Grafton signing canceled

The Daily Inter Lake

A planned book signing Thursday in Kalispell by mystery writer Sue Grafton has been canceled.

Contacted Tuesday morning, Borders Books and Music confirmed the cancellation.

A publicist for Grafton said the writer was taking a cross-country train trip that started in Cincinnati on Sunday night and is ending in Seattle at the end of the week.

"Her plan was to stay the night on her private train car in Whitefish in order to do the [Kalispell] event, however due to weather Amtrak has closed these extra tracks and won't allow her train to stay the night," publicist Victoria Comella wrote in an e-mail Tuesday. "Therefore, she has to pass directly through town without a chance to stop for the signing."

Although the book signing was canceled at noon Monday, the Inter Lake was not informed by Borders until Tuesday - after a front-page story already had been published in Tuesday's print edition.

Grafton, 67, is the author of the internationally best-selling mysteries series that started with "A is for Alibi" in 1982, and has continued through the alphabet up to her 20th book, "T is for Trespass," released Dec. 4.

Borders had planned to hand out wristbands on Wednesday to people wanting to attend the book signing the next day.

Grafton had planned to stop in Kalispell as part of a trip on a charter rail car heading west from Chicago. The Kalispell signing was to be the last in a tour that began Dec. 5 and has taken her only to major cities otherwise.

"We heard that if we were making this journey across the northern U.S., that we could be dropped in Whitefish for 24 hours," Grafton said in an interview last week. "We found out there was a Borders in Kalispell, and I thought, 'I've never been to Kalispell and it seemed like a fun project and a nice change of pace.' I get tired of going to the same old places."

Comella concluded: "Sue sends her sincerest apologies and regrets" for canceling the Kalispell book-signing event.