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Chris Roerden
Chris will be doing a workshop session on - Master Emotion: Play with Showing v. Telling
In 45 years in publishing, Chris Roerden has edited authors published by St. Martin’s, Berkley Prime Crime, Harlequin, Rodale, Viking, Forge, Midnight Ink, and many others. She’s written a game and 11 books, including two national award-winners that help writers get published: Don’t Murder Your Mystery (Agatha Award) and Don’t Sabotage Your Submission (Benjamin Franklin Award). Chris is past president of a trade association of commercial and university presses, former board member of SE Mystery Writers of America, and long-time member of Sisters in Crime, Publishers Marketing Association, and Mensa. She taught writing at universities from Maine to Milwaukee and is sought after to present writers’ workshops coast to coast. www.writersinfo.info
Ellis Vidler
Ellis is a writer and editor. She won the South Carolina Writers Conference prize for short fiction and was a finalist in or won a few contests. Her first novel, Haunting Refrain, was published by Silver Dagger Mysteries. She is currently a member of Sisters in Crime and Romance Writers of America and lives with her husband and dogs in the South Carolina piedmont. Her new book, The Peeper, is co-authored with Jim Christopher. http://www.ellisvidler.com
Judy Nichols
Judy Nichols grew up in a Batavia, Ohio, a small town 20 miles east of Cincinnati. Now, along with her husband and daughter, she is lucky enough to live on the coast of North Carolina where she never has to drive in snow and the ocean is ten minutes away. For no good reason, she decided to write a book while her infant daughter napped. Five years and several viewings of "Toy Story" later, her novel "Caviar Dreams" was finished, a murder mystery based in Cincinnati. Ms. Nichols holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Kent State University. She has been a newspaper reporter, a teacher, a temporary office worker, a customer service representative, and currently stay-at-home mom. Her second novel, Tree Huggers was published in March of 2008, inspired by her work as a newspaper reporter and a volunteer for The Nature Conservancy. www.judy5cents.com
Joyce and Jim Lavene
Joyce and Jim Lavene have written and published more than 60 mystery and romance novels since their first Silhouette Romance was published in 1999. They write mystery for Berkley Prime Crime under their name and the pseudonym J.J. Cook. Their mystery series include the Sharyn Howard Mysteries, Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries, Renaissance Faire Mysteries, Missing Pieces Mysteries, NASCAR Mysteries and a single title, The Telltale Turtle. Their new series is the Sweet Pepper Fire Brigade Mysteries which will begin in December 2012. They are on Facebook at Our Facebook Fan site; at The Romance of Mystery Blog and at Killer Characters blog or our website.
Suzanne Adair
Award-winning novelist Suzanne Adair is a Florida native who lives in a two hundred-year-old city at the edge of the North Carolina Piedmont, named for an English explorer who was beheaded. Her suspense and thrillers transport readers to the Southern theater of the Revolutionary War, where she brings historic towns, battles, and people to life. She fuels her creativity with Revolutionary War reenacting and visits to historic sites. When she’s not writing, she enjoys cooking, dancing, and spending time with her family.
Doug Walker
Doug Walker’s pen name is D L Walker. He was born and raised in Parsons, Ks about 3 hours south of Kansas City. He has an older brother, Ronald, who lives with his wife in Va. He also have a son, Chris, daughters, Kathi, and Holly. He lives in Kannapolis with his wife, Wendy. His firstnovel, Scaffold, came out on in 2007 from Publish America. It is about a corrupt wrestling group that has a tragic accident during a PPV in Charlotte, and the investigation that follows. His new book of short stories is Twysted Tails.
Kathleen Delaney
Kathleen Delaney is a retired real estate broker. She lived and worked on California’s central coast, where she wrote her first three novels and, during her day job, specialized in horse ranches, estate properties, wineries and vineyards. The mother of five grown children, grandmother of nine, she also bred and showed national winning Arabian and Half Arabian horses. She left California for South Carolina where she continues her writing career. The fourth Ellen McKenzie/Dan Dunham mystery, Murder Half-Baked, has been recently published, and And Murder For Dessert is now available in Trade Paperback. Reprints of the first two mysteries in the series have been sold to Harlequin and will soon be available through their on line book store. She is hard at work on a new series and finds the time to indulge herself in her favorite pastime next to writing and playing with her grandchildren, reading.
