The Road to Bozeman

The last night of the epic IPS tour took place in Bozeman, Montana, on May 26 in a driving rainstorm and snow being predicted during the night.

I’d like to thank each and every reader who came to the signings throughout the country. Thanks to you, this was the most successful tour ever, and the best-selling Joe Pickett book yet. Bless you. It was a pleasure meeting you.

Here are a the highlights…

MINNEAPOLIS - The event tonight at Once Upon A Crime was the biggest yet, despite it being American Idol night. Thirty-plus, and they had to keep shoving book cases back to accommodate more chairs. Pat and Gary are such wonderful hosts, and it couldn't have gone better. Lots of sales, tons of pre-sales, the best.

The hotel is so cool I couldn't figure out where the light switch was located, which means really, really cool. But it's nice, no doubt. The crowd at OUAC all Ooooh-ed and Ahhh-ed when I told them I was staying at the Graves. Dinner with friends Cheryl, Bill, and Paul…

OMAHA - I'm getting closer to home. I can feel it in the air...

Omaha was, as Randy Jackson would say on American Idol, "Just okay for me, man, just okay." There were about ten people in a remarkably nice little store, and those who were there were very enthusiastic, except for the woman who brought a book written by someone named Edgar Box, but we won't dwell on that. The others were big-time fans, and a man named Fred had driven all the way from Iowa…

BOULDER – Despite the unfortunate face that bookstore owener Cynthia Nye went to the wrong high school in Casper (I went to the other), she has overcome this early handicap and now presides over one of the better mystery stores in the country and a dedicated following. Fifty old friends and some new ones braved the lack of parking and it was a terrific evening. For once, I drove home to Cheyenne without getting lost…

LARAMIE - Chickering has always been a must-stop ever since Open Season, and this year we did something that’s never happened before: we sold out every book in the store. Nevertheless, it was a big wahoo…

CHEYENNE – The crowds keep getting bigger, and my hometown always does me proud. At least 70-80 people were there, and over 130 books sold. Bill Scribner bought 27. Go, Bill!

My lawn is mowed, laundry done, etc. It's back on the road tomorrow… but I'm fighting a damned cold, though…

CASPER - My other hometown (the place of my birth). Didn't read, didn't answer questions, didn't do anything but sign away from the minute I got there (3:45 p.m.) until 6:15. A parade of relatives, siblings, old teachers, neighbors, friends, sort-of-friends, general readers ... 150 books sold,according to Tammy Fleetwood.

Whew, for me.

I spent half of the afternoon telling people I was off to Sheridan before my
brother (who read the tour schedule on my website) reminded me that no, I
was off to Rapid City.

Okay, Rapid City it is.

RAPID CITY ON AMERICAN IDOL NIGHT - I drove five and a half hours in an epic rainstorm from Casper to Rapid City today, but it was pretty cool, actually. At one point it was raining so hard the wipers couldn’t keep up, and I eased to the side of the road to wait it out and hope no one hit me. After a few minutes I looked over and saw a buck antelope just a few feet outside doing exactly the same thing. I could have opend the window and touched him, but didn’t.

The store in Rapid produced about 25 folks, which I figured was damned good considering it was American Idol night (admit it, that's what YOU were watching). The readers there were die-hard enthusiasts, but setting was, um, unfortunate, with two coffee girls running blenders and yakking through the whole event and I quit trying to read after about two paragraphs. The Q&A consisted of the readers shouting to me and me shouting back over the store announcements and the girlies making specialty drinks. Decent night, but they need to get their act together…

SHERIDAN - Jeez, I love this town. And for the second time on the tour, we sold every book in the place! It was a really nice event (considering the AI finals) with a local musician, wine and cheese, etc.

It was hard to count people because a bunch came and went, but I'd guess 60 or so. At least 38 were still there for the talk and reading, which was much better without blenders going full tilt and girlies talking about their boyfriends. I had forgotten that a couple of the character names in the book (Tommy Wayman, the outfitter, for example) came from a name-in-a-book auction at the Sheridan Library so that was a real hit. The signing was followed by a wonderful dinner with the Cannons, Pennie, and Betty Jean, who is a pistol!

BILLINGS - In my limited experience, I think B&N's are a lot like guest ranches in that it isn't the store, or the inventory, or the location, but the staff. In the case of the Billings B&N, the employees there are all ten year vets and work there because they love books, and it shows in regard to events. Every year it's a great stop, and it just gets better.

Over 40 people were in the chairs when I arrived a half hour early, and by the time we started there were 60. Lorrie did a good job and had lots (135 hc, all the paperbacks) of books in addition to a primo display on the Fathers Day table right inside the front door. I don't know how many books I signed (at least 50 in addition to store stock) and it was a very fine night. This place is a must-stop. They know what they're doing and the readers are enthusiastic. Very nice, very nice…

BOZEMAN - I must admit I would have predicted the last night of the tour would be a whimper and not a bang -- given it's Friday night of a three-day weekend, it was raining, I couldn't find any word of it in the paper -- but was more than pleasantly surprised.

This was a much better even than in Rapid City. Tiffany Lach, the store manager, did a very good job of setting things up, doing the intro, etc. There were about 20 people there when I started and nearly 30 by the conclusion. Four men had driven down from Helena (three hours), a woman came from Great Falls (four hours) and there were several from Gardiner (two hours) and Livingston (one hour). I was really flattered. We probably sold around 30 books at the event (many people already had them) and 50-plus stock.

A really nice night and well worth it.

Tomorrow I drive home (ten hours). Believe it or not, snow is predicted tonight.

Whew.