Location, Location, Location

We all know location can make or break a business, but how important is location for your novel?

Join us on January 13 when DRS members Carol Preflatish and Elaine Munsch discuss writing about location. Learn how they chose both real and imagined settings for their novels, and how location can make a story more or less challenging to write. You’ll also discover when setting has enough power to become a character in the story.

author image - Carol Preflatish — Carol Preflatish

Carol Preflatish is from southern Indiana and has been writing for over twenty years. She is the author of the Nathan Perry Mystery Series, as well as several romantic suspense novels. Carol is also a multi-award-winning screenwriter. Her adaptation of her book, Homecoming to Murder, won the runner-up award for Best Screenplay – Long Format at Imaginarium 2023 and Best Feature Script at the ICE CineFest 2023.

Elaine Munsch, writing as E.M. Munsch, is the author of seven Dash Hammond novels. The latest, Old Sins, was published at the end of 2023. She is a life-long bookseller and lover of mysteries. She’s been a member of Sisters in Crime forever (or at least the last thirty years).

When: Saturday, January 13, 2024

Time: Noon-2pm (PLEASE NOTE THE NEW TIME FOR JANUARY ONLY)

Where:

Middletown Library

12556 Shelbyville Road

Louisville, KY 40243

This meeting will also be zoomed – but not recorded. Please use the following link to register.

Zoom Registration Link

NOTE: From Noon until about 12:45pm, we will have a brief business meeting followed by a group critique session of short manuscripts submitted by group members. Carol and Elaine will give their presentation beginning at 1:00PM.

by susancbell

December 1, 2023

Member News – December

Elaine Munsch

Elaine is very happy to announce the publication of the seventh Dash Hammond book, OLD SINS.

You can order the book from Amazon right now

— OR —

if you prefer to buy your books from a bookstore, OLD SINS will be available at Barnes & Noble after the holidays.

Thank you for your support.

Elaine will be signing books at the Jingle Bell Book Bash.

WHEN: Sunday, December 10^th, from 2 p.m. until 5 p.m.

WHERE: Forest Edge Winery, 1910 Clermont Road, Shepherdsville, Kentucky.

Hope to see you there.

Pam Hirschler AND LEANNE edelen

Pam and Leanne have short stories in a new anthology published by our fellow Sisters in Crime chapter Speed City (Indianapolis).

Leanne’s story, THE PERFECT MATCH, involves a troubled teenager named Henry, who has a penchant for setting fires.

Pam’s story, written under pen name P. K. Richard, HIGH ROLLER, involves a small-town florist with a nose for detective work.

Our DRS critique group got an early peek at these two stories before they were published, and they ae both delightful.

The rural Indiana landscape seems so bucolic, from the gently rolling hills of the south to the easy sway of cornfields in the north. Who knew those picturesque barns could hide criminal activity as well as livestock, or those rustic cemeteries be rife with murder victims as well as those who died of old-age? The members of the Speed City Sisters in Crime chapter, that’s who! In these seemingly peaceful rural settings, our authors uncover criminal deeds, unearth long dead secrets, provide justice for the wronged, and thwart the plans of the wicked. Sixteen tales testify that from the wide-open farmland to the small farming towns, the opportunity for mayhem and mischief is ever-present.

Linda Rees

Linda will be signing books at the Campbell County Band Craft Show.

When: Dec2 between 9-3:00

Where: CCHS Winterfest Alexandria

Linda’s books are on sale at:

Country Patchwork gift store in Falmouth

Dec. 2, from 10-5:00.

Linda is happy that her books are on sale at Moonstruck in Williamstown.

Lynn Slaughter

Lynn signed a contract with Fire and Ice/Melange Books for her young adult romantic mystery, MISSING MOM.

Anticipated release date: Aug/Sept 2024.

Seventeen-year-old Noelle, an aspiring ballet dancer, refuses to believe her mom’s disappearance was a “probable suicide.” She’s determined to find out what really happened to her mother. Her investigation turns out to be connected to a young woman who escaped from an abusive marriage nearly two decades ago.

by susancbell

November 2, 2023

Jo-Ann Farmer – A Day in the Life of a Coroner

Join us on November 11 for our guest speaker, Jo-Ann Farmer.

