Meet Our Members

Member

Jill Amadio is a crime novelist, journalist, and biographer. She writes the amateur sleuth Tosca Trevant mystery series. Her latest thriller is “In Terror’s Deadly Clasp,” and the most recently-published memoir is “Virginia Bader. First Lady of Aviation Art.” She has ghostwritten 17 autobiographies and two thrillers. Originally from Cornwall, UK, Jill was a reporter for the London Sunday Dispatch, the Bangkok Post, the Spanish-American Courier, and the Connecticut Sunday Herald. She was a syndicated columnist for Gannett Newspapers. She has written for the Los Angeles Times magazine, the L.A. Daily News, the Washington Times as an auto columnist, Entrepreneur, Conde Nast, and Newsweek. She is a columnist for Mystery People, a UK ezine. Jill was a member of Little Theatre Productions in England, the British Players in Bangkok, and the Alliance Francaise. She also narrates audiobooks. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, The Authors Guild, and Crime Writers Association.

Member

Peter Arango  - Teacher, Administrator, College Counselor, Headmaster in independent day and boarding schools, Audio Describer and Script Consultant at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I grew up in Washington, CT, graduated from Kenyon College and Wesleyan University, taught in several states and in Switzerland, retired from Cate School in California to Ashland, Oregon, fled fire that destroyed our small town, now live in West Simsbury, CT where we share our fields with deer and bears.

I am the author of A Fine Old School, Memory's Door, A Whiff of Murder (mystery combined with history of Yale's Whiffenpoofs), The Christmas Quilt, Afterwards, Side Effects May Include Astral Sex, America's Best kept College Secrets, and the GIS Guide to American Colleges and Universities.

Member

Emily Arsenault is the author of nine suspense novels for adults and young adults, most recently the young adult psychological suspense/ghost story When All the Girls Are Sleeping, published by Delacorte/Random House. Her other novels include In Search of the Rose Notes, a Wall Street Journal Best Mystery of the Year, The Broken Teaglass, a New York Times Notable Crime Book, The Last Thing I Told You, The Leaf Reader, and What Strange Creatures.

Member

Leigh Ann lives and works in New Orleans, LA — a city known for its rich history of crime, corruption, myth, legend and lore.

She’s been published in Family Living Magazine and Health & Fitness Magazine. She serves on the board of the New Orleans chapter of "STAIR - Start the Adventure in Reading,” a children’s literacy program that provides free one-on-one tutoring to children with limited access to books.

She is working on a true crime memoir set along the banks of the Mississippi River in Southeast Louisiana. When she’s not traveling, she’s maintaining an active home with a revolving door of foster dogs.

Member

Rhonda Barnat is a business executive and writes crime fiction under the pen name Rona Bell. Her short story, "Prey of New York" received special mention in Best Mystery Stories, 2018, published by Houghton Mifflin and edited by Louise Penney and Otto Penzler. She has also published in Mystery Readers Journal and has a forthcoming piece appearing about John Le Carré. She lives in Rye, New York and is a member of Mystery Writers of America.

Member

Raised on what used to be a dairy-and-horse farm in North Stamford, Sarah earned her BA at UConn and then remained in northeastern Connecticut for many years. After earning an MBA, she moved to Hawaii and taught for several years at the University of Hawaii-Hilo before working at Gemini Observatory as a facility supervisor.

After writing three non-fiction books on horse training, she turned her attention to poetry and fiction. In 2010, she moved to North Carolina, where her novel Drawn from Life and many of her short stories are set. Several of her shorter works have been published in literary journals; in 2021 she was a finalist for the Doris Betts Fiction Prize.

In her writing, Sarah creates compassionate characters who believe they must battle their demons alone, and antagonists who think they have nothing left to lose. Rural life and the natural world are also strong influences in Sarah's work.

Sarah and her husband Rich will be moving home to northeastern Connecticut in 2024.

Member

Warren retired from a wonderful 3 decades plus career as an adult and pediatric urologist to fulfill a lifelong desire to write a first novel, currently in the final stages (hopefully!) of editing.  In the spirit of sharing some of my intimate experiences as a physician, the book naturally falls into the genre of a medical whodunnit.

Forty-one years of blissful marriage has produced two daughters, a pair of sons-in-law, four grandchildren, and a loyal rescue hound.  Beth and I split our time between Stamford (when we need time with the little ones) and Longboat Key, Fl (when the latter isn’t inundated by a storm surge).

I look forward to meeting everyone soon.  Happy writing to all!

