BOUCHERCON 2006 TILT A WHIRL WON THE ANTHONY AWARD FOR BEST FIRST MYSTERY! Winners were announced at Bouchercon in Madison, Wisconsin. Congratulations to Chris's fellow nominees: The Baby Game, Randall Hicks, Wordslinger Press Die a Little, Megan Abbott, Simon and Schuster Immoral, Brian Freeman, St. Martin's Minotaur Officer Down, Theresa Schwegel, St. Martin's Minotaur At Bouchercon 2006, Chris and TILT A WHIRL received the Anthony Award for Best First Mystery from toastmaster William Kent Krueger whose own MERCY FALLS won the Anthony for Best Novel. Chris had a blast on a panel titled "If I Could Get Away With It...Crimes I've Enjoyed Imagining Just A Wee Bit Too Much" with fellow authors John Connolly, Jan Burke, Laurie R. King, and moderator David Corbett. His "improv comedy" skills were called upon when he was asked to co-host the Charity Auction for Wisconsin Literacy, Inc. Donna Andrews shared the podium and the event raised over $5,000—some of which came from a whopping $420 bid Chris cajoled from the crowd to be a Character Name in the next John Ceepak mystery WHACK A MOLE. A highlight of the auction for Chris was meeting Keith Barent Johnson who placed the high bid last year at the Bouchercon Charity Auction and became a character name in MAD MOUSE. Look for him on page 80 where he's a sweaty hotel owner. Yep, those cell phones take weird pix. Of course, the absolute highlight was hearing TILT A WHIRL announced as Best First Mystery. The cell phone comes in handy when you want to show folks at home what an Anthony looks like...