Thanks to our amazing Chair of Programming, Elaine Munsch, we hosted a terrific speaker for our October meeting, Shay McAlister, an award-winning investigative reporter for WHAS who has been instrumental in investigating several cold cases. Shay was delightful and informative as she spoke about her career and the sheer doggedness involved in researching cases. You can view a recording of Shay’s talk here: Speaker Series.

For our November 13 meeting, we’re hosting Andrew Welsh-Huggins. Andrew is an Associated Press reporter and author of seven mystery novels featuring a former Ohio State and Cleveland Browns quarterback turned private investigator, the most recent of which is An Empty Grave. Andrew will talk about creating and sustaining a successful mystery series. He’ll speak from 1-2 PM EST following our noon business meeting.  See this link for Zoom meeting details: Andrew Welsh-Huggins – AP Reporter / Mystery Author

Meantime, our publicist Lynda Rees has been very busy getting the word out about DRS. She hopes you’ll follow, like, and share chapter posts on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/derbyrottenscoundrels/  and on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/DerbyRotten  This is a great way to interest folks in our chapter and our mission to advance the development and recognition of regional women crime writers.

We’ve also purchased a table at Imaginarium coming up on July 8-10 2022 and are thrilled that we’ve been invited to present our Speakers’s Bureau workshops as part of the convention.

Meantime, we’re looking forward to the Kentucky Book Festival on November 6 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers. Mystery with a Splash of Bourbon, an anthology co-edited by chapter members Susan Bell and Elaine Munsch, has been selected for inclusion in this prestigious festival. The works of several chapter members appear in the anthology. Elaine will also take part in a panel at the festival, “Creating a Writer’s Community.”

 

 

 

 

 

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Member News

Elaine Munsch will speak on “A Brief History of Women’s Crime Fiction” as part of the chapter’s Speaker’s Bureau in Owensboro on Thursday, October 28, 6-7 PM Central Time, at the Daviess County Public Library. Check out our video recording of Elaine’s talk on this topic to our chapter: Speaker Series

Jeanette Pope’s book launch signing for Desperate Angles on September 18 was a huge success!

Lynda Rees’s picture book, NO FEAR, designed to help children face their fears, recently launched as a hardcover and can be found at:

AMZ:  https://amzn.to/2V6rf2m            

B&N   NO FEAR by Lynda Rees, S. Sathi | NOOK Book (eBook) | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)           

KOBO NO FEAR eBook by Lynda Rees – 1230004964599 | Rakuten Kobo United States

WEBSITE:  WWW.LYNDAREESAUTHOR.COM/NO FEAR/

The audio launch of NO FEAR comes out this month and features spectacular voice actress and chapter member, Patience Martin from Peabod Audio. You can find NO FEAR in audiobook at https://adbl.co/3fYLQLh

If you’d like to be one of the first to listen and review, contact Lynda Rees for a FREE audiobook download code.

Lynda Rees’s No Fear Learning Activity Book launched in September. Designed for preschoolers and kindergarteners, the book includes activities that make learning fun and involve counting, drawing, coloring, learning numbers and the alphabet, and solving puzzles. It can be found at:

AMAZON:   

NO FEAR Children’s Activity Book: Rees, Lynda Author, Jones, Aria: 9781732311695: Amazon.com: Books

Barnes & Noble:

NO FEAR Children’s Activity Book by Lynda Author Rees, Aria Jones, Paperback | Barnes & Noble® (barnesandnoble.com)

Lynda Rees has also been accepted into the Book Global Network:

https://bookmarketingglobalnetwork.com/global-authors-directory/lynda-rees-books/

Lynn Slaughter will participate in a panel with writers Mary Popham and Ellen Birkett-Morris on “Creating Authentic Women Characters” from 12-1 PM EST on October 23 at the online Louisville Book Festival. For the full schedule of events at the festival, go to: https://www.louisvillebookfestival.com/festival-info/festival-schedule/

Lynn also appeared on Gmap Broadcast Network shows to discuss her novels on September 29, October 6, and October 13: https://www.gmap1.com/

That’s it for now! Hope to see you at our next meeting on November 13!

