Tour Updates, in Sizes M, L and XXXL

First, the medium update: I'm set to do a lunchtime reading/signing at Voices & Visions, a new indie bookshop located on the ground floor of the historic Bourse Building, which in spitting distance (if you can really spit) of the Liberty Bell. I'll be there at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday, October 27. This will be the first in a series of "brown bag lunch" readings; bring your bologna on wheat, and listen to Polish writer talk about bank robbery and cartoonish violence.

Okay, now the large one: I'm a last-minute addition the Collingswood Book Festival this coming weekend. Collingswood, New Jersey is just across the river... and, well, past Camden... from Center City Philadelphia, and even though this festival is new-ish (this year is the 3rd annual), it is the closest thing this area has to Book Expo America. I'll be in tent #1, signing at 1 p.m., after Larry Kane and Mary Jane Clark.

(Weird coincidence: Kane, a local TV legend, is promoting his latest book, Lennon Remembered, as in John Lennon; the protagonist in The Wheelman is named Lennon, after John Lennon.)

Okay, so are you ready for the big one? The XXXL tour update?

You sure? Make sure you're sitting down.

I'm serious.

Park your butt on something sturdy.

Laura Lippman is joining "Bullets, Bylines and Beer," my 215 Festival panel of journalists who are also crime ficiton writers.

Yes, that Laura Lippman. Not my cousin Laura from Parsippany. Not your hip aunt Laura from North Carolina, the one who made hash brownies once at the family reunion and your dad confessed to... well, never mind.

No, I mean THE Laura Lippman. Author of the kick-ass Tess Monaghan series, as well as two praised stand-alones. Edgar, Shamus, Agatha and Anthony Award winner. Former Baltimore Sun writer, blogger and superfriend to the mystery community -- not to mention all-around cool person. That Laura, at my humble little 215 panel, representin'.

A panel that also includes Wallace Stroby, Bill Kent and Solomon Jones. All I know is that this is a can't-miss event.

The time/date: 9-11 p.m., Thursday, October 6. The place: McGlinchey's Bar and Grill on S. 15th Street (near Spruce).

Even Dave White said he'd drive down from Clifton to catch this.