Holiday Greetings!
As we approach the end of 2024, I wanted to share a little end-of-year review of our chapter activities, announce our new Board members, and wish you all a very happy holiday season.
Changing of the Guard
We want to thank all the Board members who helped steer the chapter along through this year, especially our out-going President, Elaine Munsch!
Thank you Elaine for your dedication and service to the organization!
Working on a small non-profit such as ours is always a thankless task. Be sure to reach out to a board member and thank them for giving their time and energy to help keep the chapter on track and interesting and eventful!
Other members who are leaving their positions:
Patience Martin – thank you for serving as Treasurer!
Leanne Edelen – thank you for serving as Secretary!
Miki Reilly-Howe – thank you for serving as our Programming Coordinator!
And Hail to the New Guard! Let’s welcome the new President and Board members:
Amanda-Grace Schultz – President
Beverle Graves Myers – Vice-President and Programming Coordinator
Lynn Slaughter – our former chapter President will be joining us as Secretary
Carol Preflatish – staying on as Publicist (Social Media: Facebook and X – formerly Twitter)
Susan Bell – staying on as Web Meister and taking on Treasurer duties
Member News for 2024
It was an exciting year for our members. Here are some highlights:
Rhonda Lane
Rhonda published her first novel FATAL IMAGE: AN AVERY SLOANE MYSTERY in ebook, paperback, and KindleUnlimited.
For 2025, in addition to writing her second book with a working title she has yet settled upon, she plans to publish a prequel novella titled CODE NEWS.
Beverle Graves Myers
Beverle Graves Myers has been experimenting with packing a lot of tension into a few words. She published two short stories this year:
Tomorrow’s Ghost in Noncorporeal II (Inkd Publishing)
and
Jewboy in Dallas in Crimeucopia: Let Me Tell You About… (Murderous Ink Press)
Carol Preflatish
In June, I published MURDER IN MYSTIC HOLLOW, my fourth Nathan Perry Mystery book. Then in July, I won Best Screenplay-Short Format for Summer Darkness at the Imaginarium Convention.
Currently, I’m working on a new screenplay, the fifth Nathan Perry book, and . . . . this month I signed a three-book contract for a new series with 7th Star Press, The Coyote Canyon Mystery Series. The first book is EXPOSURE, tentative release should be by mid-summer 2025.
Amanda-Grace Schultz
Amanda released her first mystery novel, THE SCHEME, under the pen name Amethyst Drake. She is currently working on the second book in the series.
Lynn Slaughter
My sixth novel, MISSING MOM, officially comes out on January 14 and the pre-orders for the e-book are already up.
DRS Critique Group
Our critique group is currently comprised of six members: Elaine Munsch, Leanne Edelen, Miki Reilly-Howe, Pamela Hirschler, Sherry Youngquist, and Susan Bell. Meeting every two weeks, we’ve managed to turn out quite a few short stories and chapters this year, between the six of us.
Guest Speakers
We had some very interesting guest speakers this year:
Paul J. Hoffman: author, publisher, journalist, and actor. A native of Wisconsin, he spent 34 years in journalism, working as a sportswriter, news editor and nearly 20 years as special publications editor in Franklin and Columbus, Indiana, for Home News Enterprises and its successor, AIM Media Indiana.
Sara Marian was raised in the woods by wild English teachers and has been writing for as long as she can remember. She is also a partner in Per Bastet Publications, a small press based in southern Indiana. Her fiction blends genres including fantasy and urban fantasy, cyberpunk and steampunk, mystery, historical fiction, literary fiction and comedy, and she is the author of over 200 nonfiction articles on the Clio history website. Her day job is archaeology.
Jo-Ann Farmer: Jefferson County Chief Deputy Coroner. Ms. 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.
Member Presentations
In addition to our outside guest speakers, some of our members entertained us this year:
Sandra Leonard and Elaine Munsch gave an informative and entertaining talk about Dame Agatha Christie’s life, her works and her writing techniques, in celebration of her birthday.
Lynn Slaughter: gave a fabulous presentation on adding ‘romance to your mystery’. In the workshop, Lynn explained the differences between romantic mysteries and romantic suspense, and the ways in which injecting romance into our mysteries can up the emotional stakes and enhance reader engagement.
Jeanette C. Pope gave a very informative and entertaining presentation on Prewriting and Prewriting Strategies to help get the writing process started.
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In December 2024, Carol’s screenplay, Summer Darkness, won Best Original Script in the Gothamite Monthly Film Awards. This is the second award this screenplay has won.
Jeanette has published two novels, Double Triangles and Desperate Angles.
Carol Preflatish has signed a contract with Seventh Star Press for Murder in Mystic Hollow, her fourth Nathan Perry Mystery. 
Jeanette C. Pope was honored to get invited to the Grace M. James Academy of Excellence – Entrepreneur Fair, on December 13, 2023. Grace M. James Academy of Excellence is part of the Jefferson County Public School system.