 

September 11^th is a somber day in our nation’s history, but it felt good to spend time with eight other chapter members at our monthly meeting.

Not surprisingly, we talked a lot about spreading the word about our chapter. One of the big takeaways from our retreat was the need to increase our publicity efforts and social media presence. All I can say is that our new publicist, Lynda Rees, with able assistance from Susan Bell and Miki Reilly-Howe, has been hard at work and done an amazing job! Press releases about our new Speakers Bureau have gone out to multiple outlets, and Lynda has created a chapter brochure set to arrive at my house later this week, in plenty of time to take to the Flemingsburg County Library Book Fair on October 2.   We now have bookmarks, a banner, and brochures—all featuring the gorgeous new logo created by Miki Reilly-Howe’s colleague, Doug Sovonick.

You can also now find out what we’re up to on social media. We’d love for you to like us and follow us!

	Twitter: derbyrottenscoundrels.com
	Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/derbyrottenscoundrels
	Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsAFuiQ13WwstSUHT082iA

 

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In other news, our newly formed online critique group, which includes Susan Bell, Elaine Munsch, Lorena Peter, Jeanette Pope, and Miki Reilly-Howe, reports they had a great first meeting. Lorena Peter submitted an excerpt from her new novel, Inexplicable Dread, and Elaine Munsch submitted another chapter From her new Dash Hammond novel, Maude (Working title).

 

 

Meantime, our chair of programming, Elaine Munsch, has lined up some exciting speakers for the coming year. For our next meeting on October 9^th, Shay McAlister, WHAS-11 investigative reporter, will talk about her career and the ongoing interest in cold cases. The public is invited to attend! For the Zoom link, please contact Susan Bell at: susancbell@yahoo.com. Read more here: Shay McAlister – Investigative Reporter for WHAS: Working with LMPD Cold Case Squad

 

 

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Member News

Beth Henderson’s second book in the Whichur-Wolfe Detection series, WHEN CURTSEY KNIFED SAMMY, (paranormal, cozy mystery, comedy, with a touch of romance) went live on September 15^th. Lots is happening in Book Two, including a second murder! Beth is delighted with the five star reviews she’s received for the first book in the series, WHEN HARRY KILLED SALLY.

Jeanette Pope will celebrate her newly released DESPERATE ANGLES and sign books on September 18^th at Mike Linnig’s Restaurant- 9308 Cane Run road, Louisville KY  340258 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

Carol Preflatish submitted book number three, WITCH HUNT, in her Nathan Perry Mystery Series to her publisher. It should be released by Christmas.

Lynn Slaughter’s article, “The Three Best Pieces of Writing Advice I’ve Ever Received,” appeared in the creativity issue of Teen Ink: https://www.teenink.com/TipsFromAnAuthor-LynnSlaughter

Lynn was also recently interviewed for Hasty Book List:
https://www.hastybooklist.com/home/author-interview-lynn-slaughter

Our chapter will be well represented at the upcoming Book Fair on October 2nd at the Flemingsburg County Library: https://virginiasmith.org/event/fleming-county-library-book-fair/

Gloria Casale, Elaine Munsch, Lynda Rees, and Lynn Slaughter will be participating authors.

 

That’s it for now! Please stay safe. We hope to see you at our October 9^th chapter meeting!

We are excited to announce that our crime anthology, Mystery With a Splash of Bourbon, has been selected for the 40th annual Kentucky Book Festival (formerly Kentucky Book Fair) on November 6 at Joseph-Beth Booksellers in Lexington.

Read about the festival here: Kentucky Book Festival

 

 

Read more about the anthology and our authors here:  Mystery With a Splash of Bourbon

Despite the Heat, We’re Working to Spread the Word about Our Chapter!

