Author: susancbell

Member News – September

Elaine Munsch says

I’m pleased to announce that Mystery and Horror, LLC, has agreed to publish the seventh Dash Hammond book, OLD SINS. The book should be out later this fall, depending on the Hurricane and if I make it back from Scotland. As soon as I get a cover, I’ll let you all know. Just remember what Hercule Poirot (among others) said: Old sins cast long shadows.

Lynn Slaughter  is thrilled that her unpublished middle grade novel, THE BIG SWITCH: VARNEY AND CEDRIC, was named a finalist for the Leapfrog Global Fiction Prize in the young adult/middle grade category.

Lynn’s article on character development appeared in Writer’s Digest:

Article Link

Lynn’s piece on mysteries for performing arts lovers appeared in CrimeReads:

Article Link

 

 

Carol Preflatish will be signing books at the Greater Clark County Schools Craft Fair on September 23 at The Fetter Center, 1611 E 10th Street, Jeffersonville, Indiana from 8 am to 3 pm.

Detective Brian Kane Talks Crime Solving: Factual Analysis and Decision Strategy

Be sure to join us via zoom for September 9 guest speaker, retired Covington Detective Brian Kane. Brian will talk to us about:

Crime Solving: Factual Analysis and Decision Strategy

  • When: September 9, 2023
  • Time:  11:30 am EST
  • Where: this meeting is zoom only this month. Please use the following link to register. The meeting will be recorded and posted later.

Zoom Registration Link

NOTE:  The meeting registration will show start time of 11am. That is our chapter business meeting. Detective Kemp will speak at 11:30am. If you don’t wish to attend the business meeting, register, and log in shortly before 11:30am.

Brian Kane began his law enforcement career in 1994 as a deputy with the Campbell County Sheriff. In 1999, he moved to the Covington Police Department where he spent the remainder of his career.

In 2007, Brian was promoted to Detective in the Criminal Investigations Bureau, handling burglaries and low-level felony cases. In 2010, Brian was elevated to the Major Case Unit and was responsible for suspicious deaths, homicides, felonious assaults and rape cases. He was later promoted to Detective Sergeant, supervising 10 Detectives and 4 evidence technicians and served a dual role as the lead investigator with the Internal Affairs Unit. He retired in 2020.

He was an active member of the Covington SWAT Team for 14 years and is a Certified Firearms Instructor through the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Department of Justice. During his service, Brian received many notable awards, including the Meritorious Valor Award, two Distinguished Service Awards, a Departmental Unit Citation and recognition from the U.S. Army 5th Group Special Forces Group – Airborne.

Today, Brian owns Active Solutions & Consulting, a training and consulting practice. He lives in Newport, Kentucky with his wife, Kelly, of 27 years. They have three daughters, a dog, a cat, and a turtle.

Member News – August

Pam Hirschler  is proud to share that her short story, “High Roller,” has been accepted for publication in the Speed City Writers Anthology, Amber Waves of Graves, (writing as P.K. Richard).

Pamela Hirschler (writing crime fiction as P.K. Richard) is a cyber security analyst when she is not writing poetry and short stories. A member of the Derby Rotten Scoundrels, the Speed City Sisters in Crime, and the Mystery Writers of America, she is working on her first mystery novel. She studied creative writing at Morehead University and has an MFA in Poetry from Drew University. She lives in Frankfort, Kentucky, with her husband, Bruce, and in her spare time can often be found hiking, camping, painting, or spending time with her five children and their families.  Website:  www.pamelahirschler.com.  P.K. Richard website arriving soon.

 

Leanne Edelen’s short story, “The Perfect Match,” was accepted to be published in the Speed CIty Chapter’s Anthology, Amber Waves of Graves.  She is so excited about this publication and is also eagerly awaiting the release of Strangely Funny X which will include her short story, “Playing Possum.”

 

 

 

 

 

Lynn Slaughter is thrilled to share that DEADLY SETUP has been named a finalist for Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion Award (https://www.killernashville.com/2023-silver-falchion-winners), and her work-in-progress, MISSING MOM, has been named a finalist for Killer Nashville’s Claymore Award (https://www.killernashville.com/2023-killer-nashville-claymore-award-finalists) for unpublished manuscripts.

Lynn is also excited to be a faculty member at Killer Nashville later this month: https://www.killernashville.com/2023-faculty-s-z

 

 

 

Lynn Slaughter’s first adult mystery, MISSED CUE, came out from Melange Books on August 8th.

 

 

 

 

 

Lynda Rees, The Murder Guru, is signing books at  Killer Nashville :

  • Friday, 8/18 5:00-5:20
  • Saturday, 8/19 11-11:20
  • Sunday 8/20 11-11:20

Location: Nashville, TN. Address: Embassy Suites by Hilton, 820 Crescent Centre Drive, Franklin, TN 37067.

 

LaGrange Book Fair – Saturday Aug 5

LaGrange Book Fair – DRS is Participating Again

DRS members will be participating at this year’s LaGrange Book Fair. Last year’s event, in April, had a good turnout, in spite of the cold weather. We hope more pleasant temperatures this year draws an even bigger crowd!

Attending this year:

Elaine Munsch Carol Preflatish
Haunting Front Cover book cover image
Lynn Slaughter Linda Rees
Susan Bell
Book Fair 1
Susan Bell

What: LaGrange Book Fair

When: Saturday, August 5, 2023, 10am – 4pm

Where: City Place, 112 St. 1st Ave, LaGrange

CityPlace – Map

 

President Notes: Imaginarium 2023

Imaginarium!

DRS members took part in the 2023 Imaginarium 3-day extravaganza this weekend (July 14-16). There was a large crowd of people, some who traveled from all over the country to be here.

 

 

 

Congratulations to DRS member Carol Preflatish for winning runner-up in the Best Screenplay Long Format category. And we also congratulate DRS member Lynn Slaughter, for being nominated in the Best Young Adult Novel for her novel Deadly Setup.

 

 

 

 

DRS authors who attended included Carol and Lynn, as noted, as well as President Elaine Munsch, Susan Bell, Lorena Peter, and Linda Rees. Pam Hirshler and Leanne Edelen also volunteered to help staff the two tables we purchased to sell our wares. Carol, Lynn, Linda, and Lorena all sat on various panels, which is a great way to share your knowledge and also a valuable way of getting your name out there and networking. See Elaine’s thoughts below.

Notes from Elaine on the weekend:

Congratulations to our own future Oscar winning screenwriter, Carol, who won the runner-up award for best long format screenplay.

Carol used Tony Acree’s talk on screenwriting as the starting point and SAVE THE CAT screenwriting book to turn her first Nathan Perry mystery, HOMECOMING TO MURDER, into a screenplay.

Thanks to Pam and Leanne for giving of their time to help man the table.

The general consensus of the authors attending was that this is really a networking event. Sales of our books were decent. The Bourbon anthology caught everyone’s eye as they passed the table so several of these jumped off the table.

The most note-worthy networking was with the Kentuckiana Romance Writers, who had a table directly across from us. Their current president, Dona Whitehead, crossed the aisle to talk with us about doing some collaborative meetings. The incoming president offered a suggestion about our groups sponsoring a one-day event spotlighting ‘Strong Women Writers and Strong Women in books’. Obviously, this will require quite a bit of exploration before it can be accomplished.

But that was one idea discussed. We invited their members to sit in or zoom in on our meetings and they did the same for us. They meet the day after we do, second Sunday of the month. Details to follow.

We met publishers and a ton of authors and hopeful authors. Invitations were extended to all to attend our meetings. I’m sure we’ll get a speaker or two out of this.