Criminal

Tendencies

Upcoming Meetings

September 10
October 1
November 5

President’s Message

Bouchercon, ho!

Sitting at my laptop in Annapolis where it’s ninety degrees in the shade, I find myself looking forward to the cooler temperatures September brings, and to Bouchercon, the World Mystery Conference, September 1 – 4 in Chicago. Sisters in Crime national has a wonderful luncheon planned for Friday, Sept. 2 at 12:30 p.m. in the Signature Room, located atop the John Hancock Center. The restaurant offers a postcard-perfect Chicago view – even from the ladies room! – and it's the place Chicagoans take their out-of-town friends to impress them. Sign up by August 26 at: http://www.sistersincrime.org/events.htm.

And speaking of National, Chesapeake Chapter, on behalf of Sisters in Crime National, has reserved a booth for Book Expo America, popularly known as BEA, which will be held in D.C. May 19 - 21, 2006. Our booth will be 10 x 10 and on the main floor of the new Washington D.C. Convention Center. Sisters in Crime from across the country will be meeting publishers, booksellers, librarians and other industry professionals while signing books in the SinC booth. The extensive exhibits are closed to the public, and badges cost $50 each, so if you want to get in “free,” sign up now as a volunteer!

Chesapeake Crimes II, with wonderful short stories by chapter members, is now available from Quiet Storm! See page 5 for details.

Welcome to two new officers! Since our July meeting, Lee Mewshaw has taken over the duties of chapter treasurer, and Mary Nelson will be our new “location maven.” Former treasurer Sandy Balintfy (thank you, Sandy!) will continue to be the contact person for luncheon registrations.

Lost the latest issue of “Criminal Tendencies?” Want to know who’s speaking at the next meeting? Need directions to the restaurant? Want to contact someone? Just visit our chapter website. Since hiring a professional webmaven, we have a new look. Check it out at:
www.chessiechapter.org.

Please join us on September 10 to hear attorney and Chessie Chapter member Judith O'Sullivan. Judith is with the Domestic Security Section of the Criminal Division at the U.S. Department of Justice and has worked on several fascinating cases, including Operation Pisces, a three-year investigation of a nationwide employee-leasing conspiracy that used hundreds of illegal aliens at farms, dairies and factories in the United States.

See you then!

Marcia Talley
President
marcia@marciatalley.com

Prosecutor to tackle the lighter side of crime

In April, Chessie chapter members were treated to a talk by Patrick Hyde, who explored the life of a defense attorney. At the next meeting, on September 10th, members will get the inside scoop from a lawyer on the other side of the aisle when federal prosecutor Judith O’Sullivan will take the podium.

Judith is a trial attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), where she’s worked for nearly a decade. Judith’s job often takes her on the road, prosecuting cases involving alien smuggling (she goes after those who profit off it) and violent crimes on federal property. But since she’s barred by both legal ethics and DOJ policy from discussing her cases, Judith plans to discuss “the lighter side of crime” at the meeting.

“I can provide observations on the criminal mind from someone with no psychological training but years of looking at people,” she said. “I can talk about the tenacity of the sociopath.”

Tenacity is something Judith knows firsthand. After earning a PhD in art history and working 25 years as a museum administrator at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, Judith decided it was time to tackle a second career. So at the age of 49, she entered Georgetown Law School.

“I wanted to be a prosecutor,” she said, likening the work to mysteries. “Mystery novels offer a sense of justice. And it seemed to me that writing wrongs would be a noble calling.”

Judith would have liked to pursue that calling straight out of college, but in the early 1960s, law schools only had a few token spots for women, she said. “There were no women lawyers, for all intents and purposes. It wasn’t a viable career path.”

Perhaps because of her inability to follow her heart early on, Judith has become a strong advocate for women helping women. She never buys books written by men.

“I have a limited amount of money and time, and I want to support women,” she said. “That’s not to say I haven’t read John Grisham, but I’m not buying his books. I like to support the sisterhood.”

