Suffolk Mystery Authors Festival 2021 Program

VIRTUAL PROGRAM SCHEDULE LIVE PANEL DISCUSSIONS (All times are EST): 9-9:55am Humor Has It: Keeping The Fun in Mystery

Featuring: Melissa Bourbon, Lynn Cahoon, Diane Kelly, and Julie Moffett (Moderator)

10-10:55am Somewhere in Crime: Global Mysteries

Featuring: Marni Graff (M), Sara E. Johnson, Wendy H. Jones, and Catriona McPherson

PRE-RECORDED CONTENT (Can be viewed any time starting March 5, 2021, after 8:00 a.m. EST):

11-11:55am Food For Thought: Culinary Mysteries

Featuring: Catherine Bruns, Maya Corrigan, Gayle Leeson, and Shawn Reilly Simmons (M)

12-12:55pm Small Street: Little Towns With Big Crime

GUEST OF HONOR INTERVIEWS Headliner Catriona McPherson interviewed by Author Kellye Garrett

Featuring: Mollie Cox Bryan, Mary Ellen Hughes, Amy M. Reade (M), and Grace Topping

Award-winning Suspense Authors Alan Orloff and Art Taylor in Conversation

1-1:55pm P.S. I Love You: Writing Romance

Popular Cozy Mystery Authors Diane Kelly and Melissa Bourbon in Conversation

Featuring: Libby Klein (M), Allie Marie, Nancy Naigle, and Nan O’Berry

2-2:55pm Ministry of Suspense: Finding the Right Balance in Fiction

Award-winning Suspense Author Tara Laskowski interviewed by Author E.A. Aymar

Featuring: Betsy Ashton (M), Diane Fanning, Tara Laskowski, and Art Taylor

3-3:55pm Publishing Changes: The Past, Present, and Future...All In An Hour!

Featuring: E.A. Aymar (M), Austin Camacho, Kellye Garrett, and Abby Vandiver

4-4:55pm A Step Back in Time: Historical Mysteries

Featuring: Bradley Harper (M), Eleanor Kuhns, Bill Rapp, and Katharine Schellman

5-5:55pm Prime Detective: The Private Eye’s World

Featuring: Dana King, K.L. Murphy, Alan Orloff, and Heather Weidner (M)

6-7pm A Song of Ice and Fire: Writing Strong Women

Featuring: Ellen Butler, John DeDakis (M), Marcia Talley, and LynDee Walker

SuffolkMysteryAuthorsFestival.com

BETSY ASHTON Also Writing as E.A. Barres

Betsy Ashton, born in Washington, D.C., was raised in Southern California, where she ran wild with coyotes in the hills above Malibu. She is the author of the Mad Max Mystery series, including Unintended Consequences, Uncharted Territory, and Unsafe Haven. Her stand-alone serial killer psychological suspense novel, Eyes Without A Face, was published in late 2017. Her short stories and poetry have appeared in several anthologies including 50 Shades of Cabernet, Candles of Hope, and Reflections on Smith Mountain Lake. She is the past president of the state-wide Virginia Writers Club. She loves riding behind her husband on his motorcycle. You’ll have to decide for yourself if and where she has a tattoo. Visit her website at www.Betsy-Ashton.com.

THE ESSENTIAL BETSY:

E.A. AYMAR Also Writing as E.A. Barres

Anthony Award-nominated E.A. Aymar’s most recent thriller, They’re Gone, was published in 2020 under his pseudonym E.A. Barres. His past thrillers include the celebrated novel, The Unrepentant, and the novels-instories The Swamp Killers and The Night of the Flood (in which he served as co-editor and contributor). He has a monthly column in the Washington Independent Review of Books, is a former member of the national board of the International Thriller Writers and, for years, was the managing editor of The Thrill Begins, an online resource for debut and aspiring writers. He is also an active member of Crime Writers of Color, the Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. He also runs the Noir at the Bar series for Washington, D.C., and has hosted and spoken at a variety of crime fiction, writing, and publishing events nationwide.

