Yesterday, I received a note from Sandie Herron’s husband, Bill. Sandie died on March 11, but she had sent me an early birthday gift, cards she made for me, and Bill didn’t want to tell me about her death until after I received them. That’s just how kind both Sandie and Bill are. His note made me cry.

I’ve “known” Sandie for over twenty-five years, although we only met in 2018 at the St. Petersburg Bouchercon. Sandie was the owner of A Novel Idea bookstore in Sarasota, Florida. When I became chair of Authors’ Programming for the Lee County Reading Festival, Sandie put me in touch with a number of Florida authors.

Over the years, Sandie and I found out how much we had in common. We both had a menagerie of cats. Although I’m down to just Josh, Sandie and Bill still had a family of beloved cats. We also shared a love of mysteries. Sandie reviewed mysteries here under “Sandie’s Corner”, and audiobooks under “Have You Heard?” William Kent Krueger was one of her favorite authors. I introduced her to Linda Castillo’s books. And, we both missed Bill Crider.

As I said, we finally met at Bouchercon in St. Petersburg, and Bill took a picture so we had proof. I had never met him, either, so it was a surprise when he came up to me after a panel, and said, you can’t leave until you meet Sandie Herron. That was one of the highlights of the conference for me.

Sandie was about a year and a half younger than me, but her health hasn’t been good for quite a long time. We’ve all been lucky that she took time to share her reviews and her knowledge of mysteries. I’m going to miss seeing her name pop up in my email. She often sent along a note about her cats or Josh. And, many of you don’t know it, but if you won a book from me in the last year, you probably received a card made by Sandie. She was so creative.

She loved her crafts, books, her mysteries, her cats, and her life with Bill. May she rest in peace.