Midnight in Austenland - Shannon Hale Book Signing! Yes!

Because I am a member of the Jayne Austen Society of North America I got notification that Shannon Hale was going to be at the King's English Bookstore in Salt Lake last Saturday.  Though it meant leaving one of my favorite events (Jenn's Valentine Cooking Exchange) a bit early, I was determined to do it.

Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the store, in a somewhat timely manner (not timely enough to avoid the longest line known to man, but still ...) and was thrust into the middle of a murder mystery ....

Now if you know me, you know that I love anything Austen related, reading in general, mysteries and books by Shannon Hale.  I loved the first Austenland and have not only read it twice but have also listened to it on CD twice.  So you can imagine my thrill when I realized that the sequel was going to be a mystery.  Yummy!

Here I am with two of the four players in the 'who done it drama'  The gent on the left was the Captain in this context and Shannon's very nice husband in most other contexts.  The gent on the right was a 'Scottish' bloke who was very funny, and who I had pegged as the murderer, silly me.

 

Because the woman on the left, Mackie Mc Mac, a 'famed' illusionist turned out to be the dastardly deed doer.  The middle shot is of Shannon with the woman who got the murderer correct, drat it.  I included the gal on the right because she is taking pics in her lovely regency style dress .... gotta love it.

This is the cover of the new book, I can hardly wait to read it.  (So why haven't I?  After waiting an hour I handed my copy (presigned by Mr. Hale) to Aspen Anderson the President of the Jane Austen Society of North America, Utah Chapter (Phew), since she was there signing up new members, and she was kind enough to get it signed for me.  Unfortunately we haven't managed to connect to get it back yet .... (sigh))

For more info about Shannon Hale and her books you can take a look at her website.