Member

Melanie Bodin holds a degree in English Literature from Southern CT State University, which has been put to good use in the publishing industry. She currently lives in New Haven and works for a company based in Old Saybrook editing and engineering audiobooks. She’s nearing completion on her first novel.

Member

Liz Bullard is a multi‑genre author, therapist, and coach who helps creatives move from stuck to started with clarity and confidence. Known for her captivating storytelling, Liz’s notable works include The Prophecy Series and the Lira Somers Mysteries, praised for fast‑paced plots, vivid characters, and movie‑like imagery.

Liz’s love of reading and writing is evident in the eReads Podcast, where she celebrates the power of creativity and storytelling. When she’s not writing, coaching, or recording the podcast, she’s cooking, reading, or spending time with Preston the corgi.

Member

Clinical psychologist Lucy Burdette aka Roberta Isleib is the author of 23 mysteries, including USA Today bestseller A CLUE IN THE CRUMBS (Crooked Lane Books.) Both the twelfth book in her Key West series, A DISH TO DIE FOR, and the tenth, THE KEY LIME CRIME, won the Florida Book Award’s bronze medal for popular fiction. Her first women’s fiction title, THE INGREDIENTS OF HAPPINESS and her first thriller, UNSAFE HAVEN, have been published by Severn House. Her books and stories have been short-listed for Agatha, Anthony, and Macavity awards. She's a past president of Sisters in Crime, and currently president of the Friends of the Key West Library. Visit her website, or follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Member

Lyn Liao Butler is a Taiwanese American author of thrillers, upmarket fiction, and rom-coms. Her most recent thriller, Someone Else’s Life, was an Amazon bestseller and her second book Red Thread of Fate is a finalist in the WFWA Star Awards for 2023. Before becoming an author, she was a professional ballet and modern dancer, and is still a fitness and yoga instructor.

Member

Lynne Constantine is a national and international bestselling author who writes with her sister under her pen name Liv Constantine. With over one million copies sold worldwide, their books have been translated into 28 languages, are available in 33 countries, and are in development for both television and film. Their books have been praised by USA Today, The Sunday Times, People Magazine, and Good Morning America, among many others. Their debut novel, The Last Mrs. Parrish, is a Reese Witherspoon Book Club selection. Lynne also writes conspiracy thrillers under the pen name L.C. Shaw. Lynne is a board member of International Thriller Writers.

Member

J.A. Dayton is an artist and writer. She lives on a former cranberry farm in a small, New England town. Dayton, a former newspaper columnist and supporter of local journalism, has long experience as a policy advocate on public issues. She held several elected offices, which developed her love of writing and public speaking. Her passion for culture, history and travel inspires her life and writing. When not traveling, she loses sleep reading spine-tingling, mind-bending, heart-racing thrillers. Set In Stone is her debut novel.

Member

I am a wife, mother of three, grandmother to four, accomplished cooking contester and author of a cooking competition murder mystery series. I have won many cooking contests and cook-offs. I have won pirzies such as a full kitchen of major appliances, five-figure cash prizes and four trips to Disney World. Combining my beloved cooking contesting hobby with my enthusiasm for writing was the next logical step. Season with a touch of murder and mayhem and my cook-off mystery series was born. My latest release is Farm Fresh and Fatal.

President

Eileen Doyle writes mysteries set in the art world, with a particular interest in stories of hijinks such as thefts, counterfeiting, and other swindles. Before she ill-advisedly quit her day job to write full-time, she earned a Ph.D. in art history, taught courses in modern and contemporary art, and held various and sundry positions in visual arts organizations in New York City and Connecticut. She has published non-fiction articles on contemporary art. When Eileen isn’t writing, she can usually be found coaxing her lovable, but lazy, goldendoodle Ginger out for a walk or digging herself out from the mountains of laundry produced by her three children.

Member

I retired in 2011 and began writing in 2014. I was born and raised in Hartford, Connecticut. My popular mysteries Dead and Gone (2017) and Dead Right (2019) and Dead Wrong (2022) feature Dan Shields (The detective who breaks all the rules) take place in my hometown. Dying for Fame (2020) features Lex Stall (Manhattan’s tenacious female detective) with a cameo appearance from Dan Shields. In 2019, I was named a most notable author by the Hartford Courant. My TV appearances include WTNH TV (Channel 8) in New Haven with Teresa Dufour on her show CT STYLE, as well FOX 61 TV in Hartford with Stan Simpson on his show, Real People. Articles about me have appeared in several newspapers and book reviewers and readers have likened my novels to those of Michael Connelly, Stuart Woods, and James Patterson. I am most proud to have been honored by THE BOSTON CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL for my charitable donations from my books. I am a member of Mystery Writers of America and The Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association.

