Reflections on CrimeCon

I’m back from my first CrimeCon, this one held in Nashville. For those who aren’t aware, CrimeCon varies from CrimeConn (in CT), Killer Con (from the Writer’s Police Academy), and all the other crime-related conferences in that 1. It’s almost all fans, not writers, and 2. It’s focused almost entirely on true crime. Since I’ve embarked on an extended project of writing Vacations Can Be Murder, a series of true crime travel guides, I thought it would be a good idea to meet my audience and see what makes them tick. And it’s definitely true crime, ticking like a time bomb inside them.

If you are reading this because you’re an author thinking of switching from fiction to true crime, or incorporating true crime into your fiction, this could be a valuable conference to attend. If you’re attending Bouchercon later this summer at the exact same venue (The Gaylord Opryland Hotel), I’ll include some tips at the end.

This is a highly engaged audience of around 5,000 attendees and 6,500 total—gratifying to see since I’m aiming my upcoming books their way. It helps if you’re well-versed in recent crimes and criminals since many of the presentations do a deep dive without giving background. For example, one panel featuring The Behavior Panel (https://www.youtube.com/c/thebehaviorpanel), analyzed an interview between Piers Morgan and Fiona Harvey, the woman on whom Martha Scott from Baby Reindeer is allegedly based. Well, I had never seen Baby Reindeer, so while enjoyable, the presentation was less meaningful to me than it would have been the next day, after I’d binged the whole seven-episode series.
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If you are addicted to true crime podcasts, you can meet all of your favorite creators here; Nancy Grace; the gang from Small Town Dicks, CourtTV, Dateline; the team behind Missing on NewsNation, and more. John Douglas, the profiler on whom Mindhunter is based, gave a two-hour presentation after-hours. John Walsh of America’s Most Wanted was also on hand. Some personal highlights: Susan Constantine discussing jury selection techniques; Frank Figliuzzi talking about his new book Long Haul (all about long-haul trucker serial killers); and Katherine Ramsland (who’s written 72 books!!!) discussing how serial killers recruit accomplices, all covered in her new release, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice.

Meeting fellow author Katherine Ramsland

​If you’re an author who is thinking of attending to sell books, there was a bookstore on hand but unlike many writer’s cons, there was also an exhibit hall where you can sell directly, and the hours extended through the entire conference. No swag room though—I appropriated a table in the main hall to distribute promo and luckily, the organizers let them be. Also present: organizations catering to the community (colleges promoting forensics courses, for example). This space adjoined Creators Row, where you could chat with all the podcast creators. There was also a section selling merchandise. My new hat reads “Be Nice, Don’t Kill People.” Of course, if people listened, I’d have nothing to write about.

One sad note: a large bulletin board contained flyers from around 100 missing persons cases. It’s not just fans at the conference; it’s also families and organizations hoping to enlist the help of armchair, cold-case detectives among the attendees to help them find their loved ones.

Evening activities included Sip and Sketch, where you could learn the techniques of courtroom sketch artists. However, I opted for a local tour, Nashville’s Dark Secrets: Murder & True Crime Walking Ghost Tour (around $35 plus Ubers there and back), which was quite entertaining.

There are multiple price tiers for CrimeCon; I opted for the standard $399 rate, so I didn’t receive the option for priority seating (viewing the big screens was just fine) or some of the additional content. If you decide to attend next year in Denver (September 5-7, which unfortunately conflicts with Bouchercon in New Orleans), you should sign up early because host hotel rooms might go fast. And if you love traveling to learn about true crime (as opposed to traveling to visit the spots where the crime happened, the subject of my books), CrimeCon also runs a True Crime Cruise (sailing in November this year, June next, for around 600 people); and CrimeCon UK in September in London which also promises a more intimate experience with around 500 of your fellow true crime lovers. You can explore all the offerings at https://www.crimecon.com/.

Now, about the Gaylord Opryland, what you should be aware of if you’re planning to attend Bouchercon in August, is that it’s huge. Expect to do considerable walking so bring comfortable shoes. And, despite the large number of dining venues, at mealtime, there are usually looong lines so plan to eat early or late or drive “off campus” to a local restaurant, bring snacks and water bottles so you don’t waste time waiting around, and make sure you have your credit card, because the entire hotel is cashless. The hotel keeps the conference rooms frigid (which inspired one of my favorite posts of the conference: “Why are the rooms so cold? We don’t need to be refrigerated, we’re not dead!”) so bring a coat, blanket, or other warming garb. And don’t worry if you are in a sister hotel like the Inn at Opryland, where I stayed, because there’s a frequent shuttle, and you could even walk.
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Would I go again? Sure. It was a lot of fun. As a crime/mystery/suspense writer, it’s something you might want to try, even if only to get ideas for future books. Hit me up if you have questions.