We prepared a great deal of information on fingerprints and created several displays.
We also put together a crime scene to provide a context for the fingerprints. The designated corpse is Lily. My family made her Christmas afternoon, and she is stuffed with gift wrap.
Bill began with an hour lecture on various aspects of fingerprinting. The audience had many questions on how fingerprints could fit into their works-in-process.
Then we moved to a nearby room for the hands-on demonstration. Chicago officer and writer Michael Black helped us staff the various stations.
Here Bill is "fuming" for latent prints. Basically, a few drops of superglue on top of a tin can over a lightbulb in a fishtank will evaporate in moist air and stick to the prints. Pretty cool.
I helped session goers dust CDs for prints. Fun but a bit messy. Glad I had the attractive latex gloves.
Finally everything was finished and it was time to enjoy the evening. At the author signing, Bill, Lily the corpse, and I had some free time, since ebooks are hard to autograph. Lily kicked back with the latest book from New York Times bestselling author Julie Hyzy, Affairs of Steak.
That's Julie standing next to David Morrell, the creator of Rambo. He's a fantastic guy. On his other side is author W.S. Gager. We drove down to the conference together and shared a room. She also tore her right rotator cuff, so we made liberal use of the hotel's valet service.
Bill and a couple guys posed in all their macho glory. That's Bill on the left, then undercover officer and author Marco Conelli, Chicago cop and author Michael Black, and Chicago author Raymond Benson (Bond. James Bond.).
Eventually, all good things had to come to an end, so we called the valet.
