ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Sandra Benson abandoned her initial dreams of being a world-famous author when she landed a spot in law school. She spent the next thirty-odd years as a writer of contracts, which never seemed to have enough character development. Now that she’s retired from law, she’s returning to her first love and is working on her debut novel. She lives near Victoria, BC, with her partner and a very pushy cat.

C. N. Buchholz is a freelance writer and former anesthesia technician. Her writing has been featured in Minnesota Not So Nice: Eighteen Tales of Bad Behavior, Cooked to Death: Volume II, and Festival of Crime. She and her cohort in crime, William J. Anderson, had their manuscript, “In Too Deep,” place as a top finalist for the 2017 Freddy Award for Writing Excellence (FAWE) competition sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, Florida Chapter. C. N. Buchholz lives in the Land of 10,000 Lakes with her husband, her pony-size puppy, and five house cats.

Lida Bushloper’s short stories have appeared in Kings River Life, Flash Bang Mysteries, Mysterical-e, and numerous confession magazines. Her story, “The Wannabe,” was included in Fishy Business: The Fifth Guppy Anthology. She has published poetry in The Lyric, Light: A Journal of Light Verse, and The Formalist. She also writes and publishes essays and anecdotes. She is the author of the poetry collection Fault Lines. Visit her blog at lidabushloper.com.

Judith Carlough has written professionally as a Boston radio and TV personality. Her mystery novels are set in Savannah and her historicals set during the Civil War. This is Judith’s first published fiction, aside from winning a NY Times competition. She belongs to SINC (proud Guppy), MWA, SCBWI, and many, many museums and historical societies. Judith attended Middlebury College and Boston University and lives west of Boston.

Kait Carson writes two series set in the steamy tropical heat of Florida with a third on the way. The Catherine Swope series is set in greater Miami, and the soon to be released Hayden Kent series is set in the Fabulous Florida Keys. Two new series are scheduled for release in 2023: Southernmost Secrets, set in and around Key West, introduces nurse practitioner turned innkeeper Hank Wittie. A second series, set in the mountains of New Jersey, features Sassy Romano, a newly divorced forty-something, trying to put her past behind her while she creates a new future. Now, if only those pesky bodies would stop dropping. Like her protagonists, Kait is an accomplished SCUBA diver, hiker, and critter lover. She lives with her husband, four rescue cats and flock of conures in the Crown of Maine where long, dark nights give birth to flights of fictional fantasies.

Susan Daly writes short crime fiction as her way of crusading for social justice. Her stories have appeared in a surprising number of anthologies, and “A Death at the Parsonage” won the Arthur Ellis Award for best short story from the Crime Writers of Canada. She lives in Toronto and hangs out with Sisters in Crime, Crime Writers of Canada, and other known criminal types. She can be tracked down at https://susandaly.com/.

M. R. Dimond knew from fifth grade that she wanted to be a writer, so naturally she majored in music for her first college degree and business for her graduate degree. After stints in professional orchestras, law firms, cat rescue, chemistry labs, bookkeeping, and technical communication, she returned to that dream of writing fiction, which has turned out to be about musicians, lawyers, veterinarians, accountants, and cats. She’s published science fiction short stories, most recently “Blessed” in Dreaming the Goddess, but returned to her mystery roots in her first book, Birth of the Black Orchids, and its sequels The Sphynx Who Stole Christmas, Family Matters, and Hallowed. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram at @MRDimondAuthor, Facebook as madeleine.dimond, and at https://dimond.me.

Mary Dutta is the winner of the New England Crime Bake Al Blanchard Award for her short story “The Wonderworker,” which appears in Masthead: Best New England Crime Stories. Her work can be found in numerous anthologies including Land of 10,000 Thrills: Bouchercon 2022 and Malice Domestic 16: Mystery Most Diabolical. She lives in Birmingham, Alabama (the Magic City) and enjoys restarting running plans, dreaming up her next travel adventure, and writing twisty mysteries. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and the Short Mystery Fiction Society. Visit her at marydutta.com and follow her on Twitter @Mary_Dutta.

Kate Fellowes is the author of six mysteries, including A Menacing Brew. Her stories and essays have appeared in many anthologies and periodicals including Victoria, Woman’s World, Brides, and Romantic Homes. As winner of the San Diego Public Library’s Matchbook Short Story contest, she met the challenge to craft a mystery just fifty words long. A founding member of the Wisconsin Chapter of Sisters in Crime, her working life has revolved around words—editor of the student newspaper, reporter for the local press, cataloger in her hometown library. She blogs about work and life at https://katefellowes.wordpress.com.

Wrona Gall is a painter, with a Master of Arts degree, whose work has appeared in museums from the Art Institute of Chicago to the San Diego Art Institute. Her years of living and working in an ex-boiler factory in Chicago—surrounded by her bookie father-in-law’s friends—inspired her to write fiction. Her short stories have been published in the Futures Magazine’s Fire to Fly anthology, Sisters in Crime/Los Angeles’ anthology, LAst Resort, and she has a story accepted for SinC/San Diego’s forthcoming anthology, Crime Under the Sun. She also co-edited SinC/LA’s Avenging Angelenos.

