HAL ACKERMAN
Hal Ackerman has been on the faculty of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television for the past twenty-four years and is currently co-chair of the screenwriting program. Author website.
MIAH ARNOLD
Miah Arnold grew up in a house attached to the Three Legged Dog Saloon in rural Utah. She studied writing at the University of Houston and her stories have won awards and appeared in literary journals. She lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband, Raj Mankad, and their two children. Author website.
D.C. BROD
Deborah (Deb) Brod has written fiction most of her life, but didn’t think she had a novel in her until after she graduated from Northern Illinois University with an M.A. in journalism. Author website.
BILL CAMERON
Bill Cameron lives with his wife and a menagerie of critters in Portland, Oregon. His stories have appeared in Spinetingler, The Dunes Review, The Alsop Review. He is a member of Friends of Mystery and International Thriller Writers. Author website.
ANGELA S. CHOI
Angela S. Choi is a writer who lives in San Francisco, California, where she refuses to be anyone’s mother or hole-in-a-mattress. Born in Hong Kong, she is proficient in the art of profanity in both Cantonese and English.
REED FARREL COLEMAN
Called a hard-boiled poet by NPR‘s Maureen Corrigan, Reed Farrel Coleman is the former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America. Author website.
MARSHALL COOK
Marshall Cook is the author of 21 books, including the novels The Year of the Buffalo and Off Season. He teaches writing for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Continuing Education and edits Creativity Connection, a newsletter for writers. He lives in Madison with his wife Ellen, and their two Persian cats, Ralph and Norton. They have a son, Jeremiah.
LYDIA COOPER
Lydia Cooper is an assistant professor of American literature and has taught at universities and in community workshops. She has numerous academic publications, including peer-reviewed journals, a chapter in a book, and a book on Cormac McCarthy that was published as part of Louisiana State University Press’s Southern Writers Series.
LOREN D. ESTLEMAN
Since the appearance of his first novel in 1976, Loren D. Estleman has written more than 65 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Author website.
BETSY FRANCO
Betsy Franco is the author of over eighty books. She is the recipient of a number of awards, including the New York Public Library Notable Book award, the ALA Best Book award for Young Adults, and the Northern California Independent Booksellers Book of the Year award. Betsy is also a screenwriter and playwright, and has acted in indie films and on TV, most notably as her son James Franco’s mother on “General Hospital.” She lives in Palo Alto, California. Author website.
J. SUZANNE FRANK
J. Suzanne Frank is the author of the popular Chloe and Cheftu time travel series and the Dallas O’Connor mysteries. She published the first of her novels after completing The Writer’s Path at SMU, a program she now directs. She lives in Dallas, TX. Author website.
PETER GADOL
Peter Gadol graduated from Harvard College, edited the literary magazine The Harvard Advocate, and was for two years a fiction intern at The Atlantic. Author website.
JOHN GALLIGAN
John Galligan was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, and is now a native of Madison, Wisconsin, where he teaches college writing. Author website.
VICTOR GISCHLER
Victor Gischler is the author of 5 novels. His debut novel Gun Monkeys was nominated for the Edgar Award, and his novel Shotgun Opera was an Anthony Award finalist. Author website.
HEYWOOD GOULD
Born in the Bronx and raised in Brooklyn, Heywood Gould got his start as a reporter for the New York Post when it was still known as a pinko rag. Later, he financed years of professional and personal rejection driving cabs, assisting morticians, waxing floors, tending bar, and writing screenplays.Gould is the author of eight novels, among them Cocktail; Fort Apache, the Bronx; Double Bang; Leading Lady–a Hammett Award finalist–and The Serial Killer’s Daughter. He has written nine movies, including Cocktail; Fort Apache, the Bronx; The Boys from Brazil; Rolling Thunder; and Streets of Gold. He has also directed four films: One Good Cop, Trial by Jury, Mistrial, and Double Bang. Author website.
