Means, Motive, Opportunity: A Small Library Launches a Big Mystery Event

Barbara Fister -- Library Journal, 4/15/2009

Police received the call early in the morning: a report of suspicious activity at the Muskego Public Library It was 8:30 a.m. on a Saturday in Muskego (WI), population 23,000, and the public library’s parking lot was packed. Further investigation proved it was another case of Murder and Mayhem in Muskego, WI.

In 2004 Penny Halle, Head of Children, Youth and Public Services, and Jane Genzel, director of the Muskego Public Library, hatched a plot to put readers and mystery writers together with a one-day miniconvention. "This program is part of the library mission to create educational experiences for the community, ‘community’ being an expandable word," explains Halle. "Too often, we librarians get caught up in all the technology and patron support. We forget the really fun stuff like introducing a reader to a new author or finding a really great read."

Halle turned to her friends, Ruth and Jon Jordan, for help in organizing the program. As publishers of the award-winning Crimespree mystery magazine, the couple used their connections to quickly round up an impressive panel of eight well-known crime fiction authors (Gregg Hurwitz, Blake Crouch, David Ellis, J.A. Konrath, Libby Fischer Hellman, John Galligan, Melanie Hauser, and David Walker). The first year, over 50 people attended. The next, the audience had nearly tripled. By 2007, as many as 300 people crowded the library's reading rooms.

Last November, year four, the Murder & Mayhem program had grown to feature 25 authors—and headliner Dennis Lehane set the mystery blogosphere abuzz by announcing his next book would be a continuation of his Patrick and Angie series.

How does a small library attract big stars like Tess Gerritsen, Robert Crais (pictured right), S. J. Rozan, Dennis Lehane, Jeffery Deaver, Barry Eisler, Laura Lippman, and Jan Burke? Halle advises: "Start small, but dream big. Be passionate. Be realistic about what you can handle and how much your library can support. Be passionate. You absolutely need the support of the library staff, director, library board, and a realistic budget." Her other tips include:

Get support, both financial and moral, from your library's friends group

Collaborate with genre insiders to find authors to participate. A mystery bookseller can handle stock for signings, knows which writers are most personable, and has juice with authors, publishers, and publicists. Other good resources are the library marketing departments of major publishers like Random, HarperCollins and Holtzbrinck. And don’t be afraid to invite authors directly.

Treat authors so well they spread the word to future talent. More than one Muskego author commented on their blogs about the hospitality offered in 2008. They relished the event’s personal touch and the emphasis on authors having time to talk shop with other writers before the event. Be sure to schedule some down time for authors, and make sure transportation is available—airport pick up by a volunteer, for example. And a relaxed buffet or potluck dinner in someone’s home may be be more enjoyable to a travel-weary author than a pricey restaurant.

Keep the event affordable. At Muskego, audience members pay only $25 for a daylong program including a buffet lunch; another $25 covers an evening wine and cheese social with the authors. Holding the event in the library keeps costs down and increases the library's profile in the community. The 40,000-square-foot-Muskego library, built in 2000, has a spacious central area with study tables that evokes the reading rooms of the past. When the tables are removed, there's enough space for around 250 chairs.

Make it convenient. A one-day event draws readers who don't go to the national mystery conventions; this gives authors an opportunity to develop new readerships.

Why focus on this genre? The most recent NEA survey of reading found mysteries were the most popular choice of fiction readers, and thrillers were a close runner-up

A week after the event, the organizers get together and take the experience apart: what worked? What didn't go so well? What might be improved or added? By Christmas, the program for upcoming year's event is finalized, and the outlines for future years are beginning to take shape. Murder & Mayhem Number Five is scheduled for November 13 and 14, 2009. (The Friday the 13th event is an evening social; the main program is on Saturday.) Expected author attendees include Jeffery Deaver, Jan Burke, F. Paul Wilson, Jim Born, Markus Sakey, Sandra Ruttan, and Sean Chercover.

Other Library-sponsored Mystery Events include:
Mayhem in the Midlands (sponsored by the Omaha Public Library), profiled  in "Anatomy of a Convention", by Jennifer Kirchmann and Rivkah Sass, LJ 4/1/05.

Murder in the Magic City (Birmingham, AL's Homewood Library is one of the sponsors).

Editor's Note: Check out the author's photos from the 2007 Murder & Mayhem.