Member

Samantha DuBois is a writer and communications specialist whose work has taken her from the Nicaraguan rainforest to the Colorado foothills and beyond. She enjoys writing about her travels on her personal blog, as well as penning character-driven mysteries. Her first mystery novel, DEAD LETTER, is currently out on submission (yikes!)

In her spare time, she enjoys teaching yoga, finding new trails to hike, and perfecting her chocolate chip cookie recipe. After spending the last two years as unintentional nomads, she and her husband have recently settled in southeastern Connecticut with their two cats, Ollie and Pip.

Member

Karen Dukess is the author of the IndieNext and Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers pick THE LAST BOOK PARTY and the upcoming (June 2025) WELCOME TO MURDER WEEK. She is also the host of the Castle Hill Author Talks, a series of live and virtual interviews with some of today's most acclaimed writers for the Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill on Cape Cod. She lives with her family in Pelham, New York. 

Vice-President and Facebook Manager

Sharon Dukett is the award-winning author of the environmental thriller THE SHUTDOWN LIST and NO RULES: A Memoir.

She worked in information technology as a consultant, programmer and project manager in the private sector, and as a deputy director for the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch. Running technology projects taught her about the infinite possibilities of how plans can go awry, and the creativity needed to rescue them: a useful insight for writing thrillers.

Sharon is also a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association.

Sharon lives in central Connecticut with her husband, near her children and grandchildren. She is currently working on another thriller.

Member

Patricia Dunn/T.M. Dunn is author of Her Father's Daughter, a psychological thriller (Crooked Lane Books, July 18, 2023), Rebels by Accident (Sourcebooks Fire), and Last Stop on the 6 (Bordighera Press). Her writing has appeared in Salon, The Village Voice, The Nation, LA Weekly, and The Christian Science Monitor. She has also been published in the New York Times best-selling anthology, Love, InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women (Soft Skull); and elsewhere. Dunn has served as Senior Director of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, where she holds an MFA in creative writing. She teaches and coaches aspiring and established writers. Dunn lives in Stamford, Connecticut where she is currently working on her next novel, with her rescue puppy Blanqui snuggled at her side.

Member

Glen Ebisch has been writing for over thirty years. Most of his books are edgy, cozy mysteries with a touch of humor. They are usually set in New Jersey shore communities or in western Massachusetts. A former professor of philosophy, he now writes full-time and lives in central Connecticut.

Newsletter Manager

Christine Falcone’s short stories have appeared in publications such as Imagine, Lancrom Review, and Deadfall: Crime Stories by New England writers. After working for nearly forty years as an RN in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Christine is delighted that retirement coincides with the publication of her first full-length mystery. Ex’d Out will be out in October 2022. She lives on the Connecticut Shoreline with her family and a dog who is not nearly as well behaved as Bruno, the beloved canine in her novel.

Member

Peggy Gaffney writes suspense for the dog lover. Dogs have figured heavily in her life and she has bred, trained, and shown Samoyeds for over fifty years. Peggy always loved writing and was lucky to have as her advisor and mentor while an undergraduate at Southern Connecticut, the writer, and writing teacher, Walter Tevis, well known for his novels The Hustler, The Man Who Fell to Earth, and The Queen’s Gambit. With an English major and a double major in art and music, she ended up having careers both as a teacher and librarian. Upon retiring, she mastered the skills required to be an independent author/publisher. She wrote and published a dozen non-fiction books, including ten intarsia knitting books aimed at dog lovers, one book per breed, as well as one on cats and one on llamas and alpacas. Tiring of designing knits, she turned to her first love, writing fiction, and created the Kate Killoy Mystery series, of which there are seven books so far with more on the way. The series is best described as Die Hard meets Best in Show.

Member

Kimberly Giarratano is an author of mysteries for teens and adults. Her debut novel, Grunge Gods and Graveyards, won the 2015 Silver Falchion Award for Best YA at Killer Nashville. A former librarian, she is currently an instructor at a SUNY Orange County Community College and a reviewer for BookPage. She is also the chapter liaison for Sisters in Crime. Born in New York and raised in New Jersey, Kim and her husband moved to the Poconos to raise their three kids amid black bears and wild turkeys. While she doesn’t miss the Jersey traffic, she does miss a good bagel and lox.

Member

National award-winning writer Penny Goetjen is the author of six mystery and suspense novels where the settings play as prominent a role as the engaging characters. Her recent release THE WOMAN UNDERWATER is set behind the stone walls of a private all boys school in the woods of Connecticut.

