Past president Luanne Brown hosted Flash Fiction Night and began the program with trivia questions about the game of Clue. After we displayed our knowledge—or failed to do so—some shared stories and others listened. The 250-word (sometimes more) stories that were told included the following titles: The Samurai Sword Tiff for Two The Coroner’s Coronary? … Read more
Susan McCormick’s The Fog Ladies: In the Soup, Book 3 in the San Francisco Cozy Murder Mystery series, was released in October. Book 2 in the series, The Fog Ladies: Family Matters, won first prize in InD’Tale’s RONE Awards for Mystery and is also in the Shortlist for Chanticleer’s Murder and Mayhem Award. Charlotte Stuart … Read more
Jennifer McChord and Roberta Trahan provided insights into balancing plot and character development. Jennifer is Executive Editor and Associate Publisher at Epicenter-Coffeetown-Camel Press, and Roberta is a best-selling author. The presenters pointed out that thrillers tend to be more plot driven while cozies are more character driven and that most authors have a preference for … Read more
Roxanne Dunn: Pop the champagne! Murder Undetected was released by The Wild Rose Press on Sept. 29. Susan McCormick’s third installment in The Fog Ladies San Francisco Cozy Mystery series, The Fog Ladies: In the Soup, will be released Oct. 4 by The Wild Rose Press. New York Journal of Books says: “Age cannot slow … Read more
Dawn Dowdle of the Blue Ridge Literary Agency presented answers to questions from a member survey about working with an agent. Of members who took the survey, 17% had an agent and 57% were looking for an agent. Some of the questions Dawn answered: What can an agent do for an author that they couldn’t … Read more
A small group of members gathered at the upper shelter at Richmond Beach Park in Shoreline and chatted about books, the weather, Covid 19, life events, etc. The weather cooperated by staying comfortably warm with a pleasant breeze off the water. The sky wasn’t as smoky as it had been just the day before. There … Read more
Susan McCormick will discuss her Fog Ladies cozy murder mystery series and a writing life in general with the Capitol Crimes Sister-in-Crime chapter Book Club on August 10. Register here. Glen Erik Hamilton: Island of Thieves is Glen’s sixth novel in the award-winning Van Shaw series. It was released on July 27 from William Morrow. … Read more
Jan (Janice) Gorow: Her trade paperback Head in the Toilet: A Slightly Outrageous Murder Mystery is now live on Amazon. The Kindle version has been out for some time. The book is a fun, beach read mystery. Charlotte Stuart: Her 2nd Macavity and Me Mystery was released in June: Who, Me? Fog Bows, Fraud and … Read more
Tara Gavin, a professional editor at Alcove Press/Crooked Lane Books, made the following points during her presentation and Q&A: What an editor looks for first in an intellectual property is saleability. The editor works with the author on how to best present the project to readers. Sometimes acquisition is based on whether or not the … Read more
Bharti Kirchner’s Murder at Andaman was published in December 2020. This is what Cara Black, best-selling author had to say about it: “Murder at Andaman, Bharti Kirchner’s latest mystery, brings a sharply observed eye to this engaging, atmospheric tale set in the Andaman Islands exploring friendship. And murder. Don’t miss Murder at Andaman, I couldn’t … Read more