Born in Panama, Ed now lives and writes in the DC/MD/VA triangle. Visit his website at www.EAymar.com.

THE ESSENTIAL E.A.:

MELISSA BOURBON Also Writing as Winnie Archer

Melissa Bourbon Ramirez is the national bestselling author of 17 mystery books, including the Lola Cruz Mysteries, A Magical Dressmaking Mystery series, and the Bread Shop Mysteries, written as Winnie Archer.

She is a former middle school English teacher who gave up the classroom in order to live in her imagination full time. Melissa, a California native who has lived in Texas and Colorado, now calls the southeast home. She hikes, practices yoga, cooks, and is slowly but surely discovering all the great restaurants in the Carolinas. Since four of her five amazing kids are living their lives, scattered throughout the country, her dogs—Bean the pub, Dobby the chug, and Jasper the cattle dog/lab—keep her company while she writes. Melissa lives in North Carolina with her educator husband, Carlos, and their youngest son. She is beyond fortunate to be living the life of her dreams. Visit her website at www.MelissaBourbon.com.

THE ESSENTIAL MELISSA / WINNIE:

COMING APRIL 2021

CATHERINE BRUNS USA Today bestselling author Catherine Bruns lives in Upstate New York with an all-male household that consists of her very patient husband, three sons, and several cats and dogs. Catherine currently writes four cozy series: Cookies & Chance, Italian Chef, Cindy York, and the (Aloha Lagoon) Carrie Jorgenson mysteries. Her book For Sale by Killer won the 2019 Daphne du Maurier award for Mainstream Mystery/Suspense. Catherine has wanted to be a writer since the age of eight when she wrote her own version of Cinderella (fortunately Disney never sued). She holds a B.A. in English and is a member of Mystery Writers of American and Sisters in Crime.

Visit her website at www.CatherineBruns.net.

THE ESSENTIAL CATHERINE:

ELLEN BUTLER Ellen Butler is an international bestselling novelist writing the edgy Karina Cardinal mystery series, and the award-winning historical suspense, The Brass Compass. Fans who enjoy the suspense of Melinda Leigh and the humor of Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum will fall in love with Butler’s Karina Cardinal. Ellen’s experiences working on Capitol Hill and at a medical association in Washington, D.C., inspired the mystery-action series.

The Brass Compass has won multiple awards for historical fiction and is compared to such bestselling novels as Kristen Hannah’s The Nightingale. New York Times bestselling author Susan Elia MacNeal included The Brass Compass on her list of top ten favorite novels about female spies written by a woman.

Ellen is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers, and the Office of Strategic Services Society.

She is an admitted chocoholic and confesses to a penchant for shoe shopping. Ellen lives with her family in the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Visit her website at www.EllenButler.net.

THE ESSENTIAL ELLEN:

LYNN CAHOON Lynn Cahoon is the award-winning author of several New York Times and USA Today best-selling cozy mystery series. The Tourist Trap series is set in central coastal California; Guidebook to Murder won the Reader’s Crown for Mystery Fiction. She also pens the Cat Latimer mystery series and the Farm to Fork mystery series. Lynn recently released the light paranormal Kitchen Witch mystery series, set in fictional Magic Springs, Idaho.

L​ ynn started her career writing sweet contemporary romances with heroes ranging from cowboys to warlocks.

An over ten-year breast cancer survivor, she lives in a small town like the ones she loves to write about, with her husband and three fur babies. Visit her website at www.LynnCahoon.com.

THE ESSENTIAL LYNN:

COMING MARCH 16 2021

COMING JULY 2021

AUSTIN CAMACHO Austin S. Camacho is the author of seven novels about Washington, D.C.-based private eye Hannibal Jones, five in the Stark and O’Brien international adventure-thriller series, and the detective novel, Beyond Blue. His short stories have been featured in several anthologies including Dying in a Winter Wonderland, an Independent Mystery Booksellers Association Top Ten Bestseller for 2008. He is featured in the Edgar-nominated African American Mystery Writers: A Historical and Thematic Study, by ​Frankie Y. Bailey (a SMAF Featured Author in 2016). Camacho is also editorial director for Intrigue Publishing, a Maryland small press. Visit his website at www.ASCamacho.com.