Be advised this is a very graphic presentation, and no one under the age of 18 will be allowed to attend.

Jo-Ann Farmer was elected Jefferson County Coroner in November 2022. Previously, she served as a Deputy Coroner for nearly 23 years, and the last 17 were as Chief Deputy Coroner. She earned “Advanced Coroner” designation in 2005 and achieved “Master Coroner” designation in 2011.

Jo-Ann is the keynote speaker for Bellarmine University several times per year, lecturing on Forensics, and speaks to high schools and community organizations on Foresics as well. She conducted a six-week Forensic seminar at the Louisville Free Public Library and two full-day seminars at the University of Central Florida.

A graduate of the University of Kentucky Nursing Program, Jo-Ann’s nursing experience includes: Charge Nurse of Trauma/Emergency Room, Labor and Delivery, Coronary Care and Intensive Care Units in Lexington, Covington and Louisville.

She is a native Louisvillian, a wife, a mother of two adult sons, and “Mimi” to two young grandsons.

Note: At the request of Ms. Farmer, this meeting will not be recorded.

When: Saturday, November 11, 2023

Time: 11am-1pm

Where:

Central State Campus, Bingham Building

10511 La Grange Road

Louisville, KY 40223

Directions on the campus:

Go in the main entrance and veer right.

There will be a building on the left with mosaic tile on it.

This is the Bingham Building.

We need to wait outside the entrance until the entire group has arrived.

Google Map

by susancbell

November 1, 2023

Member News – November

Elaine Munsch

Elaine (aka E.M.) Munsch and Lynn Slaughter will be signing books at:

The Bards and Friends Area Author Book Sale

This coming Saturday, November 4^th,10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Hardin County Public Library

100 Jim Owens Drive

Elizabethtown, KY.

Relatives – you can’t choose them, and you can’t lose them…unless they die. And that’s what Cousin Maud did. Dash Hammond must now unravel all of Maud’s little secrets.

OLD SINS, the seventh in the Dash Hammond series, will be published in time for the upcoming holiday gift-giving.

E. M. Munsch is very pleased to announce that Mystery and Horror LLC will publish this book. Cover to be revealed shortly.

Lynn Slaughter

Lynn will be a participating author at the Bluegrass Writer’s Coalition’s Festival of Books:

Thursday, November 9th, 3-8 PM
The Foundry in Frankfort, KY

Lynn will also be participating at the Louisville Book Festival in downtown Louisville

Friday and Saturday, November 10th and 11th, from 10 AM-6 PM
Kentucky International Convention Center, downtown Louisville

Lynn’s unpublished middle grade novel, THE BIG SWITCH: VARNEY AND CEDRIC, was the runner up for the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize in the middle grade category, https://leapfrogpress.com/past-winners/

Carol Preflatish

Carol finished the fourth book in her Nathan Perry Mystery Series.

She doesn’t have a release date yet, but estimates it will be sometime after the first of the year.

Carol will be signing books on November 25:

Evergreen Market, at the Community Center
Indiana Ave, English, Indiana.

Carol was just notified that her screenplay, Homecoming to Murder, has won another award. This one is from the ICE CineFest out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Per Carol: “I’m very excited to have won again.”

Leanne Edelen

Strangely Funny X, which includes Leanne’s short story Playing Possum, is now available for sale on Amazon.

Bev Myers

One of our new members, Bev Myers, has a short story published in Yellow Mama Ezine.

Warning: “Do You Know the Pizza Man?” probably shouldn’t be read while you’re eating either pizza or muffins. Here’s the link. It’s a short, free read.

Yellow Mama Webzine – Do You Know the Pizza Man?

Linda Rees

Linda will be signing books at the Campbell County Band Craft Show – see details on the image.

She has also been asked to be a panelist at Imaginarium 2024 and will be teaching a workshop there.

by susancbell

October 15, 2023

Video – David Wecker

Saturday’s guest speaker, David Wecker, gave a very entertaining and informative presentation on writing author bios. Thanks to David for his time, and thanks to Miki Reilly-Howe for arranging and moderating the talk! See below for some example bios David has done for various professionals.