Each year at Malice Domestic, writing excellence is recognized by the Agatha awards. This year’s nominees for Best First Novel are (in alphabetical order by first name): Best First Novel: Terror in Taffeta by Marla Cooper (Minotaur) Murder in G Major by Alexia Gordon (Henery Press) The Semester of Our Discontent by Cynthia Kuhn (Henery […]
by Paula Gail Benson Malice Domestic has become a wonderful homecoming for me each year. Held in late April or early May near Washington, D.C. (for the last several years in Bethesda, Maryland), it celebrates the best in the “traditional mystery,” written in the style of Agatha Christie, where the emphasis is on resolving the […]
by Paula Gail Benson Are you familiar with the new Cinderella? I mean the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical that played on Broadway from 2013 to 2015 and now is touring around the country? If you haven’t had the opportunity and get the chance, please go see it, particularly if you were enchanted by its television […]
by Paula Gail Benson Diane Vallere What do stilettos have in common with Sisters in Crime (SinC)? They are both significant factors in current national SinC President Diane Vallere’s writing life. For example, her first manuscript, Just Kidding, won the RWA Get Your Stiletto in the Door contest, then became Designer Dirty Laundry, the first […]
by Paula Gail Benson A writer never forgets the first place her work is published. The Bethlehem Writers Group, in existence since 2006, gave me that opportunity through its online publication the Bethlehem Writers Roundtable (BWR). At the end of 2012, I had recently joined the Guppy Chapter of Sisters in Crime and decided to […]
by Paula Gail Benson How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice! How do you get happily published? Submit carefully crafted writing. And, how do you ensure that your submissions are carefully crafted? Write extensively. Do you have to write every day? Some authors manage without, but I remember what happened when I […]
Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life by Paula Gail Benson I watched It’s a Wonderful Life when NBC broadcast it earlier this year. Letting myself get caught up in George Bailey’s story and Clarence Oddbody’s struggle to get his wings, I began to think about how some of our most memorable holiday stories involve a […]
Fran and Don Bush by Paula Gail Benson An author can have no greater friend than a supportive bookseller. I am fortunate to have several in my life. I especially appreciate Fran and Don Bush, who have just retired from running their brick-and-mortar Booklover’s Bookstore in Aiken, South Carolina, but are still very active in […]
by Paula Gail Benson Robert Mangeot, Fran Stewart, and PGB (Photo by Charlie Burton) My membership in Sisters in Crime has afforded me many benefits, including information, encouragement, and camaraderie. I’m particularly grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in a recent short story workshop sponsored by the Atlanta Chapter and organized by its […]
SinC Workshop Rather than transition (our monthly theme) to a new subject matter, I’m going to continue with the topic Linda Rodriguez so ably introduced on Friday: Bouchercon 2016, which took place over the last five days in New Orleans. Linda was very much a part of this special event with her participation in the […]