Linda Lovely
Linda Lovely is the author of DEAR KILLER, a mystery set in the South Carolina Lowcountry featuring Marley Clark, a 52-year-old retired military intelligence officer. NO WAKE ZONE, the next Marley Clark mystery, is due for release by publisher L&L Dreamspell on May 14, 2012. Harlequin recently bought the mass market rights for Dear Killer for its Worldwide Mystery line. Lovely has served five different terms as president of the Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime and is currently the vice president. She’s a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and the South Carolina Writers Workshop. In 201l, she taught literature exploration courses for Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) programs at Clemson University and the University of SC-Beaufort. Her manuscripts have made the finals in 15 contests, including RWA’s prestigious Golden HeartÒ and Daphne du Maurier competitions and mystery contests such as Deadly Ink, Murder in the Grove and Malice Domestic. Her novels dish up a main course of suspense, action and adventure with a generous side of romance. You can learn more about the author at
Lynette Hall Hampton
More years ago than I want to admit, I began writing and selling short stories and articles to magazines and newspapers. In the meantime, I wrote a book. Then another. And another. It wasn’t until 1999 when my mother developed cancer and I took a leave from my job to tend her that I wrote my first published novel, Jilted by Death. Since then I’ve had 4 more novels and 4 non-fiction books published. Of course I’m an avid reader. I also love to travel, play board and electronic games with my grandchildren, walk on the beach, try new foods and go to the movies. (Of course, with two grandchildren, I don’t see many grown-up movies. But I can tell you all about Tangled, Toy Story, etc. which I saw with my granddaughter and Harry Potter, and the superhero films I saw with my grandson.) A life long resident of my home state of North Carolina, I belong to Sisters in Crime, Murder We Write (the local chapter of SiC), Romance Writers of America, Carolina Romance Writers, Writers Group of the Triad and Tarheel Writers Roundtable.
Marni Graff
Marni Graff is the author of the Nora Tierney mystery series, set in the UK and co-author of Writing in a Changing World, a primer on writing groups and critique techniques.
The Blue Virgin is set in Oxford and introduces Nora, an American writer, as she involves herself in a murder investigation to clear her best friend, who has been wrongfully accused of murdering her partner. The Green Remains will be published in January of 2012 and follows Nora to the Lake District where she’s working on her first children’s book and stumbles across a dead body at the edge of Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake. Graff’s history includes working on movie and television scripts and providing onset medical consultation through her nursing background. For seven years she conducted interviews and wrote feature articles for Mystery Scene magazine. She runs the NC Writers Read program in Belhaven, and is a member of the newly formed Coastal Carolina Mystery Writers. A member of Sisters in Crime, Graff’s creative nonfiction has most recently appeared in Southern Women’s Review.
Sheila Boneham
Award-winning author Sheila Webster Boneham writes fiction and nonfiction, much of it focused on animals, nature, and travel. Rescue Matters! How to Find, Foster, and Rehome Companion Animals has received high praise as a "must read" for anyone involved with companion animals. Drop Dead on Recall, the first novel in Sheila’s new mystery series, features animal photographer Janet MacPhail, her cat Leo, and her Australian Shepherd Jay (who is remarkably like the author’s Aussie, Jay!). Her short story "Tracks," which features Janet & Jay at the Indianapolis 500 museum, appeared in Racing Can Be Murder and was a finalist in the 2008 DWAA writing competition.
Pattie Brooks
Patti is a writer who sold her first article to a national magazine at 16. She has published 500 plus articles for trade and general interest magazines and newspapers such as Good Housekeeping and writes mysteries about her passion – horses.
Richard Helms
Ron and Janet Benrey
Ron and Janet Benrey write cozy mysteries together. They’ve written “The Pippa Hunnechurch Mysteries” and “The Royal Tunbridge Wells Mysteries” (both series are now published by Greenbrier Book Company), and the “Glory, North Carolina, Mysteries” (published by Harlequin).