A self-proclaimed eccentric known for writing late into the night by the allure of flickering candlelight, she often weaves a subtle, unexpected paranormal twist into her stories. When her husband is asked how he feels about his wife writing murder mysteries, he answers with a wink, “I sleep with one eye open.”

Member

Elissa D. Grodin writes murder mysteries featuring an amateur sleuth who happens to be an Assistant Professor of Physics at Cushing College. Edwina, an up-and-coming theoretical physicist of some note, calls upon her formidable ability to see connections between things in order to assist her boyfriend, Detective Will Tenney, with connecting the dots of murder investigations. In Physics Can Be Fatal, a celebrity physicist comes to teach at Edwina’s college for a semester, and is murdered on his first night there. In Death By Hitchcock, Edwina and Will unravel a particularly cruel murder in the Film Studies Department. In A Handful Of Worldliness, Edwina and Will enter the treacherous subculture of a home shopping network to solve the gruesome murder of an on-air presenter.

Member

David Handler was born and raised in Los Angeles and moved to New York City to attend the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. He began his career as a cultural correspondent and Broadway critic before joining the writing staff that created the Emmy-Award winning sitcom “Kate & Allie.” He continued to write for TV and films for 20 years while also embarking on a career as a crime novelist. He has written fourteen novels in his Edgar Award-winning Stewart Hoag series, including his latest, “The Girl Who Took What She Wanted,” as well as eleven in his Connecticut-based Berger-Mitry series along with a half-dozen thrillers and literary novels. He has been a finalist for the Anthony, Dilys, Nero and Derringer awards. He lives in a 230-year-old carriage house in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Member

Elena is a researcher and analyst working in conflict resolution. She is the deputy head of ICRA (Independent Conflict Research and Analysis), a nonprofit organization that deals with conflict issues. She is also the co-executive director of a local CERT, a volunteer organization that supports emergency services. In the past, she has worked as a journalist and a translator. Her debut mystery novel, Splendor for Nothing, is published by Cheek Press. Set in contemporary London, this mystery is rich in sights and smells of the art, architecture and cuisines of the old city. She loves travelling, cooking, reading, and learning new languages. Elena was born and grew up in Italy, and now lives with her husband and children in the US.

Member

L.M. Jorden is an award-winning author of Istria: Food, Love, and War in Croatia and many articles on comparative society, human rights, and the environment. She is a former Professor of American-Mediterranean Studies and English in France. Elle won the New York Press Award and holds an M.S. from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She is also an apprenticed medicinal botanist. Elle combines her love of mystery, history, and botany in the Dr. Josephine Plantae Paradoxes Series.

Member

Kathleen Marple Kalb likes to describe herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. She’s the author of the Ella Shane historical mystery series for Kensington Books, most recently A Fatal Overture. She grew up in front of a microphone and a keyboard, DJ’ing overnight on school breaks at her hometown radio station in Brookville, Pennsylvania, and writing her first (thankfully unpublished) historical novel at sixteen. An award-winning radio journalist, she’s worked in Pittsburgh, Vermont, and Connecticut, and is currently a weekend morning anchor at New York City’s #1 news station, 1010 WINS Radio. When her son started school, she returned to fiction writing, and after two failed projects, some 200 rejections, and a family health crisis, found an agent for the third book—the first Ella Shane. As Nikki Knight, she’s also the author of the contemporary Vermont Radio Mystery, Live, Local, and Dead, from Crooked Lane. Her Vermont story, Bad Apples, was an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Black Orchid Novella Award Contest. She, her husband, and their son live in Connecticut, in a house owned by their cat.

Instagram Manager

Mary P. Karnes is a native Californian. She’s lived all around the country, but New England is her favorite region, and she’s proud to call it home. Mary has four grown children and four itty-bitty grandchildren. For the last seven years, she has found herself in a new career, that of a wedding planner. Good thing too, as Mary writes a cozy mystery wedding planner series.

Twitter/ X Manager

Amy Kierce worked for many years as a magazine editor in New York and copywriter in Boston. Amy is mostly a New Yorker at heart, raised in Ardsley, graduated from Fordham and lived in the East Village, joining the NY Writers Room. She now lives with her husband and children in the Boston area, with their bulldog, Harley, and “crime cat,” Pip. She is working on her debut mystery novel. Connect with Amy on Instagram and Twitter. Please don’t ask her Yankees or Red Sox.

