest and the final word on trekking the Sunshine State. To up the ante, Serge concocts a theme vacation for his cyberspace audience. And that theme? You, too, can experience Florida through the eyes of a fugitive. Just ask best selling author Tim Dorsey! HarperCollins.com |
1:30p.m. — 2:30p.m. "The Bone Yard"
Jon Jefferson |
 Jefferson Bass is the New York Times best-selling writing team of Jon Jefferson and Dr. Bill Bass authors of five Body Farm novels — Carved in Bone, Flesh and Bone, The Devil’s Bones, Bones of Betrayal and the latest release The Bone Yard. The sixth electrifying forensic mystery, The Bone Yard, is the most gripping installment yet in the New York Times bestselling Body Farm series. Called away from Tennessee’s renowned Body Farm (the real life human decomposition laboratory around which these remarkable thrillers are based), Dr. Bill Brockton discovers the dark side of the Sunshine state when he’s called in to investigate human remains found on the grounds of a Florida boys’ reform school. Rich in authentic forensic detail and featuring a protagonist as involving as crime fiction’s most popular medical examiners—including Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta, Karin Slaughter’s Sara Linton, and Kathy Reichs’ star forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan—The Bone Yard is unassailable evidence that this series “just keeps getting better” (Booklist). HarperCollins.com |
3:00p.m. — 4:00p.m. "Afraid of the Dark"
James Grippando |
 Lake County is honored to be on the book tour for James Grippando’s latest novel, “Afraid of the Dark”. The New York Times bestselling author's ever-popular hero, Jack Swyteck, is on his most dangerous case yet, uncovering a sinister underground world that has him racing across the globe.
Then: Sergeant Vince Paulo held his best friend's daughter, McKenna, bleeding in his arms as she uttered the name of her murderer and ex-boyfriend, Jamal. That was minutes before a blast made everything go black for Vince—forever. Now: Miami criminal defense lawyer Jack Swyteck has been called in to save Jamal from the death penalty for terrorist activity. Despite urgent warnings from his fiancée, undercover FBI agent Andie Henning, to stay away from the case, Jack finds himself inextricably drawn to Jamal's past—even believing his alibi that he was abducted and held in a black site in Prague at the time of McKenna's death. But if Jamal is innocent, then the man who murdered McKenna and took Vince's sight is still out there . . . free.
Soon bodies begin to pile up and ghosts from the past reappear very much alive, confirmed by ominous threats from a faceless man known only as "the Dark." Vince and Jack must confront a mortal danger that goes beyond McKenna's death, across international waters—a journey to piece together the past that leads through the back alleys of London, onto illegal Internet sites, and straight into the mind of pure evil. HarperCollins.com
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Author Reception - 6:30 p.m. "Dying to Meet You"
@ Mount Dora Community Center
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The third annual reception to celebrate the written word and to highlight the accomplishments of Florida’s outstanding authors is presented free to the public. This is your  chance to rub elbows with some of your favorite authors including James Grippando, Tim Dorsey, H. Terrell Griffin, Jon Jefferson, Joyce Elson Moore, Sharon Potts and Deborah Sharp. Gourmet hors d’ oeuvres will be provided by the Tavares High School Culinary Department under the direction of Chef Marcus Herrington, C.E.C.. Entertainment will be provided by Lisa and Gina Gomez, twin sisters and lead singers/songwriters for the band Gemeni. A raffle will be held for some outstanding prizes. Books may be purchased from local independent bookseller, Raintree Books, and may be signed by your favorite authors.
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Saturday, April 9th
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"Writing Workshops"
@ W.T. Bland Public Library |
| There is nothing more exciting than a good mystery, which is why 90,922 mystery books circulated in Lake County in 2009/10. We explore hidden paths, or explore the unknown, until we discover the truth. The 2011 Festival of Reading is for lovers of mystery, crime, thriller, spy, and suspense books. |
9:00a.m. - 10:30a.m. "Someone's Watching" The Element of Suspense
Sharon Potts |
| The winner of the 2010 Benjamin Franklin Award in the Mystery/Suspense Category, Sharon Potts's latest thriller, Someone’s Watching, is about family—How much would you give to know them? How far would you go to find them? What would you risk to save them? Sharon will talk about what goes into creating a successful suspense novel - terrifying villains, edge-of-the seat pacing, and the risk of losing what’s most important. |
11:00a.m. - 12:00p.m. "Researching the Crime"
Jon Jefferson |
| On the campus of the University of Tennessee lies a patch of ground unlike any in the world. The "Body Farm" is a place where human corpses are left to the elements, and every manner of decay is fully explored. At the "Body Farm," nature takes its course, with corpses buried in shallow graves, submerged in water, concealed beneath slabs of concrete, locked in trunks of cars. As stand-ins for murder victims, they serve the needs of science -- and the cause of justice. |
12:30p.m. "On Writing the Thriller"
James Grippando |
James began writing at 9. ``I dreamed of being a writer, but I didn't think it was attainable,'' he recalls. ``It takes a lot of confidence to believe people want to read something you write.'' “I write thrillers, and Afraid of the Dark is the eighteenth in a string of bestsellers that started with The Pardon in 1994. It's the ninth entry in the Jack Swyteck series, but this isn't just for fans of Jack and his irreverent sidekick Theo Knight. No worries if you haven't read the other Swyteck novels. I write each one so that it stands on its own. I've also brought back two other favorite characters from previous novels, FBI Agent Andie Henning (Under Cover of Darkness) and blind hostage negotiator Vince Paulo (When Darkness Falls). It's a reunion of sorts-but as critics are saying, the series has never felt fresher.”
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Bluegrass Festival
Music, crafts - 10:00a.m. - 3:00p.m.
East Lake County Library |
| East Lake County Library will host the 7th Annual Bluegrass Festival featuring outstanding performers, a book sale, bake sale, raffle sponsored by the Friends of the Library and a community flea market. The Master Gardener Mobile Plant Clinic will be on site to answer landscaping and plant questions. The public can drop off soil samples to be analyzed. |
| 11:00a.m. Meet featured author H. Terrell Griffin |
| Terry has spent his adult life soldiering, studying, lawyering and writing, in that order. Longboat Key seems to have about one homicide every ten years on average, so he had to manufacture some murders and create some bad people. Terry says “It’s been fun, and as much as I enjoyed the practice of law, this is better. I invite you to come along with Matt Royal as he lives, loves, fishes and solves mysteries in his idea of paradise.” All five mysteries feature Matt, who has been described by one reviewer as "Travis McGee with a law degree." |