THE ESSENTIAL AUSTIN:

MAYA CORRIGAN Maya (Mary Ann) Corrigan writes the Five-Ingredient Mysteries: By Cook or by Crook, Scam Chowder, Final Fondue, The Tell-Tale Tarte (with a Poe theme), S’more Murders (with a Titanic-dinner theme), Crypt Suzette (with a Halloween theme), and Gingerdead Man (with a Christmas theme). The series features a café manager and her live-wire grandfather, the Codger Cook, solving murders in a Chesapeake Bay town. Each Five-Ingredient Mystery has five suspects, five clues, and Granddad’s five-ingredient recipes. Maya urges you to stay away from Bayport, Maryland, because of its high body count. She won the Daphne du Maurier Award and the New England Readers’ Award for unpublished Mystery/Suspense.

Previously, she taught writing, American literature, and detective fiction at Georgetown University and Northern Virginia Community College. Visit Maya’s website at www.MayaCorrigan.com for recipes and trivia about mysteries.

THE ESSENTIAL MAYA:

MOLLIE COX BRYAN Also Writing as Maggie Blackburn

Mollie Cox Bryan is the author of several bestselling mystery series; she also writes under the pen name Maggie Blackburn. She’s recently released a novella mystery series: The Victoria Town Mysteries. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award, a Daphne du Maurier Award, and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman’s World. She makes her home at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Visit her website at www.MollieCoxBryan.com.

THE ESSENTIAL MOLLIE / MAGGIE:

JOHN DEDAKIS Award-winning journalist and novelist John DeDakis is a former Senior Copy Editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis (pronounced deh-DAY-kiss), a former White House correspondent, is a writing coach, manuscript editor, and writing workshop leader. He is the author of five novels in the Lark Chadwick mysterysuspense series. His fourth novel, Bullet in the Chamber, is the winner of the Reviewers Choice, Foreword INDIES, and Feathered Quill book awards. In his spare time, what little he has of it, John is a jazz drummer. Visit his website at www.JohnDeDakis.com.

THE ESSENTIAL JOHN:

DIANE FANNING Diane Fanning is the Edgar-nominated author of eleven mystery novels and 15 true crime books. She has consulted for 48 Hours and appeared on The Today Show, 20/20, Forensic Files, Snapped, the Biography Channel, E!, the BBC, and Investigation Discovery, where she is a regular on Deadly Women. She’s a recipient of the Defender of the Innocent award from the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project.

Born and raised in Baltimore, she now lives in the shadow of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Bedford, Virginia.

Her twelfth mystery novel, tentatively titled Death Wish, is nearing publication. Visit her website at www.DianeFanning.com.

THE ESSENTIAL DIANE:

KELLYE GARRETT Kellye Garrett’s first novel, Hollywood Homicide, was released in August 2017 and named one of BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. In addition to receiving starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, it won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty and Independent Publisher “IPPY” awards for best first novel. It was also nominated for the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and Barry award for Best Paperback Original.

Hollywood Ending, her second book in the Detective by Day mystery series, was chosen a best mystery of 2018

by Suspense Magazine, Book Riot and CrimeReads, which called it the most fun book of the year. In addition to being featured on the TODAY Show’s Best Summer Reads of 2019, it was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original and a Lefty Award for Best Humorous Novel. In addition to writing, she currently serves on the national Board of Directors of Sisters in Crime as its Publicity Liaison. ​ ellye previously spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the CBS drama Cold Case. People were always surprised K to learn what she did for a living—probably because she seemed way too happy to be brainstorming ways to murder people. A former magazine editor, Kellye holds a B.S. in magazine writing from Florida A&M and an MFA in screenwriting from USC’s famed film school. Having moved back to her native New Jersey, she spends her mornings commuting to Manhattan for her job at a leading media company—while still happily brainstorming ways to commit murder. Visit her website at www.KellyeGarrett.com.

