Skip to main content
header 4
HomeNewsletter


News From Sisters in Crime New England


February 2025

Hello,

 

We are barely four weeks into the new year and already the coming months are shaping up to offer a variety of activities for mystery writers and readers on all levels. We have scheduled a one-day writers’ retreat for May 3, in Orange, MA, at the Wheeler Mansion. From its pillared entrance to its garden with a labyrinth, the 1903 mansion evokes the Gilded Age in all its glory. It has enough corners, luxurious appointments, and decor to conceal dozens of corpses with all manner of weapons. We’ll post more information for the event when it’s ready.


The member surveys provided numerous requests for programs to help writers promote and market their work, and to that end Nicolette Lemmon will present a program on marketing at the end of February. This will be a zoom session, so wait for the final date and time.

 

There are several other ideas being investigated, including the possibility of visiting a sheriff’s department, something that could be useful as basic information on how things work. In addition, each New England state has a Member-at-Large (sometimes two or more) who sets up informal get-togethers for writers to share their work and get support or answers to questions. More information will come from each state’s MAL.


While we wait for these programs to come to fruition, and warmer weather to move in, I for one will be catching up on my reading. The TBR pile never seems to get shorter. Top of the pile is THE DEATH OF US by Lori Rader-Day, who is the guest of honor for Crime Bake 2025. November may seem far away but it will come up fast. What are you reading?


Susan Oleksiw




Dividing Line Thick


2025 Sisters in Crime NE Board of Directors!

 

Executive board:

Susan Oleksiw President

Nicole Asselin Vice President

Lisa Mathews Secretary

Kit Irwin Treasurer

 Jenna MacIntire Membership Director

Kate Flora Past President


Board members:

Kim Herdman Shapiro Director of Public Relations

Gabriela Stiteler Newsletter Editor

Becky Sue Epstein Program Coordinator

Leslie Wheeler Speaker’s Bureau

Judith A McIntosh Library Liason


Members-At-Large

Ellen Grogan CT

Gabriela Stiteler ME

Maureen Boyle SE. MA

Sally Milliken NE. MA

Kelly Norris Central / Western MA

Emily Arsenault Central / Western MA

Kim Herdman Shapiro NH

Joann Mead RI

Trish Esden No. VT

Karen Lakis So. VT


Monthly Meeting Reminder

 

Want to learn a little more about what upcoming events? Interested in learning more about SinC NE?

 

We welcome members at our board meetings are the first Monday of the month. You can find more information on our website here.

 

Dividing Line Thick


Hello, everyone!

 

If you’ve been following the list of panel opportunities I’ve been posting to our Featured Speakers, you’ll know that we’ve started getting requests from senior citizen organizations. This works well for us, because these events are usually held during the day, which means that authors who prefer not to drive at night, including yours truly, needn’t do so.

 

You’ll also note that we’ve added several new members to our list of Featured Speakers. They include Norman Birnbach, the co-author with Tilia Klebenov Jacobs of Stealing Time, a 2024 Claymore Top Pick at Killer Nashville, Paula de Santiago, aka Mary Ann Paul, who pens historical mysteries, Il Rugg, aka Ariel Rodman, an award-winning writer and historian, whose debut novel features two nineteenth century woman’s rights activists, and Leta Serafin, a former journalist who writes mysteries set in Greece, where she lived for many years.

 

If you’re a published author, or about to be published, and want to join the Speakers Bureau, here’s how to do it. Sign onto our website with your member name, find it on the Member Directory under “About” at the left hand top of the home page, fill in your bio, add a photo, and under “interests” write Featured Speakers. This gets you and info. about your books onto the Featured Speakers list. And once there, you’ll start receiving messages about event opportunities as they come to me from libraries and other venues. If you’re interested/available for a particular panel, you let me know, and I’ll add your name to the list of authors from which I pick the panel.

 

Now for the list:

 

What:  "Mystery Making"

When:  Wednesday, February 5 at 1:00 PM

Where:  Shirley Meadows, part of 2LifeCommunities

              27 Hospital Road

               Devens, Massachusetts 01435

Who:    Tilia Klebenov Jacobs, Bonnar Spring, and Sharon Healy-Yang will brainstorm on their feet to create a brand new mystery, using suggestions from the audience.

 

What:  “Mystery Making”

When:  Tuesday, March 11 at 6:30 PM

Where:  Norwell Public Library

              64 South Street

              Norwell, MA 02061

Who:     Authors, Katherine Fast, Connie Johnson Hambley, and Leta Serafim will brainstorm on their feet to create a brand new mystery using suggestions from the audience.