Judith’s favorite authors include M.C. Beaton, Elaine Viets and J.A. Jance. “I like her stand-alones particularly,” she said of Jance. “She captures sociopaths like no one else.”

Judith also is a big fan of funny books, and the lack of humor in most legal thrillers turns her off. Instead of focusing on the humor of situations, many legal novels concentrate on procedure, which Judith finds boring.

“Be careful when you write about lawyers,” she warns, “because 99 percent of what lawyers do is tedious.”

One reason legal-fiction authors like John Grisham are successful, Judith said, is they avoid procedure, focusing instead on character and over-the-top situations. That’s what readers want, she said.

“What makes courtroom scenes interesting are the characters, not the procedure.”

Judith, a chapter member, is in the midst of writing her own series about a law student, Miss Lemon. Avoiding the trend of writing about women in their 20s, Judith’s character is in her ‘50s, with graying hair and the need to be addressed with the “Miss” in front of her name, a la Miss Marple. Like Judith, Miss Lemon has retired after a long first career (Miss Lemon’s as a librarian) and is now pursuing a second calling in the law. But unlike Judith, Miss Lemon tends to find dead bodies.

“I chose to make her in her ‘50s on purpose,” she said. “I think it will be a selling point. The reading market is aging. [Chapter member] Pat Harmon is having incredible success with her series about a librarian in her ’60s. I think one reason why Noreen [Wald, chapter member and president of the Mid-Atlantic chapter of Mystery Writers of America] is having so much success with her current series is because of the age of her protagonist,” a female amateur sleuth also in her ‘60s.

Avoiding the typical writing path of trying to find an agent and publisher for your first novel before starting the next one, Judith plans to write three Miss Lemon books before she tries to sell them. She’s now working on number two.

“I want to have everything finished before I start” trying to sell, she said. “There’s nothing worse than having a book contract for a book you haven’t started. I want to be in the take-it-or-leave-it situation.”

Judith has had publishing success in the non-fiction market, with six history books under her belt. She’s proud to say they’re all hard cover, and she worries how other women have difficulty obtaining the same success.

“I’m astonished how women can’t get hard-cover deals. Men do,” she said, indicating that perhaps part of the reason is women have come to expect less. “Women are so grateful [just to be published at all]. We shouldn’t be. It implies subservience. I’ve never heard a male writer be grateful.”

That said, Judith recognizes that living anywhere other than New York makes it more difficult to get published because of the lack of potential face-to-face contact with those in the publishing industry. “As my husband says, ‘It’s hard to have an affair with someone you never met.’”

It’s one reason she’s glad groups like Sisters In Crime exists, and why she’ll be happy to share her insights at the September meeting. “We need to band together.”

Interested in writing legal novels or courtroom scenes? Judith offers these tips:

Get firsthand knowledge. “Go to the Eastern District of Virginia [federal court] to observe a trial and see what a courtroom really is like. Certain courtroom behavior is ritualized. In the EDVA, you’re not allowed to move away from the podium. And as a prosecutor, you’re not supposed to incite the jurors’ emotions. That would be grounds for a mistrial. Concentrate on the crime itself.” Remember that prosecutors have discretion. “Ninety-eight percent of cases never go to trial. Most people plead. And a significant number of cases are rejected for prosecution. Just because a police officer or [FBI] agent wants to prosecute a case doesn’t mean a prosecutor has to do it. A winnowing process occurs. You can only do one case at a time, so you don’t take on cases where … there are evidentiary problems or if you think the person is innocent. Commonsense must prevail.”

A person who represents him- or herself makes for interesting reading. “I love a pro se defendant. It really tests your knowledge of the law, because people who represent themselves are reading the law for the first time. And they come up with ingenious arguments. It makes you really think.”

Chapter banks on experience: Lee Mewshaw named next treasurer

It’s always nice to have a banker in the family, especially when looking for a new treasurer.

