Omaha’s award-winning author Alex Kava and mystery author Jeff Abbott will be featured guests at Omaha Public Library’s ninth annual Mayhem in the Midlands Mystery Conference, May 22-25, Embassy Suites Omaha, 555 S. 10th St.

More than 150 fans and aspiring writers are expected to attend the four-day conference where they will have an opportunity to mingle with mystery authors Donna Andrews, Sean Doolittle, Jan Burk and 40 other published authors.

Alex Kava invites conference attendees to listen to some real CSI stories. A “Crime Lab/Crime Scene Track” has been added on Friday and the panel discussions will include real-life experts: a crime scene investigator, the commander of a regional crime lab, a district attorney and the director of a university forensic science program. “They will share a few of their crime scene experiences,” Kava said. “You will hear a description of how they scraped enough blood from the bottom of a dumpster to match a missing boy’s DNA; how mass graves in Iraq are excavated; techniques used in processing the scene of the deadliest bank robbery in a decade; and working with a cadaver dog to find a murdered child in a house’s foundation.”

Total cost for the Mayhem in the Midlands Conference with three special meal events is $155. Cost for the conference only is $80. Cost of a single-day pass for Friday or Saturday is $40.

Friends of Omaha Public Library will host a cash bar and opening reception buffet, Thursday, 7 to 10 p.m. at Embassy Suites Hotel. Sisters in Crime, a worldwide organization for women mystery writers, will host a light buffet supper, Friday, 5 to 7 p.m., at the hotel. The Sisters in Crime buffet is $20. A “Library Books for Children” benefit auction will immediately follow. The Mystery Dinner Buffet “Marriage is Murder” on Saturday will open at 6 p.m. with dinner served at 6:30 p.m., on the fourth floor of Omaha Public Library’s W. Dale Clark Library, 215 S. 15th St. The Mystery Dinner is $45. A Sunday continental breakfast and interview with Alex Kava is open to conference participants only and costs $10.

Call 402-346-9000 to reserve a room at the Embassy Suites Omaha. Ask for Mayhem rates.

Registration closes May 15. For more information, a list of authors attending the conference and a registration form, visit omahapubliclibrary.org or call 402-444-4854.

Mayhem in the Midlands is co-sponsored by Omaha Public Library and Lincoln City Libraries with additional support provided by Friends of Omaha Public Library, Nelson-Ross Associates, Lincoln chapter of Sisters in Crime and River City Rogues.

Visit omahapubliclibrary.org for more library programs and events.

Contact:
Linda Trout, 402-444-4838, ltrout@omahapubliclibrary.org
or
Maggie Tarelli-Falcon, 402-444-4854, mtarelli-falcon@omahapubliclibrary.org