Vinnie Hansen is the author of numerous short stories; the Carol Sabala mystery series; One Gun, a novel; and Lostart Street, a cross-genre novel of mystery, murder, and moonbeams. Vinnie remains a Guppy to embrace Beginner’s Mind, but is also a member of Sisters in Crime National, NorCal, and Coastal Cruisers; Mystery Writers of America; and Santa Cruz Women of Mystery. She lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and the requisite cat.

Born in Jamaica and raised in Atlanta, Ann Michelle Harris is a mom of three with a background in public interest work. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Atlanta Writers Club, and Georgia Romance Writers. She is a 2020 double finalist in the Pages From the Heart Contest and a 2021 Maggie finalist. Look for her debut novel, North, in 2024.

Kim Keeline, when she isn’t running a 1907 Steam Locomotive or lecturing on Shakespeare, is active in the mystery community. She is a former co-chair for Left Coast Crime 2020 and former president of San Diego Sisters in Crime. She is currently chair of Bouchercon 2023. Her first published story “The Crossing” (Crossing Borders, 2020, a Partners in Crime, the San Diego Chapter of SinC anthology) was a Derringer finalist. Since then, she has published more short stories and continues revising her novel before sending it out to find an agent. She freelances for authors in marketing, editing, web designing, and more. https://kimkeeline.com/

Jane Limprecht started writing fiction in 2018 after retiring from a thirty-five-year career in legal journalism and public information. Her short story “Make New Friends, But Keep the Old” is included in the anthology Chesapeake Crimes: Invitation to Murder, published in October 2020. A native Nebraskan, Jane has two grown children and lives in Northern Virginia with her husband and their black dog. She attends George Mason University as an Auditing Senior Citizen, serves on the board of the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and volunteers for the public library and for voter registration and education.

Sally Milliken lives in Massachusetts with her husband, four children, and dog. She is currently writing her first novel, a historical mystery based in a small Massachusetts coastal city.

M. A. Monnin is the author of Death in the Aegean, the first in the Stefanie Adams Intrepid Traveler Mysteries. Her St. Killian, PI short stories have appeared in Black Cat Mystery Magazine and Black Cat Weekly. In addition, she has stories published in the Anthony-Award-winning anthology Mystery Most Edible and All That Weird Jazz. An avocational archaeologist and AF veteran, her non-fiction articles cover Victorian reception of Ancient Egypt, gardening, and detective fiction.

A. W. Powers writes mysteries, thrillers, and horror in a basement library/ home office outside Minneapolis, MN. “In Too Deep,” a thriller co-written with C. N. Buchholz, was a finalist for the 2017 Freddie Award for Writing Excellence (FAWE) competition, sponsored by the Mystery Writers of America, Florida Chapter. Powers is a member of the Twin Cities Sisters in Crime and the Loft Literary Center.

Canadian writer Merrilee Robson’s traditional mystery, Murder is Uncooperative, is set in a non-profit housing co-op in Vancouver, BC. Recent short story publications include Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock, Mystery Magazine, the People’s Friend, and various anthologies, including the recent Crime Wave 2: Women of a Certain Age. Merrilee is a former vice president of Sisters in Crime—Canada West and a former director of Crime Writers of Canada. She has served two years on the Vancouver Police Board, which provides civilian oversight to the Vancouver Police Department. Her 112-year-old house was originally owned by a police officer. https://merrileerobson.ca/ @MerrileeRobson

KM Rockwood draws on a varied background for her stories, including blue collar jobs in steel fabrication and glass making, and supervising inmate work crews in a large state prison. Now retired from working as a special education teacher in correctional facilities, inner city schools and alternative schools, she spends her time writing and caring for family and pets. Published works include the Jesse Damon Crime Novel series (Wildside) and numerous short stories. Website: kmrockwood.com

Lisa Anne Rothstein is a Chicago business attorney who wrote her first mystery in fourth grade, in which she helped her stuffed dogs Rufum and Ketchup catch a jewel thief. Lisa is diligently working on finishing her first novel, sending her lawyer protagonist after someone far more dangerous than a jewel thief.

Steve Shrott’s short stories have appeared in numerous publications including Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and Black Cat Mystery Magazine. One of his stories can be found in the Anthony Award-winning 2021 Bouchercon Anthology, This Time For Sure. In Flame Tree Press’s hard cover volume, Steve’s story, “The House,” appears alongside tales by Arthur Conan Doyle and Charles Dickens. His comedy material has been used by well-known performers of stage and screen. As well he has written a book on how to create humor (Steve Shrott’s Comedy Course.) Two of his humorous mystery novels have been published (Audition for Death and Dead Men Don’t Get Married) and some of his jokes are in the Smithsonian Institution. steveshrottwriter.weebly.com.

Frances Stratford was always fascinated by the Tudor era. Even as she completed her doctorate in medieval literature, she made time to read any work depicting the history and complexity of the sixteenth century. Now she writes in the voices of forgotten women of the Tudor period for all the world to hear. Frances is the author of academic books and essays too baroque for even Cardinal Wolsey to read. She teaches at a liberal arts college in New England.

Shannon Taft, an attorney from Washington, D.C., enjoys writing fantasy and crime fiction. Her short story “The Perfect House” can be found in the Restless Spirits anthology, and “The Codicil” appears in the Fantastic Detectives anthology.