Lee Mewshaw has financial know-how and more. She was the chapter’s original treasurer and is delighted to take on the role again.

“I have 24 years banking experience,” Lee said. “I’ve been away from it for ten years. It will be interesting to get back involved in the financial side of an organization again.”

Lee is one of the original founding members of the Chessie Chapter. After serving two years as the chapter’s first treasurer in the early 1990s, she served five years as the chapter’s merchandising chairperson, and also served a stint as chapter vice-president.

After a while, Lee became too busy to be an officer, but the desire to participate kept her coming to meetings semi-regularly. And now that she has an author in the family (niece Charlotte, 13, is a budding mystery writer), Lee decided to jump back into officership.

“Charlotte’s interest [in the chapter] has peaked my interest all over again,” Lee said. “It’s fun to take her to the meetings.”

Unlike her niece, Lee isn’t a mystery author. But she is a self-described “big-time fan.”

“I like books with a lot of humor, a good plot and good character development. Donna Andrews’ books epitomize what I look for. Elizabeth Peters’ books, too.”

During the days, Lee works at Universities Space Research Association as a visitor and meeting coordinator. She thinks the skills she’s developed for the job may be a big help in her position of treasurer, since she may need to get others to do things or provide information, and, as Lee proudly said, “I’m a very good nagger.”

Have Map Will Travel. Mary Nelson is New Location Maven

Rockville’s That’s Amore. Nice restaurant. The Howard County library. Good meeting place for northeastern Montgomery County and Baltimore-area folks. Our regular Virginia meeting spot. It’s … non-existent.

Mary Nelson wants to change that. She recently volunteered to be the chapter’s new location maven, taking over the job vacated in May by member Rochelle Weidner. Contemplating her new duties, Mary relishes the chance to make an impact.

“I wanted to support the organization, and since no one else had stepped up to take this position, I did,” Mary said. “I felt it would be a good way to pull my weight.”

While satisfied with our regular meeting places, Mary’s hoping to broaden the number of places the chapter could meet. “I want to find a close-in place in Virginia. And maybe one in D.C. The issue is finding places that are viable.”

Keeping luncheon prices low and parking availability abundant may make it hard to find a plethora of new meeting places, so Mary plans to think creatively. She’s already considering whether American University would work. “It’s near a subway, and I think it might be easy to find parking on Saturday. I’ll have to look into it further.”

Once Mary has accumulated a list of several possible meeting sites, she plans to see what the chapter board members think. Mary’s grateful she has time to settle into her new duties. Meeting sites are already planned through October.

“This will be a brand new experience for me, because I’ve never done anything like this,” she said. “I’ve never planned a wedding or any large event. But I’m eager to start.”

She expects she’ll continue the chapter’s course of meeting at restaurants with a continental menu – or catering in such food. While Mary likes ethnic food, she realizes not everyone does.

“If it works, don’t break it,” Mary said. “I don’t want the food to get in the way and discourage someone from coming to a meeting.”

Mary’s been attending chapter meetings for about four years. She started out as a mystery fan but has since become a writer. Her first short story, “Smart Enough,” appears in the recently published Chesapeake Crimes II under Mary’s pen name, Goodie Cantwell, which combines her childhood nickname and her maiden surname. Mary also is revising her first mystery novel, a cozy about a suburban widow who stumbles upon a dead neighbor while walking her dog near the Potomac River.

“I started writing because I began having a hard time reading.” After the death of her husband, journalist Lars-Erik Nelson, in 2000, Mary found that “my concentration was blown. I started the book as grief writing. Finishing it has been hard, because it feels like I’d be putting this period of grief aside and starting something new.”

Thankfully, Mary has regained her ability to read for pleasure, delighting in the books of Carolyn Hart and Margaret Maron. She also likes to sample new authors – both those new to the field and those unknown to her. “I like American settings and female authors to help me with my own writing.”

