Two years ago, I wrote a “fan email” to Nashville mystery writer Kay Elam. I had read a guest blog she’d written defining cozy mysteries on another writer’s website, and I wanted to thank her for enlightening me.
Until then, I’d had no idea what a “cozy mystery” was, or even (shock of all shocks), that what I’d been writing fit that definition exactly!
Kay replied to my email, and we began a frequent and companionable correspondence. We shared our trial and tribulations while working on our books, but we also shared more personal life events and challenges. What a comfort to find a huge hug waiting, day or night, at the other end of the Internet!
We met for the first time in August, 2012, when she visited family in Seattle. The second time we rendezvoused was in March, 2013, at a fundraising auction for a nonprofit her sister administrates. My mother had gone into hospice that morning, and her beloved mother-in-law had passed in December, so we had much besides writing to talk about.
So when Kay invited me to stay with her to attend the Killer Nashville mystery writing conference, I jumped at the chance—not just to attend the conference, but to spend some quality time with her and her husband, Greg.
Another writer, this one from a small town in New York, stayed with them as well, and also her agent spent two nights, one before and one after the conference held in a downtown hotel. All of us received royal treatment, great food, fabulous conversation, and even a first-class shuttle to and from the airport!
After the final day of the conference, we toured The Hermitage, which was the home of President Andrew Jackson, and the setting for Kay’s second cozy. Having read her book, it was delightful to see the sights she’d so aptly described.
My final day in Nashville, Kay gave us the grand tour of many of the usual tourist stops and then we rode the trolley through the honky tonk district, got the guide’s additional information on Music Row (the scene of Kay’s first cozy), and saw the stately columns of the Bicentennial Mall State Park.
The people pictures here, from top to bottom, are of Kay and her youthful agent, Sara (of Talcott Notch Literary Services); Dee, the writer from New York, Kay and me, at BB King’s Blues restaurant; and Kay and I at Ellendale’s Restaurant the last night of my visit.
Kay and Greg are the most fabulous hosts, and my time there was enhanced a hundred times over by getting to know them both a little better.