PRESIDENT – Miki Reilly-Howe

Miki Reilly-Howe joined Sisters in Crime in 2019. She’s working on her first novel with the magical support of the Louisville Chapter, Derby Rotten Scoundrels.

She has over twenty-five years of experience in marketing strategy and communications, which she hopes will come in handy when she has a finished manuscript.

When she’s not writing, she’s reading. Her previous Board experience includes work with The de Cavel Family SIDS Foundation and the Cincinnati chapter of Girls on the Run.

PROGRAMMING – Pam Hirschler

Pam Hirschler is an award-winning writer and former cybersecurity analyst based in Kentucky. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Morehead University and an MFA in Poetry from Drew University. Her first poetry collection was published in 2019.

Pam writes crime fiction under the pen name, P.K. Richard, and is revising her first novel. She won the 2024 Claymore Award for Best Short Story Collection/Anthology at Killer Nashville and was a finalist in the 2024 Kentucky Visions Short Story Contest. Pam is a member of the Sisters in Crime Derby Rotten Scoundrels chapter, the Mystery Writers of America, the Bluegrass Writers Coalition, and the Green River Writers. She enjoys travel, coffee shops, gardening, and grandchildren.

VICE-PRESIDENT – Frances Gossen 

I can’t remember the first time I used writing as a form of creative expression, but by the time I entered middle school, I had already discovered an easy love of poetry. Perhaps it was the influence of my early years as a theater kid and young love affair with Shakespeare. In my teens I began to write prose and developed my first fantasy world.

Unsurprisingly, I went on to obtain an English degree from Boston University where I spent two years as chief poetic editor for Clarion literary magazine and worked as a copy editor for Pen and Anvil press both before and after graduation. My own writing grew as well, especially my worldbuilding.

In the past decade, I’ve worked on a collection of poetry, Conversations about the Weather, as well as a collection of short stories tentatively called Rose’a’sharn, which explores the line between magical realism and fantasy. Currently, I’m developing a new collection of science fiction shorts set in a whole new world to develop my usage of dialogue and concise storytelling. And of course, I am developing into my first novel set in that very first world I ever built. Regardless of the project, I always have more ideas and inspiration than time to write them down.

SECRETARY – Lynn Slaughter

Lynn Slaughter is addicted to the arts, chocolate, and her husband’s cooking. After a long career as a professional dancer and dance educator, Lynn earned her MFA in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.

She is the award-winning author of five young adult romantic mysteries: MISSING MOM, DEADLY SETUP, LEISHA’S SONG, IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN YOU, and WHILE I DANCED, as well as an adult mystery, MISSED CUE.  Lynn lives in Kentucky, where she’s at work on her next novel.

TREASURER – Susan Bell 

Susan Bell was born in coastal California, then proceeded to travel the country in her role as daughter of a Naval officer. She learned to walk in the Mojave Desert, to swim in Virginia Beach, and to read in Washington State. She fell in love with Dr. Seuss and hasn’t stopped reading since. She combined her love of reading, writing and arithmetic and became a technical writer, working in the defense, aviation, and telecommunications industries. With deep roots in the Bluegrass State, she now calls Louisville home.

Susan’s unpublished novel, Drowning in Doubt, won a Top Pick in the 2024 Killer Nashville Claymore Awards, as well as a 2024 Appy Inkwell Storyteller Award, sponsored by the Appalachian Writer’s Conference.