Mary set her first book in Bethesda, her home, following the advice to write what you know. But she’s considering setting future books in Europe, where she’s also lived. During the 1960s and ‘70s, Mary and her family spent time in Moscow, Prague, London and Hov, Sweden. She still annually returns to Sweden, where she has a family home.

When not traveling, Mary works days as a computer programmer at American University and spends her evenings and weekends with family and working on her writing. Practicing this craft has helped her not just with her grief, but it’s also helped her learn more about herself.

“My short stories are pretty dark,” she said. “Sometimes I write things that show a side of me I didn’t even know I had.”

She’s hoping to explore more new sides of herself over the coming years, and she thanks the Chesapeake Chapter in part for her ability to do so.

“It’s a good organization. Very helpful,” she said. “So I’m eager to help out myself through this new position.”

Anthology News

The chapter’s second mystery anthology, Chesapeake Crimes II, came out in early July, and publisher Quiet Storm Publishing is “really pleased” with the sales so far.

“Sales are doing pretty well,” Quiet Storm President Clint Gaige said in an interview in early August. The book was among Quiet Storm’s top five sellers in July, perhaps the top three, Gaige said. Orders have come from as far as California, Texas, Florida and North Carolina, as well as from the D.C. area.

If you can’t find the anthology on the shelves of your local bookstore, you can purchase it through online booksellers as well as from the Quiet Storm website. Also, local bookstores can order it for you.

The first Chesapeake Crimes anthology, which was published in the spring of 2004, moved a little faster at first, Gaige said. Those orders were largely fueled by sales at the Malice Domestic conference in late April of that year, he said. Considering the lack of a coinciding conference, sales of Chesapeake Crimes II are “doing very well,” he said.

The anthology has received a wonderful review by Midwest Book Review. It said, in part, “Each story in this book works its own magic, as every author pens their style and talent with excellence. Each story unique, yet brimming with the familiar mystery you anticipated, you will find yourself turning the pages in anticipation and delight. Believe me, you will not be disappointed. More than a great read, many great reads all wrapped up in one. Outstanding, thank you authors for sharing your talent with a hungry audience that will devour every morsel with joy.”

Gaige is hoping to get more great reviews by sending out additional copies to reviewers now that the book is out. About twenty advance-review copies went out. The authors of Chesapeake Crimes II are now working to schedule several local book singings, including at an upcoming Chessie Chapter meeting.

An interesting note, Gaige said, is that the publication of Chesapeake Crimes II seems to have spawned sales of the first Chesapeake Crimes, which came out in paperback in June. “Chesapeake Crimes I had seen a two-month dip in sales,” Gaige said. “Chesapeake Crimes II came out, and now I’s sales have jumped right back up.” Chesapeake Crimes was Quiet Storm’s best seller in 2004.

Seven minutes in writers’ heaven

A federal intern trying to hunt out a crime. A former CIA operative hiding out in her hometown. And a murder at a mystery conference. If you attended June’s meeting, you got to hear seven minutes’ worth of novels or short stories addressing these topics and more during the chapter’s first open reading.

The following ten chapter members read from their works at the meeting: Trish Carrico, Karen Diegmueller, Julia Frank, Jack French, Barb Goffman, Debbi Mack, Rosemary and Larry Mild, Carolyn Mulford and Heidi Roosa.

Chapter member Verna Suit ran the meeting, and she had the following recollections:

“As moderator and audience member of our chapter's first-ever ‘reading,’ I thought it was a great success. To fulfill my timekeeping duties, I brought along my kitchen timer so I could set it to buzz at the end of seven minutes and devote my full attention to listening instead of keeping one eye on the clock. It worked! I was enrapt as the rest of the audience. During every reading, we all allowed ourselves to be thoroughly transported into the world of the story we were hearing. The room was so quiet any little accidental crinkle sounded like an explosion.