Past President

Elise Hart Kipness is a former national television sports reporter. Her debut crime series introduces an Olympic soccer star turned sports reporter, who takes readers behind the scenes of professional sports where murder is the game of the day. The first book in the series, Lights Out, will be published by Thomas & Mercer in November of 2023. Before sports, Elise was a reporter for New York’s WNBC-TV and the Associated Press. Elise has two sons in college and lives in Stamford, Connecticut, on a small hobby farm with her husband, Labradoodles (Bodhi, Skyler, and Kelsey), chickens, ducks, geese, and one cantankerous turkey.

Member

Deborah Levison is a lifelong writer and publicist. Her life has two parts: the first in Canada, where she attended University of Toronto and the Royal Conservatory of Music, and the second in Connecticut, where she lives with three children, two doodles, and one husband. She writes both nonfiction and fiction. Her first book, THE CRATE, is the true account of a grisly crime that involved her family. Reviewers called it an “exquisite” (Jerusalem Post) and “brilliant” (New York Journal of Books) story. The book won seven literary awards. Levison’s debut novel, A NEST OF SNAKES, is part thriller, part courtroom drama, based on real-life abuse at elite New England private schools. Described as “a roller-coaster ride of surprising twists” leading to a “staggering climax and an absolutely perfect ending,” it earned an award from the Connecticut Press Club. Her third book, a domestic thriller, is in the works. Visit her website, www.DebbieLevison.com, or follow her on Facebook and Instagram: @DeborahLevisonAuthor and Twitter: @DLevisonAuthor.

Treasurer

Gerri Lewis is an award-winning feature writer, former stringer and columnist who began her career getting her fingers smudged on newsprint at the Ridgefield Press and its syndicated newspapers. Later she turned to magazines and was a contributing writer for Morris Media Group, Inc with regularly appearing cover features in Ridgefield Magazine. With over 1600 published features, news stories and obituaries under her belt, Gerri continues to write for 068 Magazine, focusing on Connecticut towns with the 068 zip code. Her debut Deadly Deadlines mystery, The Last Word, will be released by Crooked Lane Books on February 20, 2024.

Member

Before turning to fiction, Jackie Lightfield has explored a career path best described as a methodical documentation of the island of misfit toys. Her recipe for success? One part coder, two parts writer, a dash of marketing and splash of design, served entrepreneurially.

When she is not writing classic mystery adventure stories, she is writing regional guides about journeys that lure you to discover the places and geography that made America. Her work can be found at Armchair Expeditions, or an endless Google search to find fragments of award winning design, copy-writing, games, public art projects, economic development and a relentless fight against mediocrity.

Member

Mary E. Maki, writing as M.E. Maki, is the author of four Caitlyn Jamison mysteries: An Unexpected Death, Fatal Dose, The Death of Cassie White, and Deadly Secrets. Her latest book, The Art of Murder, features two new protagonists, Detective Autumn Whitcomb and Ukrainian archivist Yuri Rachinskij. After reading The Art of Murder, a reader wrote, “You've hit another one out of the park. Somehow, you manage to take current concerns and weave your characters through them into a tapestry that keeps us on the edge of our seats in suspense. Hope you have as much fun writing as we do reading.” The answer to that comment is, yes, I have great fun creating characters and developing relevant plot lines.

When not writing, Mary loves researching her family history and digitizing documents to assist other researchers. She’s produced several genealogy monographs and has been published in Connecticut Ancestry and the Nutmegger(Connecticut Society of Genealogists).

She facilitates a monthly fiction critique writing group out of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library in Fredericksburg, VA. She also serves on Portland’s oral history project, the Voices of Portland, and Portland’s America250 committee.

Mary grew up in the Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York and now resides in Portland, Connecticut.

Member

Susan Mangiero, Ph.D., CFA is a 25-year veteran of the financial services, financial technology, and insurance industry. She enjoyed an exciting business career as a Wall Street trader, a marketer for two financial services companies, an award-winning blogger, a digital education start-up entrepreneur, forensic economist, and university professor. In 2015, Susan earned the designation of a Certified Fraud Examiner. She testified as an expert witness and/or consulted on a variety of white-collar criminal, civil, regulatory, transactional, and compliance matters. She holds a doctorate degree in finance, an MBA in finance, and an MA in economics. She will complete her book about corporate brand storytelling in 2022 as part of her MFA in Creative and Professional Writing. Susan is currently writing a cozy mystery novel. She is looking for a publishing home for her humorous mystery short stories. She enjoys yoga. Susan loves to play bridge and Scrabble. She wants to learn how to play poker.

