Now in its third year, ThrillerFest draws roughly 500 attendees, who come for signings, seminars, lectures and meet-and-greets with genre notables like David Baldacci (The Whole Truth), James Patterson (Sail) and Sandra Brown (Play Dirty), who will receive the ThrillerMaster Award.

While the fans’ tameness might be a surprise to writers expecting Annie Wilkes–level fanaticism, the often charming and demure authors can catch devotees off-guard as well. “We get our aggression out in what we write,” says Rose. “The authors are incredibly friendly and funny, not scary. Even [Rambo creator] David Morrell is a soft-spoken, avuncular teacher type.” Goosebumps impresario R.L. Stine, who joins a discussion on the future of young-adult thrillers in a post–Harry Potter world, concurs: “Thriller writers are the opposite of creepy. They don’t look like big, tough superheroes. They look like people who stay inside typing every day.”

It’s not all keyboard jockeys, though. Barry Eisler (Rain Fall), who hosts a conspiracy-theory panel, is a black belt in judo and worked for the CIA, while ITW cofounder Gayle Lynds (The Last Spymaster) started out as an investigative journalist with top-secret security clearance.

For aspiring Tom Clancys without Company cred, ThrillerFest (and the concurrent AgentFest and CraftFest) offers plenty to help fill in the gaps—including a hands-on weapons demonstration by an agent of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Writers can also hone their manuscripts: Lee Child, whose Nothing to Lose currently tops the New York Times best-seller list, offers insight at the CraftFest panel “ ‘How Do You Create Suspense?’ and Other Bad Questions,” while New York literary agent Donald Maass tells it like it is in a class called “Sorry, Your Thriller Isn’t Scary.”

If you happen to eavesdrop on some of these whodunit insiders, don’t be surprised if the shop talk isn’t devoted to the latest high-tech CSI gadget, criminal M.O. or even conquering writer’s block. “Everybody complains about the publicists,” says Stine. “That’s the only talk. No one talks about writing.”