At Bouchercon’s virtual awards ceremony, I was awarded the Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original for my latest Accidental Alchemist mystery, The Alchemist’s Illusion!
It was such an honor to be nominated alongside terrific authors Ed Aymar, Susie Calkins, Laurie Chandlar, Catriona McPherson, Wendall Thomas & Gabriel Valjan. With this group, I was NOT expecting this!
But in these strange times, it also feels strangely appropriate to be recognized for one of my Accidental Alchemist novels while we’re sheltering in place—because I began writing the Accidental Alchemist mysteries while away from the world for nearly a year while my immune system was wiped out from chemotherapy.
I was writing fiction as therapy to get through that year, not as something I thought anyone else would enjoy. I’ve been happily surprised to be proven wrong. THANK YOU, readers!
And thanks to my agent Jill Marsal, editors Terri Bischoff and Amy Glaser, critique partners, the independent bookstores that hand-sell mysteries, the Bouchercon volunteers who made today possible.
One nice bonus of the virtual format was that the Anthony Award winners were included in the program books.
The Alchemist’s Illusion is the fourth Accidental Alchemist mystery. A centuries-old painting filled with secrets, art forgery, and a poisoned artist… When alchemist Zoe Faust and living gargoyle Dorian Robert-Houdin uncover secrets in present-day Portland, they solve a mystery from sixteenth century Prague that could lead Zoe to her mentor Nicolas Flamel.