“Some of the readers were already-published mystery writers, some were seeing their first mystery published in Chesapeake Crimes II, and some were still in the hopeful stage. We heard whole stories and parts of novels. In each case, we became intimately acquainted with the fictional world of fellow Sisters in Crime whom we'd previously only chatted with over lunch. We now know them not only as amiable lunch companions but also as serious mystery writers and are rooting for their success.

“This was our first reading of any sort. In the past, published authors have often talked to us about their work but have never simply read to us from their books. Maybe that’s something we should consider changing in the future. What better way to get a taste of a person’s writing and decide if we want more?”

Member News

Two chapter members will be vying for Anthony awards at the Bouchercon convention next month. Laura Lippman’s By A Spider’s Thread has been nominated for best novel published in 2004, and Elaine Viets’ short story “Wedding Knife,” from the chapter’s first Chesapeake Crimes anthology, is nominated for best short story. Viets won an Agatha Award for the same story in April.

Elaine’s and Laura’s newest novels also are finding many fans. Elaine’s Just Murdered ranked first in May paperback sales from bookstores that are members of The Independent Mystery Booksellers Association (IMBA). And Laura’s To the Power of Three ranked 10th in IMBA member stores’ hardcover sales for July.

G.M. Malliet also has met much success recently. Her unpublished book, Dead
Perfect, came in second in the mainstream mystery/suspense category of the 2005 Daphne du Maurier Contest, run by Romance Writers of America (RWA). G.M. also has finaled with the same manuscript in RWA’s The Sheila 2005 Writing Competition (Chick Lit Category). Dead Perfect involves amateur sleuth Laurie Maine, who risks all to learn who polished off the world’s most famous lifestyle guru.

Marcia Talley's fifth Hannah Ives adventure, This Enemy Town (Morrow/Avon) is scheduled to hit bookstores on August 30. Marcia plans to appear at the St. Hilda's Crime and Mystery weekend in Oxford, UK and at Bouchercon in Chicago, but the official launch for her new novel is at 7 p.m., Thursday, September 15 at the Barnes and Noble in Annapolis Harbour Center. The paperback edition of her collaborative serial novel, I’d Kill For That, is also now available.

Marcia is expected back at that Annapolis Barnes and Noble on September 30 as part of a Seven Deadly Dames panel/book signing. Other chapter members who scheduled to participate in this event are Donna Andrews, Laura Durham, Chris Freeburn, Maria Lima, Marcia Talley and Noreen Wald (writing as Nora Charles). Donna has recently appeared at other local signings, too, including one at Waldenbooks in Fair Oaks Mall in Fairfax.

More Kudos for Marcia Talley. The Cultural Arts Foundation of Anne Arundel County, MD plans to honor Marcia on September 13 with the 2005 Annie Award for Literary Arts.

Maureen Robb's first mystery novel, Patterns in Silicon, was published in April. The book introduces Lea Sherwood, chef-owner of a San Francisco restaurant, and is the first of three in a series under contract. Maureen recently returned from a book tour in California. Her personal essay on how she came to write the book (about a Silicon Valley CEO who is murdered) appears in the Summer issue of Mystery Scene magazine, and her interview with Patricia Sprinkle is scheduled to appear in the next issue of crimespree magazine.

Ellen Byerrum appeared on Elizabeth Foxwell’s “It's a Mystery” radio show in August. The show can be heard Mondays at 11 a.m. on radio station WEBR as well as on the Internet. One of Ellen’s plays also will be produced next month. Details can be found in the Member Spotlight article on page 8.

Jack French made the front page of the Senior Beacon newspaper earlier this month. The paper aimed at D.C.-area folks older than 50 highlighted Jack and his book Private Eye-Lashes: Radio’s Lady Detectives. Jack received an Agatha Award in May for the book, which was named best non-fiction mystery book published in 2004.