THE ESSENTIAL KELLYE:

MARNI GRAFF Award-winning author Marni Graff writes The Nora Tierney English Mysteries (The Blue Virgin, The Green Remains, The Scarlet Wench, and The Golden Hour), featuring an American writer living in the UK; and the Trudy Genova Manhattan Mysteries (Death Unscripted and Death at the Dakota), based on Graff’s work during her nursing career as a medical consultant for a New York movie studio. The Managing Editor for Bridle Path Press, Graff also writes a crime review blog: www.AutieMWrites.com.

Graff is a member of Sisters in Crime, the North Carolina Writers’ Network, and the International Association of Crime Writers. She and her husband live in rural eastern North Carolina with two Aussie Doodles, Seamus and Fiona. ​Visit her online at www.AutieMWrites.com.

THE ESSENTIAL MARNI:

BRADLEY HARPER Bradley Harper is a retired Army pathologist with over 37 years of active duty, and performed over 200 autopsies, 20 of them forensic. He uses his clinical experience and training in his writing in the historical fiction/mystery genre. His debut novel, ​A Knife in the Fog, pitted Arthur Conan Doyle against Jack the Ripper and was an Edgar Award finalist in 2019 and winner of the Silver Falchion Award at Killer Nashville, while the audiobook won Audiofile Magazine’s Earphone Award in the Mystery and Suspense category. Visit his website at www.BHarperAuthor.com.

THE ESSENTIAL BRADLEY:

MARY ELLEN HUGHES Also Writing as Emmie Caldwell

Mary Ellen Hughes is the national bestselling author of (at this count) 11 mystery novels, including the Keepsake Cove Mysteries, the Pickled and Preserved Mysteries, the Craft Corner Mysteries, and the Maggie Olenski Mysteries, along with several short stories. In the fall of 2020, her new Craft Fair Knitting Mysteries began, written under the pen name of Emmie Caldwell. A Wisconsin native, Mary Ellen has spent most of her adult life in Maryland, where she’s set many of her books and stories. Visit her website at www.MaryEllenHughes.com.

THE ESSENTIAL MARY ELLEN / EMMIE:

SARA E. JOHNSON Sara E. Johnson is a mystery writer who spent nine months exploring wondrous New Zealand. Everywhere she snooped, there was a mystery that needed writing. The Bones Remember, Sara’s second novel in the Alexa Glock Mystery series set in New Zealand, was published in September 2020; Molten Mud Murder, her debut novel, was published in 2019.

Sara has a B.A. in Journalism and an M.A. in Education from the University of North Carolina. She lives in Durham, North Carolina, with her husband, Forrest, and golden doodle, Beaufort. A part-time educator and full-time snooper, Sara is the current President of Triangle Sisters in Crime and a member of the North Carolina Writers’ Network.

Visit her website at www.SaraJohnsonAuthor.com.

THE ESSENTIAL SARA:

WENDY H. JONES Wendy H. Jones is a Scottish crime writer and President of the Scottish Association of Writers. She writes police procedurals (The DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries), humorous crime (Cass Claymore Investigates), young adult mysteries (The Fergus and Flora Mysteries), as well as the Bertie the Buffalo children’s picture book. Her books are all ​set in Scotland.

Wendy is an international public speaker, presented Wendy’s Book Buzz (a local radio show), founded Crime at the Castle, and is the presenter of The Writing and Marketing Show, a podcast for writers. Visit her website at www.WendyHJones.com.

THE ESSENTIAL WENDY:

COMING SOON

DIANE KELLY Diane Kelly writes stories that feature feisty female lead characters and their furry-four-footed friends. She is the author of over 30 novels and novellas, including the Death & Taxes, Paw Enforcement, and House Flipper mystery series. Diane’s books have been awarded the prestigious Romance Writers of America Golden Heart® Award and a Reviewers Choice Award. Visit her website at www.DianeKelly.com.