Member

Nina Mansfield is a Cos Cob, CT-based author, playwright, screenwriter, and educator. Nina’s short fiction has appeared in a variety of publications and anthologies including Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mysterical-E, Crime Syndicate Magazine and most recently Justice for All, Murder NY Style 5 (Level Best Books, 2021.) Her YA mystery novel Swimming Alone is published by Fire & Ice YA. Nina is also a produced and published playwright. Her ten-minute and one-act plays have received over 100 productions in the United States and around the world, and are published by Smith & Kraus, Stage Partners, YouthPLAYS, Original Works Publishing, and One Act Play Depot. Nina is a member of MWA, SCBWI, ITW, The Dramatists Guild, and she is a Co-Vice-President of the NY/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. Connect with Nina on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Member

Rowan Marci is an author of fiction who draws inspiration from the complex and beautiful experiences of being chronically ill, queer, and human. Her short stories have been published by Quillkeepers Press and Northern Connecticut Writers Workshop and are forthcoming in the 2023 Connecticut Literary Anthology and a disabled superheroes anthology. When not writing, Rowan works as a mental health provider for youth. You can usually find her in the kitchen dancing to K-Pop and trying to keep her two kids and all their pets alive.

Member

KORINA MOSS is the author of the Cheese Shop Mystery series (St. Martin’s Press) set in the Sonoma Valley, including the Agatha Award winner for Best First Novel, CHEDDAR OFF DEAD. Her books have been featured in PARADE Magazine, Woman’s World, AARP, and Fresh Fiction. For more information about Korina and her books, and to subscribe to her free monthly newsletter, visit her website. You can also connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.

Member

Cate Conte writes the Cat Cafe Mysteries and the new Full Moon Mysteries. As Liz Mugavero, she writes the Pawsitively Organic Mysteries, the first of which was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel. She lives in Connecticut with her rescue pals. Connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, or visit the Wicked Authors blog.

Member

Kirsten Smith Navin is an award-winning graphic designer. She has worked for nationally published sports magazines including Tennis, USTA Magazine, and Golf Digest. More at home designing books, she is now taking a “stab" at writing her first novel (work in progress) – a police proceedural involving a cat burgular, an art forger, and a murderer. The story is fictional, though elements are drawn from her home town on Long Island and growing up with a father who was chief of police. Kirsten lives in Easton, CT with her husband, three children, and cat.

Member

Karen E. Olson is the author of the Annie Seymour and Tattoo Shop mysteries and the Black Hat thrillers. She won the Sara Ann Freed Memorial Award at Mysterious Press for her first book, Sacred Cows, and her fourth book, Shot Girl, was a Shamus finalist. Her new book is An Inconvenient Wife, a modern retelling of Henry VIII and his wives as a crime novel. She was a longtime newspaper journalist and an editor at Yale. She and her husband, a freelance journalist, are empty nesters and live in North Haven with their ginger cat Seamus.

Member

Kathryn Orzech—film fan, news nerd, traveler—writes suspense thrillers with female leads who confront danger and brush with the supernatural. In ASYLUM: a dark suspense saga, a family secret endangers a reluctant heiress bent on solving the mystery behind her grandmother’s dark past; its screenplay adaptation won Best Unproduced Script in several film festivals. In PREMONITION OF TERROR, prophecy meets protocol when a reluctant psychic must convince her skeptical FBI brother that international terrorists plan an attack on U.S. soil. Kathy’s interests: history and geopolitics, society and culture, psychology and science, and she manages the DreamWatch paranormal website.

Member

L.M. Pampuro is the author of nine suspense novels, some rock reviews, and a couple op-ed pieces.

Writing keeps her sane, skiing feeds her soul, live music is her muse, and being the worst dancer in the crowd lets her spirit fly.

She is a graduate of Wesleyan University’s MALS program, and most recently, Western Connecticut State University’s M.F.A. program.

To see her rock photos, poetry, and ongoing projects visit her on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/lmpampuro

Member

Laurel Peterson writes the Clara Montague mystery series, published by Woodhall Press. Clara, a Fairfield County girl, has psychic dreams that predict death and disaster (of course!), usually connected to someone she loves. She’s fallen for local police chief Kyle DuPont, an African American newly arrived from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Clara’s adventures are chronicled in Shadow Notes and The Fallen, both from Woodhall Press. When she’s not writing, Laurel is a professor of English at Norwalk Community College, where she teaches literature, creative and expository writing, and interdisciplinary courses in the arts; and advises the student literary magazine, Musings.

