Thursday, January 16, 2014

Demise of Murder & Mayhem in Muskego

I love the plethora of mystery conferences that has sprouted over the past 25 years, so it's always sad to learn that one is ending. Here's a message that was posted by Penny Halle today about Murder & Mayhem in Muskego. I never got to attend this one, alas....

From Penny Halle:

It is with great sadness that I announce that Murder & Mayhem in Muskego has ended. Our major sponsor, the Friends of the Library, will no longer support this event. According to American Library Association Mandates, all library programs should be free and open to the public.

The minimal fee we charged was meant to cover paper costs, the lunch and guaranteed seating. M&M was never meant to be a fund raiser and indeed the Friends group did spend a great deal of money each year supporting the event. We had nine great and wonderful years. I want to thank our authors, over 200, who have given of their time and talents to come to Muskego Wisconsin and the M&M event. Without their excitement to share their writing, the genre of mystery and their gracious attendance to the fans this event would never have been possible. To the staff of Muskego Library and volunteers thank you. What a terrific job you have done for the past nine years. To my family for keeping me sane, that is no small job, thank you, thank you. Jon & Ruth Jordan, you guys are an inspiration and a joy. I’m blessed to know you and count you as friends. You have made me a better person. Richard you are unbelievable on so many levels, thank you. I don’t have the space to mention everyone by name and I would absolutely miss someone anyway, I thank all you for everything you’ve done to make M&M a wonderful success. To the fans of mystery and M&M I thank you the most. We are like family a reunion each year, only without the matching t-shirts and arguments. I will miss all of you. I hope that I will see you in the library or at other mystery gatherings. Until then. . .

Keep reading, Support your local libraries, Peace, Penny

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a shame to lose M & M in Muskego. Hopefully the Library Board will reexamine their decision. I think I must've told at least 50 avid mystery readers how great M&M was. I attended the last five of them and always looked forward to the next one. Kudos to Penny, the many wonderful authors and all others involved. Larry Janicsek Pewaukee, WI

Anonymous said...

I just learned that M&MinM is no more. How very sad. These were great. They were put on by wonderful people, had great people participating and were just an overall awesome event. I looked forward to this event every year, or at least, I had been. Thanks for all the hard work out in, in years past. Keith Johnson, Nashotah, WI

jon jordan said...

We're back......
Murder and Mayhem in Milwaukee!!!!

Janet Rudolph said...

Yes, and I posted about it! Hope you're having fun this weekend!