Minneapolis

All airports look alike. (That’s not strictly true: Just returned from another voyage to Colombia and both the Cartagena airport, which is cute, and the Bogota airport, which is utter chaos, are unique.) But from Milwaukee to Minneapolis, well, I could have been traveling from Detroit to Chicago or Boston to Atlanta. More familiarity greets me: I’m booked at the Hyatt Regency on Nicolette Mall, a place I’ve stayed before. (I once had a fabulous massage there when I found I could no longer lift my right arm after toting too much luggage and signing too many books.)

I visit two terrific stores I used to visit long ago, Once Upon A Crime and Uncle Edgar’s and it seems as though I was just there a week ago. In spite of the fact that the proprietors have changed in some cases, the stores remain the same, the same locations, the same mounds of brightly covered books I’ll never have enough time to read.

If a city has the luxury of two mystery bookstores usually a publisher will schedule an event at only one. I would have loved to speak at Once Upon A Crime as well as Uncle Edgar’s, but it was not to be. Still, a few Once Upon fans, forewarned, come by to say hello, which is great.

Thanks to Sally, my fantastic escort, who knows the best place to eat lunch in Minneapolis. And thanks to my cousins, Dale and Sherrie, who come to my evening engagement. We have a late dinner together, talking family and sports and books, and I finally fall asleep after both setting the alarm clock and requesting a wake-up call. It’s back to the airport in the morning.