In addition to writing mysteries, she has published two full-length and two chapbook-length collections of poetry. She was the town of Norwalk, Connecticut’s poet laureate from April 2016 – April 2019, and a past editor of the literary journal Inkwell. She currently serves on the Norwalk Public Library board. Find out more about her at her website or on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Membership Secretary

Ang Pompano is an author, editor, and publisher. His short stories have been featured in numerous anthologies, including the Anthony Award-winning Mystery Most Edible. His novel, When It's Time for Leaving, was nominated for an Agatha Best First Novel Award. His second book, Diet of Death, was highly acclaimed. His latest work, Blood Ties and Deadly Lies, is set in the Thimble Islands of Connecticut.

A co-founder of Crime Spell Books, he co-edits the Best New England Crime Stories anthology. A member of Mystery Writers of America, he was awarded a Helen McCloy Scholarship for a Novel in Progress.

He has been on the planning committee of the New England Crime Bake writing conference for eighteen years. He served as a longstanding board member of Sisters in Crime New England and now serves on the board of the Connecticut chapter.

He lives in Connecticut with his wife and their two rescue dogs.

Member

Shari Randall is the author of the Lobster Shack Mystery series. Her debut, Curses, Boiled Again, won an Agatha Award for Best First Novel. As Meri Allen, she writes the new Ice Cream Shop Mystery series. She has also published short stories in the Destination Murders and Chesapeake Crimes anthologies. A Coast Guard spouse and former librarian, she and her husband live on the Connecticut shore. She enjoys travel, dance, and visiting her globe-trotting children. You can connect with her on Facebook and Instagram where she shares photos of all things cozy Connecticut.

Member

Luanne Rice is the New York Times bestselling author of 36 novels that have been translated into 30 languages. Rice’s most recent novels are the thrillers THE SHADOW BOX and LAST DAY. LAST NIGHT will be out 12/5/2023. In 2002, Connecticut College awarded Rice an honorary degree and invited her to donate her papers to the college's Special Collections Library. She has also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from St. Joseph College in West Hartford, Conn. In June 2014, she received the Connecticut Governor’s Arts Award in the Literary Arts category for excellence and lifetime achievement as a literary artist. She is a creative affiliate of the Safina Center. Several of Rice's novels have been adapted for film and television. She has written for the theater, and her work has been performed at Hartford Stage Company, the Berkshire Theater Festival, Off-Broadway, and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles. Rice is an avid environmentalist and advocate for families affected by domestic violence. She lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut with four cats.

Member

David Rich is the author of three novels: The Mirrored Palace, a historical novel about Richard Francis Burton on the Hajj, Caravan of Thieves and Middle Man, which are action thrillers. David spent most of his career in Hollywood. He wrote the feature film Renegades, starring Kiefer Sutherland and Lou Diamond Philips, and worked on scripts for stars ranging from Marlon Brando to Don ‘The Dragon’ Wilson, from Macolm McDowell to Betty Buckley. For television David wrote episodes of MacGyver, StarGate-SG1 and Legend. David has written three plays: The Interview, The Rescue, and W.A.R. (Women’s Armed Resistance). He also teaches fiction and screenwriting in a graduate program in Connecticut.

Member

Debra Sennefelder is the acclaimed author of the Food Blogger Mysteries, the Resale Boutique Mystery Series, and the upcoming Cookie Shop Mystery series. An avid reader who reads across a range of genres, mystery fiction is her obsession. Her interest in people and relationships is channeled into her novels against a backdrop of crime and mystery. Her first novel, The Uninvited Corpse (A Food Blogger mystery) was published in 2018. When she’s not reading, she enjoys cooking and baking and as a former food blogger; she is constantly taking photographs of her food. Yeah, she’s that person.

Born and raised in New York City, where she majored in her hobby of fashion buying, she now lives and writes in Connecticut with her family. She’s worked in retail and publishing before becoming a full-time author. Her writing companion is her adorable and slightly spoiled Shih-Tzu, Connie.

Library Liaison & Programming

Carole B. Shmurak is Professor Emerita at Central Connecticut State University and the author of 11 books. Under her own name, she writes the Susan Lombardi academic mystery series. As Carroll Thomas, she is the co-author of the Matty Trescott young adult historical novels, one of which (Ring Out Wild Bells) was an Agatha nominee for best young adult mystery. Carole also leads monthly mystery groups at the Simsbury, Wallingford, and Southington libraries. Find out more about Carole, her books, and her mystery groups at her website.

Member

Tessa Smith McGovern is the author of many short stories and two books, Cocktails for Book Lovers (Sourcebooks) and London Road: Linked Stories (eChook Digital). She has an MFA in Writing from the Vermont School of Fine Arts and has been an instructor at The Writing Institute, Sarah Lawrence College since 2011. She’s the founder of Bloom Writers’ Studio which offers virtual classes and pitch events with literary agents for fiction and nonfiction writers, and she’s co-host of the Westport Library podcast ‘Go Ahead, Write Something’.