THE ESSENTIAL DIANE:

COMING JUNE 2021 COMING OCTOBER 26

2021

DANA KING Dana King has earned Shamus Award nominations from the Private Eye Writers of America for his novels A Small Sacrifice and The Man In The Window. He also writes the Penns River police procedurals, the fifth of which, Pushing Water, was released in May 2020. His short fiction has appeared in the anthologies Dark Yonder, Down To The River, The Black Car Business, Unloaded Vol. 2, and Blood, Guts, and Whiskey. Dana is a member of Private Eye Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and Sisters in Crime. Visit his website at www.DanaKingAuthor.com.

THE ESSENTIAL DANA:

LIBBY KLEIN Libby Klein graduated Lower Cape May Regional High School in the ‘80s. Her classes revolved mostly around the culinary sciences and theater, with the occasional nap in chemistry. She has worked as a stay-at-home-mom, climbing the ranks to the coveted position of Grandma. She also dabbles in the position of Vice President of a technology company which mostly involves bossing other people around, making spreadsheets, and taking out the trash. She writes culinary cozy mysteries from her Northern Virginia office while trying to keep her cat Figaro off her keyboard. Most of her hobbies revolve around eating, and travel, and eating while traveling. Visit her website at www.LibbyKleinBooks.com.

THE ESSENTIAL LIBBY:

COMING JUNE 2021

ELEANOR KUHNS Eleanor Kuhns is the 2011 winner of the Minotaur Books/Mystery Writers of America First Crime Novel competition. She lives in New York, received her master’s in Library Science from Columbia University, and is currently the Assistant Director at the Goshen Public Library in Orange County, New York. Visit her website at www.Eleanor-Kuhns.com.

THE ESSENTIAL ELEANOR:

TARA LASKOWSKI Tara Laskowski’s debut suspense novel One Night Gone won the Agatha Award, Macavity Award, and the Anthony Award. She also wrote two short story collections, Modern Manners for Your Inner Demons and Bystanders. She has won the Agatha Award and Thriller Award for her short fiction and was the longtime editor of the online flash fiction journal SmokeLong Quarterly. ​

A graduate of Susquehanna University and George Mason University, Tara grew up in Pennsylvania and lives in Northern Virginia with her husband, writer Art Taylor, and their son, Dash. Visit her website at www.TaraLaskowski.com.

THE ESSENTIAL TARA:

GAYLE LEESON Gayle Leeson is a pseudonym for Gayle Trent (and Amanda Lee), an author living in Virginia with a beautiful family and quite a few pets. As Gayle Leeson, she writes the Down South Cafe mystery series, the Ghostly Fashionista mystery series, and the Kinsey Falls women’s fiction series. As Gayle Trent, she writes the Daphne Martin Cake Mystery series and the Myrtle Crumb Mystery series. As Amanda Lee, she writes the Embroidery Mystery series. A hybrid author—both traditionally published and self-published—Gayle jokes that she has so many pen names now that her new motto is, “An author by any other name might still be me.” Visit her website at www.GayleLeeson.com.

THE ESSENTIAL GAYLE: COMING MARCH 16 2021

ALLIE MARIE Award-winning author Allie Marie grew up in Virginia, where her favorite childhood pastime was reading Nancy Drew and Trixie Belden mysteries. She never expected to grow up to be a real-life police officer herself. Eventually working her way up through the ranks, Allie retired—four times—as her experiences kept leading her to other law enforcement adventures in the US as well as overseas.

After her final “retirement,” Allie soon embarked on a quest to fulfill a long-time dream—to write mysteries and crime thrillers. She was derailed from those mystery plans, however, when she began researching her family tree. Inspired by ancestors she discovered, she began The True Colors Series, a paranormal mystery series with modern local settings and colonial history, which has garnered multiple awards and leads to a spinoff collection, The True Spirits Trilogy, to start in 2021. In November 2020, she released a standalone historical, again with modern local settings but with a WW1 mystery. Not only does this story introduce the central character of the spinoff True Spirits Trilogy, it includes familiar characters from the original series. She has contributed short stories to the Tis the Season Sweet Romance Novelettes and the bestselling Feisty Heroines Romance Collection of Short Stories. She has contributed her first murder mystery to an anthology planned for a 2021 release.