Although we were disappointed (but very understanding) about the cancellation of the 10^th Annual Kentuckiana Independent Authors Fair on August 14^th, it did give us an opportunity to hold our August chapter meeting on our usual second Saturday of the month. Ten of us gathered on Zoom, and much of our lively discussion centered on our publicity efforts.

We’re thrilled with our new logo designed by Miki Reilly-Howe’s colleague, Doug Sovonick. And thanks to Susan Bell and Lynda Rees, we now have bookmarks and a banner featuring our new logo to take to book fairs, conferences, and book signings. Speaking of book fairs, we’re still brimming with excitement that the anthology co-edited by Susan Bell and Elaine Munsch, Mystery with a Splash of Bourbon, has been selected for the Kentucky Book Festival which will take place on November 6^th at Joseph-Book Booksellers in Lexington.

 

Meantime, our new publicist, Lynda Rees, is about to start work on a brochure about the chapter, as well as a PR campaign. Miki Reilly-Howe volunteered to assist with strategizing. Lynda will also set up a Facebook page for the chapter and work on enlarging our presence on social media.  

We’re delighted to report that our Speaker’s Bureau is up and running, and Elaine Munsch has her first booking! She will speak on the history of women crime writers at the Owensboro public library.

Starting up in September is our new online critique group which plans to meet twice monthly and includes: Susan Bell, Elaine Munsch, Lorena Peter, Jeanette Pope, and Miki Reilly-Howe.  We’re excited that chapter members will have more opportunities for regular feedback on their works-in-progress.

Following our business meeting, we discussed the first chapter of Janet Burroway’s classic Writing Fiction, A Guide to Narrative Craft, 10^th edition. My favorite part of our discussion was the sharing we did about childhood memories that might spark ideas for stories. Interestingly, several of us had stories about angry parents! We plan to tackle Chapter Two of Burroway’s book at our September 11th meeting. Jeanette Pope will lead our discussion.

Member News

 

Lynda Rees’s historical romance, Gold Lust Conspiracy, was published in audiobook by Audible and Amazon: https:adbl.co/3rLu450 The response has been so positive that she’s already working on the sequel!

In addition, Lynda recently launched a children’s picture book, NO FEAR, available on Amazon. https://amzn.to/2V6rf2m.

 

Beth Henderson has launched the Witchur-Wolfe Detection series, which she describes as a “paranormal comedic cozy mystery series with a touch of romance.” The first of the four-book series, When Harry Killed Sally, is now up for pre-sale on Kindle: http://getbook.at/HarrySally

When investigative reporter Emmalyst Whichur teams up with Conor Wolf to prove Harry’s innocence in the murder of Sally, they hope to spring Harry before the Full Moon arrives: “After all, in Killaman Falls, if a witch and a werewolf walk into the same bar, things really can’t be the same ever again.”

 

Jeanette Pope’s book signing for her newly released Desperate Angles will take place on September 18^th at Mike Linnig’s Restaurant- 9308 Cane Run Rd. Louisville, KY  40258 between 11 and 2 p.m.

 

 

 

 

 

Lynda Rees and Lynn Slaughter will be participating authors at the Lexington Book Bash from 10-4 PM on August 28 at Double Tree Suites by Hilton Hotel, 2601 Richmond Road in Lexington. They both plan to have information about the chapter handy at their tables.

Lynn Slaughter contributed an article, “The Three Best Pieces of Writing Advice I Ever Received” to Teen Ink which is scheduled to come out this month. She will also be a guest on George Cramer’s blog on August 30^th to talk about her recently released Leisha’s Song: https://gdcramer.com

 

 

 

We hope everyone is staying cool and safe, and we look forward to seeing folks at our next chapter meeting on September 11^th!

 

The 10th Annual Kentuckiana Independent Authors Fair, originally scheduled for August 14, 2021, has been rescheduled to next year: SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2022 AT 10 AM EDT – 4 PM EDT