Website Manager

Manju Soni, pen name MJ Soni (she/her), https://mjsoniauthor.com/  is the author of short stories and DEFYING APARTHEID, her part-memoir about being a doctor activist in apartheid South Africa. 

Her debut mystery, THE MASALA CHAI MYSTERY CLUB, is out in July 2026, from Crooked Lane Books.

The story follows a retired librarian and her chai-loving friends as they delve into the investigation of their despised HOA president's murder, which echoes the plot of their latest Agatha Christie book club read. It’s perfect for fans of Only Murders in the Building and Richard Osman’s The Thursday Murder Club.

Pre-Order here https://tinyurl.com/2w74j2c4  

Secretary

Louise Talotta’s career background is in Human Resources and operations management for two CT insurance companies. A UCONN grad, she also has a Business Mastery Certification from UCONN and CPC accreditation from the International Coaching Academy for life and business coaching. She is a contributing author in Coaching for Powerful Change, published in 2015 and past winner of a fiction award for a boating humor story, Toddler on Board published by Offshore Magazine.

An avid reader of cozy mysteries, she has just completed her first mystery, The Blue Fate Special, where hidden secrets come to the surface to solve the thirty-year disappearance of a local high school girl.

Louise, a native of Avon, lives with her husband Bruno, and is happily surrounded with her son and his family and nieces and nephews in near-by towns. When she isn’t writing, she is cooking and entertaining family and friends or setting up an easel painting landscapes throughout Connecticut.

Member

Judy Tierney has written two books based on her fourteen years as a "washashore" on Block Island, RI, Passing Time in Winter, Block Island Style, a memoir, and The Washashore Murders, a mystery set on the fictional Nor'easter Isle. 

Prior to writing fiction, she reported for the Block Island Times. She won two New England Press awards and one Rhode Island Press award for her work there. 

In earlier years she was a psychiatric nurse at Yale University, an environmental activist in Bethany, CT and a correspondent for a local weekly. Now she resides in West Haven,CT where she leads a quiet writing life.

Member

Katie Tietjen is an award-winning writer, teacher, and school librarian. Her debut novel Death in the Details—inspired by the real-life mother of forensic science, Frances Glessner Lee—will be published in spring 2024 by Crooked Lane Books. Two of Katie’s manuscripts won the Tassy Walden Award in 2019 and 2020. Her short story “Ivy” appeared in Seascape: The Best New England Crime Stories. A lifelong Connecticut resident, Katie loves reading, spending time with her husband and sons, and snuggling with their four pets. She is an unrepentant tea snob, but otherwise a very nice person.

Member

Greg Wands is the internationally bestselling co-author, along with Elizabeth Keenan, of three novels under the pen name E.G. Scott. Their books have been translated into a dozen languages and have been featured in Entertainment Weekly, Buzzfeed, Real Simple and InStyle. He also co-wrote the forthcoming novella, The Gimlet Slip, with Fiona Davis. Greg is based in New York City and South Salem.

Member

Tessa Wegert is the author of the Shana Merchant series of mysteries, which includes Death in the Family, The Dead Season, Dead Wind, The Kind to Kill, and Devils at the Door (12/2023). A former freelance journalist, Tessa has contributed to such publications as Forbes, The Huffington Post, Adweek, The Economist, and The Globe and Mail. Tessa grew up in Quebec and now lives with her husband and children in Coastal Connecticut, where she studies martial arts and is currently working on her next novel.

Member

Wendy Whitman has a unique background through her decades-long work as an executive and producer for Court TV and HLN, covering almost every major high-profile murder case in America. Through her knowledge of the most detailed aspects of the crimes, Ms. Whitman has become an expert on the subject of murder in America. Before attending Boston University School of Law, Whitman worked for comedians Lily Tomlin and George Carlin. After graduating from law school, the author embarked on what turned out to be a twenty-year career in television covering crime. She spent fifteen years at Court TV and another several at HLN for the Nancy Grace show, where she appeared on air as a producer/reporter covering high-profile cases. Whitman received three Telly Awards and two GLAAD nominations during her tenure at Court TV. Since turning her attention to writing, Whitman has published two crime thriller novels: Premonition and the sequel, Retribution, due to be released in 2023.

Member

After a career that included journalism, trade show management, and software consulting, Tiger Wiseman finally has time to enjoy her favourite things — cooking, reading, and writing — all while spoiling her Golden Retriever. She is currently working on a historical mystery set in 1920s New York City and centered around the residents of a boarding house.