Perry - Talked to Death

The Jamie Brodie Mysteries

Cited to Death

Hoarded to Death

Burdened to Death

Researched to Death

Encountered to Death

Psyched to Death

Stacked to Death

High Desert (bonus short story included with Stacked to Death)

Stoned to Death

Low Country (bonus short story included with Stoned to Death)

Talked to Death

Hearts (bonus short story included with Talked to Death)

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, organizations and incidents are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or

individuals - living or dead - is entirely coincidental.

2015 Meg Perry. All rights reserved .

Oh... you cant think any of them did it. I mean, theyre nearly all librarians.

- Charity Blackstock, Dewey Death . New York: Ballantine Books, 1958, p. 106

Authors note:

There is no Mount Tahoe University in California. There is no University of East Florida in Florida. There are no California community colleges called Stone Canyon College or Death Valley College, and there is no Mosquito Lagoon Community College in Florida. There is no Delta Delta Omega social fraternity in the U.S.

The performance-based funding scheme described is taken from whats happening in Floridas college and university systems. I have no idea if California is adopting a similar scheme. For their sake, I hope not.

The California Library Association annual conference did take place in Oakland in November 2014 and did include a presentation on prison libraries. Any other resemblance to any person, thing or event at the conference is purely coincidental.

Friday, November 7

The University of California Librarians

Are we there yet?

I glanced over at Liz Nguyen, sitting in the passenger seat of her own car, bare feet propped on the dashboard, short black hair tucked behind one ear. She was scowling at the hills of the Los Padres National Forest, through which we were passing.

The California Library Association Annual Conference, typically known just as CLA as in, Are you going to CLA this year? was being held in Oakland over the first full weekend of November. Liz and I were presenting our paper on librarian involvement in police investigations. The paper had been published for almost a year, but we'd missed last year's deadline for presenting at the conference in Long Beach. Just as well as we'd had additional experience with our subject since then.

Lizs boyfriend, Jon Eckhoff, an LAPD homicide detective, was presenting with us. He'd been involved in about half of the investigations we were discussing, and we thought it would be a nice touch to include the law enforcement perspective.

I said, Weve only been gone an hour. Four more to go.

She sighed deeply and then brightened. Lets play a game.

What, like Twenty Questions?

No lets play Spot the Librarian Stereotype.

Never heard of that one.

Thats because I just made it up. But you know the librarian stereotypes, right? Ill describe someone, and you tell me what sort of librarian he or she is. Then we can test our skill at the conference.

Heh. Okay, go ahead.

All right. This person is almost always female and wears brightly colored clothing.

Childrens librarian.

Right! See, youre good at this.

That one was easy. Challenge me.

Okay. This person is typically male, might have a pot belly, and only talks to his own kind.

Gotta be a library director.

Two for two! Our next candidate is under forty and carrying an iPad.

Pfft. That could be anyone.

He or she is also wearing cool glasses.

Hipster librarian.

Right! Half a point for that... because I had to prompt you.

Thank you. How would you describe us?

Liz propped her elbows on her knees and steepled her fingers. Ah, L. universitasis californii . The most highly evolved of the genus Librariensis .

I snickered. We may be the only examples of our species at this conference. Have you read the program?

No, why?

I pointed at the passenger door, where Liz had stashed her iPad. Take a look.

She flipped the tablet open, pulled up the conference schedule, and started scrolling. Shit . Theres hardly anything of interest to us. One talk on library instruction assessment and one on information literacy. Thats it .

We have to find something else to attend.

Theres one on prison libraries. That might be entertaining. And theres the reception.

Liz and I were both alumni of UCLAs Graduate School of Education and Information Studies. GSEIS would hold a reception on Saturday evening.

Your favorite thing. A networking opportunity.

Liz rolled her eyes. Spare me. She wriggled a little, repositioning her feet. We should have flown up here.

I couldnt afford it, and the university wouldnt pay for it. Youll be lucky to be reimbursed for your gas.

Liz and I had struck a deal shed pay for the gas if Id drive. Jon couldnt get away until noon; he was driving up later in the day with my boyfriend, Pete Ferguson, in Petes Jeep. Jon would drive Lizs car back after our presentation tomorrow, and Liz would ride back to LA on Sunday with Pete and me.

I said, We should draw up a schedule for tomorrow.

Liz re-opened her iPad. Okay. Keynote speaker, then we present, then we hear Barbs talk. That takes care of the morning.

Barb Simmons, my dads lady friend, was a childrens librarian. She and three colleagues were speaking on public library resources for homeschooled children.

Liz said, Is your dad coming with Barb?

No. Shes traveling with the other women on her panel. All four of them are sharing a room.

Sounds like fun.

What about the afternoon?

Um right after lunch is the information literacy talk, then the one on assessment. The prison libraries presentation is first thing Sunday morning.

Okay, well start home after that. Pete and I will probably skip the one on assessment.

Why?

We want to have some time to relax. Maybe go to San Francisco. Petes never been there.

Ah. Okay. Liz scrolled through the program again, disgust on her face. I thought last year was lousy for academic presentations. There are fewer than half as many this year.

Whats up with that? Where are the presenters from Stanford and UCSF and Berkeley? Not to mention San Jose State?

Liz shrugged. Moneys tight. Since CARL was up here in the spring, they probably all went there and didnt want to pay the fee for this one.

I guess.

Face it, the only reason were here is that our topic fits into the public library arena as well as academia.

CLA met every year. CARL, the California Association of Research Libraries, met every other year. CARLs focus was entirely on academic and research libraries.

I said, We probably wouldnt have gotten this talk accepted at CARL.

No. But we need to come up with something for the next CARL conference, and we should include Justin on it.

Justin Como, our newest librarian, was constantly seeking opportunities to present or publish. If we write a paper together, we can include him. Do you have any ideas for a joint paper?

Nope. You should include him on your paper about Petes great-great-grandfather.

Back in the summer Pete and I had solved the disappearance of his great-great-grandfather, 100 years previously. We were able to piece together the story of his murder from the diaries of both Petes ancestor and the killer, an archaeologist protecting his pet theory.

Im writing that one with Fiona Mackenzie. The archivist at University of Edinburgh.

Oooh. Fancy.

I stuck my tongue out at her. She smiled sweetly back at me.

Liz was my best friend at work. Shed been a year behind me in library school and had joined YRL a year after me. She was half Hawaiian, half French and Vietnamese - gorgeous, smart, and hilarious. Jon was a lucky guy.