Several chapter authors are scheduled to appear on panels and sign their books at the upcoming Bouchercon conference in Chicago, including Donna Andrews, Ellen Byerrum, Laura Lippman, Debbi Mack, Maureen Robb, Marcia Talley and Elaine Viets.

Member Spotlight: Ellen Byerrum

Published author, playwright, reporter. Some people dream of being just one of these. Chapter member Ellen Byerrum has achieved all three.

She’s now writing the fourth book in her A Crime of Fashion series, with the third one, Hostile Makeover, having just hit bookstore shelves. The medium-boiled series features fashion reporter Lacey Smithsonian, who tackles bad styles and bad guys in Washington, D.C.

“When I wrote my first book,” Ellen said, “I’d read so many mysteries with female characters who were smart and could fight bad guys, but they didn’t know how to dress. That just drove me crazy. I wanted a character who enjoyed being a female. I wanted Lacey to be fun and to be figuring things out through her unique femaleness.”

Ellen worried that her different approach to a female protagonist would make it harder to market the book. “I kept thinking, ‘Oh my God. My mystery isn’t like anybody else’s. But there’s a level you get to in your writing that you have to let go of worries of what will sell and listen to that inner voice.”

And that inner voice has done her well. Ellen got a three-book deal for her first novel, Killer Hair, and she and her publisher soon agreed to expand the series to five. Her mysteries also have been translated into Italian and Russian, with a Chinese version on the way.

Ellen credits her success in part to her the skills she’s gained from working as journalist and playwright. For her day job, Ellen works at BNA (the Bureau of National Affairs), covering the Occupational and Health Safety Administration. “I learn about the terrible ways people die on the job.

“Being a journalist helps you be a good listener, because you’re always looking for the good quote. That helps you with characterization – giving each character a different voice,” she said.

“Play writing helps with dialogue and to shape a rising action. You look for an arc for every chapter. Play writing also helps you cut out wasting-time dialogue, and to cut to the more dramatic parts. The first book I ever wrote was published, and I don’t know if I would’ve been able to accomplish that if didn’t write plays.”

She’s written about a dozen, and most have been published. In September, a theater in Orlando, Florida will produce Ellen’s detective-comedy play “A Gumshoe Rendezvous.” It was inspired by her experiences while training to become a registered private investigator in Virginia.

She took the two-week PI class for research purposes while she was between jobs, and she and her classmates were not the most adept. “We had to go through remedial surveillance,” she said. “It was hilarious.”

All of Ellen’s plays have been published under a male pseudonym, Eliot Byerrum, which she thinks has helped them get produced.

“In the beginning I wrote under my own name, then I changed to Eliot, and I did better,” she said. “If you have a man’s name on a play, people have no preconceived ideas. But with a woman’s name, people think, ‘Oh, it’s a woman’s show.’”

To quantify her theory that men were more successful in the play writing business than women, Ellen conducted a test. “I’d buy The New York Times and Vanity Fair every week. I’d use blue and pink highlighters to see who wrote plays. On a good year, it was ten to one, men to women. Usually it’s ten to zero. Off-Broadway, maybe seven to three. I counted blue versus pink, and the blue won hands down.”

“It’s so hard being a playwright. There are so few theaters. The opportunities are very limited. It was easier for me to get a three-book deal than it was to get a play produced. Play writing feels like warm sunshine raining down on you, but it’s ludicrously hard to get anywhere.”

When she switched to writing mysteries six years ago, Ellen decided to seek publication under her own name. “I just want people to buy my work, so I went for what was more advantageous. Women are voracious mystery readers. Besides, my books are very girlie, so ‘Ellen’ was fine for that.”

In keeping with the female theme, Ellen has joined the Mystery Chicks, a group of chick-lit mystery writers, including chapter member Laura Durham, who do joint promotions. “I don’t do as much PR as other people. Some mystery writers are Olympic self-promoters. I’m in awe of them,” she said. “Promoting takes time away from the writing. It’s hard to achieve a balance. So it’s good to join hands.”