Besides family, Allie’s passions are travel and camping with her husband, Jack. Visit her website at AllieMarieBooks.wordpress.com.

THE ESSENTIAL ALLIE:

CATRIONA MCPHERSON Catriona McPherson was born in Scotland and lived there until 2010 until immigrating to California, where she lives on Patwin ancestral land. A former academic linguist, she now writes full-time. Her multi-award-winning and national best-selling work includes: the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries (set in California), and a strand of contemporary standalone novels, including Edgar-finalist The Day She Died and Mary Higgins Clark finalist Strangers At The Gate. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Crimewriters’ Association, The Society of Authors and Sisters in Crime, of which she is a former national president.

When not writing or talking about writing, Catriona is reading, gardening, cooking and baking, cycling in Davis, running through walnut orchards, getting to grips with this outlandish and enormous country (43 states visited so far!) and practicing an extreme form of Scotch thrift*, from eating home-grown food to dumpster-diving/ skip-surfing for major appliances. Visit her website at www.CatrionaMcPherson.com.

THE ESSENTIAL CATRIONA:

*when “making a living” as a writer, thrift helps a lot.

JULIE MOFFETT Julie Moffett is the bestselling author of the long-running Lexi Carmichael Mystery Series and the young adult White Knights mystery/spy spin-off series featuring really cool geek girls! She’s been publishing books for 25 years, but writing for a lot longer. She writes in the genres of mystery, young adult, historical romance and paranormal romance. Julie has a B.A. in Political Science and Russian Language from Colorado College, an M.A. in International Affairs from The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., and an M.Ed from Liberty University. She has worked as a proposal writer, journalist, teacher, librarian, and researcher. Julie speaks Russian and Polish and has two awesome sons. Visit her website at www.JulieMoffett.com.

THE ESSENTIAL JULIE:

K.L. MURPHY K.L. Murphy is a freelance writer and the author of the Detective Cancini Mystery Series: A Guilty Mind, Stay of Execution, and The Last Sin. Her short story, “Burn,” is featured in the anthology Deadly Southern Charm.

A member of International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, James River Writers, and Historical Writers of America, she lives in Richmond, Virginia, with her husband, children, and two amazing dogs.

Visit her website at www.KellieLarsenMurphy.com.

THE ESSENTIAL K.L.:

NANCY NAIGLE USA Today bestselling author Nancy Naigle whips up up small-town love stories with a whole lot of heart.

She writes romance and women’s fiction for Montlake Romance and St. Martin’s Press and is working on several projects with Hallmark. Nancy’s novels, Christmas Joy, Christmas in Evergreen, Christmas in Evergreen: Letters to Santa and The Secret Ingredient were released on Hallmark Channel; Hope at Christmas can be found on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. Stay tuned for news about the movie based on Sand Dollar Cove.

A native of Virginia Beach, she now calls North Carolina home. She devotes her time to writing, antiquing, cooking, trail riding on her Palomino, and the occasional spa day with friends. Visit her website at www.NancyNaigle.com.

THE ESSENTIAL NANCY:

COMING MAY 2021

NAN O’BERRY Growing up in a storytellers environment, it’s not surprising that Nan O’Berry loves a good tale. Matching hero and heroine to their flaws...the positives are always exciting. A trustworthy notebook at hand, Nan is always armed for adventure and romance. Check out her homespun charm and bigger-than-life heroes. Visit her website at oberrynan.wixsite.com/nanoberryauthor.

THE ESSENTIAL NAN:

ALAN ORLOFF Alan Orloff’s debut mystery, Diamonds for the Dead, was an Agatha Award finalist, and his most recent novels are the suspense/thrillers I Know Where You Sleep, Running from the Past, and Pray for the Innocent. He has also self-published a number of horror and darker thrillers as Zak Allen.