 

What:  “We’re Not Making This Up”

When:  Thursday, March 20 at 1 PM

Where:  Walpole Council for the Aging, South Street Center

               60 South Street

               Walpole, MA 02081

Who:      Jeanette de Beauvoir, Arlene Kay, and Paula de Santiago will discuss how they use real life murders and other events to write compelling mystery novels.

 

What:  “Mystery Making”

When:  Monday, April 7 @ 1 PM

Where:  Swampscott Senior Center

              200R Essex Street

              Swampscott, MA 01907

Who:  Norman Birnbach, Susan Oleksiw, and Bonnar Spring will brainstorm on their feet to create a brand new mystery, using   suggestions from the audience.

 

What:  “Mystery Making”

When:   Wednesday, March 26 at 12:30 PM

Where:   Peter A. Torigian Senior Center

               79 Central Street

               Peabody, MA 01960

Who:      Katherine Fast, Connie Johnson Hambley, and J.A. McIntosh will brainstorm on their feet to create a brand new mystery, using suggestions from the audience.

 

What:  “May Is for Murder Festival”

When:  Saturday, May 17 at 10:30 AM

Where:  Bigelow Free Public Library

              54 Walnut Street

              Clinton, MA 01510

Who:  In this mystery author festival, Katherine Fast, Max Folsom, Carol Goodman Kaufman, Toni Kelner, Karen Lakis, Frances McNamara, Leslie Meier, Maureen Milliken, Dale T. Phillips, Sarah Smith, Janet Raye Stevens, and Sharon Healy-Yang will sit at tables where they will meet and greet festival attendees, and sell signed copies of their books.

 

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

 

Leslie



SinC NE PROGRAMMING UPDATES

 

Becky Sue Epstein, the programming coordinator, and other members of the SinC board, have been hard at work organizing both virtual and in person events for the community on craft, connection, and the business of writing crime fiction.

  • FEBRUARY 25th at 7pm ONLINE How to Market Yourself as an Author: Take the first steps into proclaiming yourself as an AUTHOR, with your own individual brand, plan and persona. All Sisters in Crime members welcome! Webinar by experienced marketing maven (and SinC Grand Canyon Member) Nicolette Lemmon.
  • MAY 3rd Save the Date for an IN PERSON writing retreat at the Wheeler Mansion in Orange. More details to come!
  • As always, virtual programming is recorded and available to our members on the website.

 

What other programming are you interested in? Contact Becky Sue Epstein at becky@beckysueepstein.com to share.


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

CRIME BAKE 2025 - FEBRUARY UPDATES

 

Crime Bake 2025 Master Class Applications are open! We welcome authors, agents, editors to submit an application and proposal for a master class relating to the craft of business of writing mysteries. Past classes include things like: The Art of Violence in Fiction; Planting the Clue and Turning the Screw; Self-Publishing Made Easy; and Nitty Gritty of Giving a Book Talk for Your Novel. Do you have a successful personal brand and approach to building a readership? Have you learned important tools and tricks related to the business of writing? 

 

We'd love to hear from you.

 

More information found HERE.


AL BLANCHARD AWARD CONTEST

 

Guidelines

  • Story must be a crime story by a New England author or have a New England setting if the author is not from New England.
  • Story must be previously unpublished (in print or electronically).
  • Story must not be more than 5,000 words in length.
  • Story may include the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, and horror. (No torture/killing of children or animals.)

 Prizes


  • $100 cash award.
  • Publication in each year’s Best New England Crime Stories anthology
  • Free admission to the Crime Bake Conference
  • A handsome plaque

The submission window runs from January 15th to April 30th. Details on how to submit can be found HERE.


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

 

Crime Spell books is open for submission from January 1 through March 31 for the annual anthology, SNAKEBERRY: BEST OF NEW ENGLAND CRIME WRITING 2025. The anthology is open to all writers who currently live in the six New England states, but the stories do not need to be set in New England. Stories may be written in the following genres: mystery, thriller, suspense, caper, historical, and horror and must be between 1,000 and 5,000 words.

 

See more information about submissions at the Crime Spell website HERE.


NOIR AT THE BAR

 

Join member John Nardizzi and a cast of New England Crime Writers for an evening of crime writing and cocktails at Cafe Avellino on Thursday, February 20th. Doors open at 6:00 and readings start at 7:00. The lineup includes many Sisters Members. Readings by: Kate Flora, Connie Hambley, Tom Davidson, Bonnar Spring, Zachariah Johnson, Gabriela Stiteler, Sally Milliken, E. Chris Ambrose, Stephen D. Rogers, and Norman Birnbach.


NEW RELEASE!