In September Ellen will join hands with SinC Chessie Chapter President Marcia Talley and Mid-Atlantic Mystery Writers of America (MWA) President Noreen Wald. All three will speak at the MWA meeting about their newest books. In the meanwhile, Ellen will be concentrating on finishing her fourth book, which she’s hoping will be named “Raiders of the Lost Corset.” But she’s also thinking about the future.

“I want to write a thriller. I have the characters, and I’ve started the writing a little bit.” She’s chosen all the characters’ names from a graveyard in Vermont. “And I want to finish a children’s play for adults. It’s like Sondheim’s ‘Into The Woods.’ It’s about the nature of evil and innocence. I would love to get back to that one.”

Ellen offers the following tips for her fellow fiction authors:

When writing dialogue, aim for louder, funnier, faster. “Don’t repeat chit chat. Don’t use full sentences. Be active. Make sure the dialogue moves the scene forward.”

If having problems with dialogue, try a play writing class, such as those offered through The Playwright’s Forum in D.C.

Train to be a PI. “The background helps make things more real in my writing. You learn a lot about the Constitution, about what you can and can’t do. I recommend it for anyone who wants to have a good time. It was a hoot.”

Don’t sweat the small stuff. “If you’re writing a book and also have a full-time job, get a housekeeper. It keeps you from getting hysterical about your house or apartment. That’s critical for me to keep writing, not stressing over the minor stuff, like housekeeping.”

Remember, even published authors struggle. “I didn’t know how much dedication it would take to keep doing this. It doesn’t get any easier for me with each book, because each one has a different tone.”

Attend more mystery writers’ events. “Mystery writers are friendly and jolly and very supportive. They’re a really nice community of writers. It’s kind of like coming home at the end of the day.”

Mystery Events Near and Far

The Mid-Atlantic chapter of Mystery Writers of America (MWA) will have a panel with three local authors, all Chessie Chapter members, at its next meeting, September 13. Ellen Byerrum, Marica Talley and Noreen Wald all will discuss their recent books. For more information about this MWA event, email Bonner Menking at meetings@mwa-ma.org.

The University of Maryland library system plans to host an exhibit on Nancy Drew books from September 1 through December 24 and has scheduled a symposium on the subject for October 7. The events are open to the public. More details are available at http://www.lib.umd.edu/groups/pr/prcalendar.html.

The Sisters In Crime Cochise County, Arizona Chapter will hold its second-annual book fair on Saturday, March 25, 2006, featuring authors of mysteries and suspense aimed at adults or children. The event will be held at the Windemere Hotel and Conference Center in Sierra Vista, Arizona. The southern Arizona chapter hopes to have about 50 authors attend, each of whom will have the opportunity to speak on panels moderated by chapter members. Book signings will follow.

The chapter also plans to run a mystery-writing contest for local middle- and high-school students, which may draw in buyers of children’s books to the fair, too.

Authors interested in participating can obtain additional information at www.clik.to/sistersincrime. For follow-up information, contact the chapter president, Rebecca P. Dahlke, at rebeccadahlke@yahoo.com.

To lessen the cost of traveling to the book fair, the SinC chapter is offering out-of-town authors the chance to stay with chapter members in their homes on a first-come first-served basis.

Next Chessie Chapter Meeting

The next Chessie Chapter meeting will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 10 at That’s Amore in Rockville. Judith O’Sullivan will be the featured speaker, as detailed earlier in this issue.

The restaurant is located at 1699 Rockville Pike. Directions are included on the reservation sheet.

Please send reservations to:
Sandy Balintfy
3333 University Blvd. W #212
Kensington, MD
20895-1833

Please mail your reservation and check in time for it to be received by Wednesday, September 7th. No refunds after that date. In a pinch, you can leave Sandy a message that you plan to attend and pay at the door by calling 301-949-6446.

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