His short fiction has appeared in numerous publications, including Needle: A Magazine of Noir, Shotgun Honey Presents: Locked & Loaded, Jewish Noir, Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, Windward: Best New England Crime Stories 2016, Chesapeake Crimes: Storm Warning, Noir At The Salad Bar, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Chesapeake Crimes: Fur, Feathers, and Felonies, Snowbound: Best New England Crime Stories 2017, Black Cat Mystery Magazine, The Night of the Flood, and Mystery Most Geographical.

Alan lives in Boca Raton, Florida, and likes to play poker and read. Visit his website at www.AlanOrloff.com.

THE ESSENTIAL ALAN:

BILL RAPP Bill Rapp began his professional life as an academic historian of modern Europe but soon decided that he needed a career that was a little less sedentary. So he spent the next 35 years as an analyst, diplomat, and senior executive at the Central Intelligence Agency. Bill continues to work at the CIA as a consultant and trainer, but he prefers to spend as much time as possible on his writing. He began with a three-book private detective series set outside Chicago, where he grew up. Bill’s current focus, however, is on his Cold War Spy series. The third book in the series, The Budapest Escape, released in November 2019, and takes place in 1956 Budapest during the Hungarian uprising and Soviet invasion.

Bill lives in northern Virginia with his wife and two daughters. Visit his website at www.BillRappsBooks.com.

THE ESSENTIAL BILL:

AMY M. READE Amy M. Reade is a recovering attorney who discovered, quite by accident, a passion for fiction writing. She writes in the gothic, traditional, contemporary, historical, and cozy mystery subgenres, and has so far penned 12 novels. She also loves to read, cook, and travel.

She is the USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Secrets of Hallstead House, The Ghosts of Peppernell, House of the Hanging Jade, the Malice Series, the Juniper Junction Holiday Mystery Series, the Libraries of the World Mystery Series, and the Cape May Historical Mysteries collection. Visit her website at www.AmyMReade.com.

THE ESSENTIAL AMY:

SHAWN REILLY SIMMONS Shawn Reilly Simmons is the author of The Red Carpet Catering Mysteries featuring Penelope Sutherland, chef-owner of a movie set catering company; they are inspired by Shawn’s experiences as an on-set movie caterer. She’s also written several short stories which have been published in various anthologies. Her story, “The Last Word,” appeared in Malice Domestic 14: Mystery Most Edible, and won the Agatha Award for Best Short Story of 2019. Shawn, with co-editors Verena Rose and Rita Owen, won the Anthony Award for Best Anthology or Collection for the same anthology.

She serves on the Board of Malice Domestic and is an editor at Level Best Books. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Crime Writers Association in the U.K. She lives in historic downtown Frederick, Maryland, with her husband and son. Visit her website at www.ShawnReillySimmons.com.

THE ESSENTIAL SHAWN:

KATHARINE SCHELLMAN Katharine Schellman studied theatre and history at the College of William & Mary, after which she went on to dance professionally, work in political consulting, and collect addresses up and down the east coast of the United States. The Body in the Garden in her debut novel; it will be followed by Silence in the Library in July 2021.

Katharine currently lives and writes in the mountains of Virginia in the company of her husband, preschooler, and the many houseplants she keeps accidentally murdering. Visit her website at www.KatharineSchellman.com.

THE ESSENTIAL KATHARINE:

COMING JULY 2021

MARCIA TALLEY Marcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of Done Gone and 17 previous novels featuring survivor and sleuth, Hannah Ives. She is author/editor of two star-studded collaborative serial novels, Naked Came The Phoenix and I’d Kill For That, set in a fashionable health spa and an exclusive gated community, respectively.

Her prize-winning short stories appear in more than a dozen collections. Marcia is former national president of Sisters in Crime, serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, and is member of the Crime Writers ​Association (UK). Visit her website at www.MarciaTalley.com.

