We were very honored to have our anthology of crime stories, Mystery With a Splash of Bourbon, be selected to participate in the 2021 Kentucky Book Festival.
The anthology was a project of love that took many years to complete: 22 authors; 18 short stories ranging from historical adventure to gritty realism; 20 non-fiction articles on Prohibition, moonshining, medicinal alcohol and profiles of distilleries and the booming Whiskey Row district in downtown Louisville; getting published during the middle of the worst pandemic since the Great Influenza of 1918. There were many obstacles in our path to publication, and post-publication, so being one of the books included in this year’s festival was indeed a blessing.
We sold out our stockpile by mid afternoon, in no small part due to the incredible salesmanship of two of our contributing authors: Lorena Peter and Karen Block. A special thank you to them for showing up and drumming up sales for the book.
Read more about the anthology and author bios here: Mystery With a Splash of Bourbon.
We want to thank all of the contributing authors who took the time to participate:
Lorena Peter and Karen Block, of course
Gwen Mayo and Sarah Glenn, who flew up from Florida to be at the event. Gwen and Sarah own publishing house Mystery and Horror, LLC. They were not only contributing authors to the anthology, they published the book!
Also in attendance was Mike Bradford, a former member of our chapter. He came over from his home in Bardstown. And last, our intrepid editors of the anthology, Susan Bell and Elaine Munsch.
Elaine was invited to participate on a panel, Building a Writing Community.
Do you struggle to get motivated or set goals in your writing? Getting together with like-minded writers who encourage each other on their way can be a big help, but sometimes finding them can be difficult. Lisa Haneberg, author of Stiff Lizard and a founding board member of the Lexington Writer’s Room, and Elaine Munsch, co-editor of Mystery with a Splash of Bourbon and member of the Derby Rotten Scoundrels writing group, will discuss what it takes to build a writing community with Lisa M. Miller, author of The Heart of Leadership for Women in the Writer’s Room. Be sure to visit the authors in the Signing Gallery (downstairs in Joseph-Beth Booksellers) to get books signed after this talk!
Elaine was joined on the panel by Lisa Haneberg and Lisa M. Miller.
Elaine did a wonderful job!
The audience enjoyed it, too!
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.”
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: 
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).
Jeanette Pope will celebrate her newly released DESPERATE ANGLES and sign books on September 18th at Mike Linnig’s Restaurant- 9308 Cane Run road, Louisville KY 340258 between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.
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.