CAROLYN HAINES
Mystery novelist Carolyn Haines was born May 12, 1953, in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. The daughter of two journalists, she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1974 and went on to work at several newspapers in the region. Author website.
PETER BROWN HOFFMEISTER
Peter Hoffmeister is the author of Let Them Be Eaten By Bears: A Fearless Guide to Taking Young People Into the Outdoors (Perigee, 2013) and his memoir The End of Boys (Soft Skull, 2010), and is a writer for The Huffington Post, Climbing Magazine, Rock and Ice Magazine, Gripped Magazine, among others. His fiction collection, Loss, won the 2006 Oregon Literary Arts Fellowship, and his essay, “How to Break Up With Your Climbing Partner”, won the Rock and Ice National Bloggers’ Brawl. He’s been rock climbing in Yosemite for the past decade, and is a dirtbag, raft guide, teacher, and survivalist. Author website.
VICTORIA HOUSTON
In her teens and 20s, mystery author Victoria Houston was the classic hometown girl who couldn’t wait to leave her small Wisconsin town. She has not only returned to her hometown, Rhinelander, but she has based her popular mystery series in the region’s fishing culture. Author website.
LINDA JOFFE HULL
Linda Joffe Hull is a graduate of UCLA. She is a native of Saint Louis, Missouri, but currently resides in Denver, Colorado, with her husband and three children. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, where she has served in a variety of positions, including president, treasurer, and conference chair. Linda is at work on a second novel as well as the Mrs. Frugalicious mystery series. Author website.
LYNN KOSTOFF
Lynn Kostoff is a professor of English at Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina. He’s previously written A Choice of Nightmares and The Long Fall. Author website.
MICHAEL LISTER
Michael Lister is a novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright who lives in Northwest Florida. A former prison chaplain, Michael is the author of the “Blood” series featuring prison chaplain/detective, John Jordan. Author website.
MARY LOGUE
Mary Logue is an award-winning poet and mystery writer. She was born and raised in Minnesota. Her most recent books are Snatched, a middle-grade mystery she wrote with Pete Hautman; Poison Heart, her seventh crime novel; and Meticulous Attachment, her third book of poems. Author website.
CRAIG MCDONALD
Edgar®—nominee Craig McDonald is an award-winning journalist, editor and fiction writer. His short fiction has appeared in literary magazines, anthologies and several online crime fiction sites. Author website.
SCOTT O’CONNOR
Scott O’Connor lives in Los Angeles. His 2004 novella Among Wolves was praised by the Los Angeles Times Book Review for its “crisp, take-no-prisoner’s style” and hailed the author as “one to watch.” Author website.
RANDALL PEFFER
Randall Peffer is an instructor at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He is the author of the Cape Islands Mystery series, the Civil War at Sea series, and a variety of non-fiction works. Author website.
TODD ROBINSON
Todd Robinson is the creator and Chief Editor of the multi-award winning crime fiction magazine THUGLIT. His short fiction has appeared in Blood & Tacos, Plots With Guns, Needle Magazine, Shotgun Honey, Strange, Weird, and Wonderful, Out of the Gutter, Pulp Pusher, Grift, Demolition Magazine, and CrimeFactory. His writing has been nominated for a Derringer Award, short-listed for Best American Mystery Stories, selected for Writers Digest’s Year’s Best Writing 2003 and won the inaugural Bullet Award in June 2011. Author website.
JEFF SHELBY
Jeff Shelby is the author of the Noah Braddock novels, a high school English teacher, a basketball coach, and a dad. He is a connoisseur of sandwiches and hamburgers. Author website.
NATHAN SINGER
Nathan Singer is a novelist, playwright, composer, and experimental performing artist from Cincinnati, Ohio. He is the author of A Prayer for Dawn, Chasing the Wolf, and In the Light of You. Author website.
ROBERT WARD
A native of Baltimore, Robert Ward has worked as a novelist, professor, screenwriter, producer and actor. His first effort was the critically acclaimed novel Shedding Skin, which won the National Endowment of the Arts award for first novel of exceptional merit. Author website.