 

Debra H. Goldstein’s WITH OUR BELLIES FULL AND THE FIRE DYING, is a collection of eighteen award-winning short mysteries, from cozy to dark, centering around family and friends, their sins and their sometimes redemption. The collection can be pre-ordered from the publisher now HERE for a discounted price and free shipping, but will be available from all major sources for its February 3rd release.


Tonya D. Price will present a three-hour workshop to the Women's Fiction Writers Association on Sunday, April 6, entitled “Set, Plan, Achieve: A Personal Business Plan for Writers." The workshop is an expanded version of a presentation given initially at Crime Bake in 2021. The workshop is open to the public as well as WFWA members. Registration details are available HERE.

 

Tonya D. Price’s short historical thriller short story, “Under St. Barbara’s Protection,” appeared in November. 2024 in WMG Publishing's Holiday Spectacular, an innovative online reading advent calendar. This summer, the story will also appear in WMG Publishing's print anthologyThrilling Holidays.


Clea Simon will be discussing her upcoming (March 4) psychological suspense THE BUTTERFLY TRAP on the Twisted Passages podcast, interviewed by host Marie Sutro. The podcast goes live Tuesday, Feb. 18 at  HERE.


"When the Iron is Hot," Edith Maxwell's wicked dark short story about pandemic paranoia taken a step too far, releases in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine on February 11.


Gabriela Stiteler's short story "The Cottage" will be out in Rock and Hard Place Magazine this month. She also participated in a virtual book release with authors and editors for the DARK WATERS ANTHOLOGY. You can watch HERE or purchase a copy of the anthology HERE.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

On Saturday, February 1, Leslie Wheeler will sell signed copies of her mystery novels and other books at the Winter Wonders Market at Ventfort Hall, 104 Walker Street, Lenox, MA 01240 from 10 AM to 4 PM. On Sunday, February 2, she will read from her story published in DEVIL'S SNARE: BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES 2024 the National Writers Union, Boston Chapter’s annual book party at the Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square, Cambridge, MA. Then on Saturday, April 15, she will take part in the 2025 Booklover’s Local Author Expo at the Cumberland Public Library, 1464, Diamond Hill Rd, Cumberland, RI 02864 from 11 AM to 2 PM.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Christine Bagley will appear with Avram Lavinsky and Robin Hazard Ray at Molly’s Bookstore in Melrose, MA on February 6. Two of the Sisters in Crime authors will read from their short stories in DEADLY NIGHTSHADE: BEST NEW ENGLAND CRIME STORIES and Christine will read from her new short story collection, THE MADNESS OF IDA MAE AND OTHER STORIES. Christine also appears at Jabberwocky Books on February 1, in Newburyport, MA at 5:00 p.m., and a re-scheduled appearance at York Library in York, Maine, on February 27 at 6:30 p.m. 

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Matt Cost has hunkered down in the freezing month of January and focused on writing. There have been two opportunities at podcast interviews. On January 8th, Cost was interviewed by Debbi Mack for the Crime Cafepodcast. Check it out HERE. January 23rd, Cost did an interview with the amazing duo of Sarah Burr and J.C. Kenney on the Bookish Hour. Check it out HERE. On February 5th, Cost will join fellow Maine authors Jule Selbo, Maureen Milliken, and Allison Keeton for a Mystery Making event at the Windham Public Library at 6:00 p.m. Write on!

_________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Please join me in welcoming our newest member to SinCNE:

 

Marijke Brick!

 

We have lots of fabulous benefits to being a member including speaking opportunities, programs and webinars, and writing retreats - all lined up for 2025! Keep a close eye for things here in the newsletter as well as on our webpage and within our private group on SinC LinC. And if you forgot to renew your membership, simply log into our website and renew immediately. Your login and password will still work although if your membership expired, you will only have access to the renewal functions.

 

Remember, all SinCNE members are required to maintain their membership in Sisters in Crime National. SinC National has a separate registration and payment process. Drop by their website to check on your membership status.

 https://www.sistersincrime.org

 


Sisters in Crime New England


President: Susan Oleksiw

Vice President: Nicole Asselin

Secretary: Lisa Mathews

Treasurer: Kit Irwin

Membership Director: Jenna MacIntire

 Public Relations Director: Kim Herdman Shapiro

 Program Coordinator: Becky Sue Epstein

Speakers Bureau Coordinator: Leslie Wheeler

Library Liaison: Judith McIntosh

 Newsletter Editor: Gabriela Stiteler

 Immediate Past President: Kate Flora

 

Snail Mail: c/o Sisters in Crime New England

PO Box #104, Mashpee, MA 02649-0104