'Magna' makes move to Indy

Fans of comic books, among other things, swarm to San Diego during the summer for Comic-Con International.

Those who love music and movies head to Houston’s South by Southwest in the spring.

And for 20 years, Ball State University has played host to one of the largest festivals for fans of crime writing.

“We are here for lovers of reading and lovers of writing,” said Kathryn Kennison, director of BSU’s E.B and Bertha C. Ball Center, of the three-day Magna Cum Murder festival that begins Friday. “Our people come from all over.”

Since its inception in 1994, the festival, which Kennison said draws regulars from California, Texas and Canada, had been held in Muncie. Most of those years were held downtown, making use of the Roberts Hotel and Horizon Convention Center.

But when the hotel closed in 2008, organizers had to look for another option. They kept the festival in Muncie through 2012, but decided to look at other options for this year and settled on The Columbia Club on Monument Circle in downtown Indianapolis.

“I fell in love with it,” said Kennison, noting that she was shocked her group was offered the special rate of $69 per night. “It’s just a dream come true, this wonderful place, and they have been fabulous to us.”

The festival plays host to a variety of mystery and crime authors, but the main attractions are guest of honor Steve Hamilton and banquet speaker Hank Phillipi Ryan.

Hamilton, a Michigan native, has been writing for about 15 years and is best known for his Alex McKnight series. He also has written two stand-alone novels.

His first Alex McKnight novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, won the Private Eye Writers of America/St. Martin's Press Award for Best First Mystery by an Unpublished Writer and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar and Private Eye Writers of America Shamus awards for best first novel.

“I just wanted to write a good, old-fashion, hard-boiled crime novel, because that’s what I always loved to read growing up,” said Hamilton of his start. “I just wanted to try doing it.

“It’s just been a blast ever since. It’s a dream. I get to do the one thing I’ve always wanted to do.”

And he’s honored to have the chance to speak at the festival hosted by Ball State.

“I can’t believe it. If you had told me when I first started out, going to these conferences just being in awe of these writers … I would be invited to be the guest of honor, it would have been kind of mind-blowing,” he said. “It means a lot, because it’s coming from your peers. It’s coming from readers. It really means that you’re doing something right.”

Ryan is a native of Indianapolis who started her career as a television reporter in 1983 and now works as an investigative reporter in Boston.

She’s won 28 Emmy Awards and 12 Edward R. Murrow Awards for her work.

But she turned novelist in 2007, winning the Agatha Award for best new mystery for her first novel, Prime Time. To date, she’s written six novels and was nominated for the Agatha Award again in 2009.

“Hank is a hometown girl. She’s really taken off as a crime writer now. She was just sort of a natural,” said Kennison.

Magna Cum Murder features a variety of panels beginning Friday afternoon and continuing through lunch on Sunday.

It opens Friday with a discussion of “Mysteries of the Titanic” and also includes discussions about “Mores and Manners: Mysteries as the Mirror of Our Times”, “Set for Murder: Vivid Settings as a Character in the Story” and “Writing it Online: The Nuts and Bolts of Writing Your Own E-Book”.

There will also be a four-hour discussion about choosing victims with authors rotating in and out throughout Saturday afternoon.

But beyond the panels, Hamilton said he is most looking forward to just being around like-minded people.

“One of the fun things to do is go to conferences like this and hang out with other writers and readers,” he said. “It’s not so much the panel and the interview. Sort of the heart of the conference is being at the bar and swapping stories about the business and just hanging out with some really cool people.”