Despite their literary togetherness, Ron and Janet have dissimilar backgrounds. Janet has been a literary agent, the editorial director of a small press, an executive recruiter, a book publicist, and—going way back—a professional photographer. Janet earned her degree in Communication (Magna cum Laude) from the University of Pittsburgh.
Ron has been a writer forever—initially on magazines (his first real job was Electronics Editor at "Popular Science Magazine"), then in corporations (he wrote speeches for senior executives), and then as a novelist. Over the years, Ron has authored ten non-fiction books, including the recently published “Know Your Rights — a Survival Guide for Non-Lawyers” (published by Sterling). Ron holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a master’s degree in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and a juris doctor from the Duquesne University School of Law. He was a member of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Late in 2010, the Benreys launched Greenbrier Book Company, an eBook-centric publisher that also publishes some paper books. By the end of 2011, Greenbrier will have more than 40 books “in print” — three debut novels from first-time novelists and, the rest, republished novels and non-fiction books from 11 leading authors. Greenbrier’s list includes dozens of mysteries and suspense novels. Visit Greenbrier’s website at:http://www.greenbrierbooks.com
www.fictionafter50.comAmy’s books include the three Regency romantic mysteries: I BID ONE AMERICAN, THE BRICKLAYER’S HELPER, and THE NECKLACE; two Regency mysteries: THE VITAL PRINCIPLE, and A ROSE BEFORE DYING; and her first contemporary cozy mystery:WHACKED! comes out in hardcover in mid-2012.
Join her and discover that every good mystery has a touch of romance.
Website: http://www.amycorwin.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/amycorwin
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/
Blog: http://amycorwin.blogspot.com
Michael Havelin
Susan Whitfield, author of the award-winning Logan Hunter Mystery series, lives in eastern North Carolina and sets her novels somewhere in the state. Susan has four published novels: GENESIS BEACH, JUST NORTH OF LUCK, HELL SWAMP, and SIN CREEK.
She has also compiled recipes from mystery writers across the country for KILLER RECIPES. Proceeds from the cookbook will be donated to cancer research. Susan is an avid blogger and promotes and interviews other authors on her site.
For more information, visit her website at www.susanwhitfieldonline.com where you can view video trailers and keep up with events. Susan is currently interviewing authors at www.susanwhitfield.blogspot.com and recently started www.killer-recipes.blogspot.com
She is a member of Mystery Writers of American, Sisters in Crime, Carolina Conspiracy, North Carolina Writers Network, and numerous other organizations. To contact her, shoot an email to ssn.whitfield@gmail.com or friend her on Facebook.
Russ Hatler
Born in Montana, Russ toiled in the computer industry for forty five years then began writing as a hobby after retirement. He has published one mystery novel (South of Even) and has several more in various stages of completion. He lives in Cary, NC with his wife of twenty-seven years. Currently in search of an empathetic and enlightened literary agent with well-defined connections into the power structure of the publication world, who will catapult him to power and fame, fortune and prosperity, lavish luxury. But he will settle for a sympathetic ear and a small but caring www.russhatler.com
Maria L. Hudgins
Maria's fourth Dotsy Lamb Travel Mystery, Death of a Second Wife, will be out in hardcover this June. She will also be launching a new archaeology/adventure series as ebooks soon. Maria lives in Hampton, Virginia and travels a lot.
'Deborah Wallis is the author of two murder mysteries. Released in February 2010, Sweet Dreams and Flying Machines/Murder at Cherry Point tells the story of Abby Weaver, a young woman whose husband, a Marine pilot, is killed when his Harrier crashes during the Cherry Point Air Show. After learning that his crash was no accident, Abby sets out to find her husband’s murderer. In Child’s Play, the continuation of the Abby Weaver Mystery Series, released in May 2011, Abby and her best friend, Fran, return as they expose a ring of pedophiles whose tentacles reach into all aspects of life in Eastern North Carolina.
Deborah and her husband, retired Marine Colonel E.P. Wallis have lived in Wilmington, NC since 1994. Between them they have six children, seven grandchildren and a Boykin Spaniel. When she isn’t writing Deborah enjoys time with family, traveling, reading, antiquing, walking and tennis.