THE ESSENTIAL MARCIA:

ART TAYLOR Art Taylor is the author of the story collection The Boy Detective & The Summer of ’74 and Other Tales of Suspense and the novel in stories On the Road with Del & Louise, winner of the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. He won the 2019 Edgar Award for Best Short Story for “English 398: Fiction Workshop,” originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, and he has won three additional Agatha Awards, an Anthony Award, three Macavity Awards, and three consecutive Derringer Awards for his short fiction. His work has also appeared in Best American Mystery Stories, and he edited Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015, winner of the Anthony Award for Best Anthology or Collection. He is an associate professor of English at George Mason University, and he has contributed frequently to the Washington Post, the Washington Independent Review of Books, and Mystery Scene Magazine. Art lives in Northern Virginia with his wife, writer Tara Laskowski, and their son, Dash. Visit his website at www.ArtTaylorWriter.com.

THE ESSENTIAL ART:

GRACE TOPPING Grace Topping is a recovering technical writer and IT project manager, accustomed to writing lean, boring documents. Let loose to write fiction, she is now creating murder mysteries and killing off characters who remind her of some of the people she dealt with during her career. Fictional revenge is sweet. She’s using her experience helping friends stage their homes for sale as inspiration for her Laura Bishop mystery series, about a woman starting a new career midlife as a home stager. The first book in the series, Staging is Murder, was a 2019 Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel.

Grace is the former Vice President of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime and a member of the SINC Guppies and Mystery Writers of America. She lives with her husband in Northern Virginia. Visit her website at www.GraceTopping.com.

THE ESSENTIAL GRACE:

ABBY VANDIVER Also Writing as Abby Collette

Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and internationally bestselling author, Abby Vandiver, who also writes as Abby Collette, has always enjoyed writing. Combining that with her gift for telling stories and love of mystery, she became an author. She has written as both a traditionally-published and self-published author. Abby has penned more than 30 books and short stories. A Deadly Inside Scoop, the first in her new cozy mystery series, The Ice Cream Parlor Mysteries, was published by Penguin Berkley in the spring of 2020.

Abby has a bachelors in Economics, a master’s in Public Administration and a Juris Doctor. A former lawyer and visiting college professor of Economics, she resides in South Euclid, Ohio, and enjoys spending time with her grandchildren and facilitating self-publishing and writing classes at her local library. Visit her website at www.AuthorAbby.com.

THE ESSENTIAL ABBY:

LYNDEE WALKER LynDee Walker is the national bestselling author of two crime fiction series featuring strong heroines and “twisty, absorbing mysteries.” Her first Nichelle Clarke crime thriller, Front Page Fatality, was nominated for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel, and in 2018, she introduced readers to Texas Ranger Faith McClellan in Fear No Truth. Reviews have praised her work as “well-crafted, compelling, and fast-paced,” and “an edge-of-your-seat ride” with “​ a spider web of twists and turns that will keep you reading until the end.”

Before she started writing fiction, LynDee was an award-winning journalist who covered everything from ribbon cuttings to high level police corruption and worked closely with the various law enforcement agencies that she reported on. Her work has appeared in newspapers and magazines across the U.S. Aside from books, LynDee loves her family, her readers, travel, and coffee. She lives in Richmond, Virginia, where she is working on her next novel when she’s not juggling laundry and children’s sports schedules. Visit her website at www.LyndeeWalker.com.

THE ESSENTIAL LYNDEE:

HEATHER WEIDNER Glitter, Glam, and Contraband is Heather Weidner’s third novel in the Delanie Fitzgerald series. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, and Deadly Southern Charm; her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series. She is a member of Sisters in Crime - Central Virginia, Guppies, International Thriller Writers, and James River Writers.

Heather earned her B.A. in English from Virginia Wesleyan University and her M.A. in American literature from the University of Richmond. Through the years, she has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers. Visit her website at www.HeatherWeidner.com.

THE ESSENTIAL HEATHER: