JANUARY 14, 2021 Meeting News

SinC Monthly Meeting will be held on January 14th Due to a conflict with the Greenville Library Local Author Expo on January 7th, the Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime will hold its first meeting of the year on Thursday, January 14th. We hope you can join us when we kick of the new year with guest speaker, Amy Staton, a Law Enforcement Officer for the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources. Ms. Staton will discuss her responsibilities and the jurisdiction of DNR Law Enforcement Officer work, including her on-the-job experiences.

 

 ATTENDANCE IS FREE, BUT YOU MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE 

 To Register: CLICK HERE 

 After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting MEETING DETAILS When: January 14, 2021 Networking: 06:30 PM- 07:00 Eastern Time (US and Canada) Speaker Presentation starts promptly at 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) We will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone on-line. Recordings will be available for one month. So even if you can’t join us on January 14th, you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience. We have experienced delays with getting correct passwords, so if you can’t get in the first time, try again a few days later. 

 Any questions, contact Sally Handley, President, Upstate SC Chapter, Sisters in Crime, sally@sallyhandley.com HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Holiday Celebration!

We hope you will join us as we gather together on December 3rd. Each of you is invited to read something you've written or something you've read that you'd like to share with all of us. (4 minute limit.) We'd also encourage you to provide an update on what you've been working on over the past few months, as well as any ideas for programs you'd like to see in the coming year. ATTENDANCE IS FREE, BUT YOU MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE When: Dec 3, 2020 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada) To register for this meeting click here: REGISTER After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. In the meantime, here's wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving! Any questions, contact Sally Handley, President, Upstate SC Chapter, Sisters in Crime, sally@sallyhandley.com

NOVEMBER SPEAKER - JULIE MULHERN, AUTHOR

 

Julie Mulhern

The Upstate SC Chapter of Sisters in Crime hopes you can join us through Zoom on November 5th when Julie Mulhern, author of the Country Club Murders series, will be our guest speaker. Her humorous mystery series is set in the 1970s. Julie will discuss the challenges of writing an historical mystery in a still-remembered era, the attitudes towards women in the 70s and today, and mixing women's issues with murder.

Julie Mulhern is the USA Today bestselling author of The Country Club Murders and the Poppy Fields Adventures. She is a Kansas City native who grew up on a steady diet of Agatha Christie. She spends her spare time whipping up gourmet meals for her family, working out at the gym and finding new ways to keep her house spotlessly clean--and she's got an active imagination. Truth is--she's an expert at calling for take-out, she grumbles about walking the dog and the dust bunnies under the bed have grown into dust lions.

At Amazon

ATTENDANCE IS FREE, BUT YOU MUST REGISTER IN ADVANCE

To register for this ZOOM meeting click REGISTER.

When: November 5, 2020

Networking: 06:30 PM- 07:00  Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Speaker Presentation starts promptly at 7:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting

We will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone on-line. Recordings will be available for one month. So even if you can’t join us on November 5th, you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience. We have experienced delays with getting correct passwords, so if you can’t get in the first time, try again a few days later.

Any questions, contact Sally Handley, President, Upstate SC Chapter, Sisters in Crime, sally@sallyhandley.com

You never write alone when you have sisters!

Annette Dashofy

Hello, Sisters, Misters, and Other Folks!

Our October 1 speaker is mystery author Annette Dashofy. Annette is the USA Today best-selling author of the Agatha Award-nominated Zoe Chambers mystery series about a paramedic and deputy coroner in rural Pennsylvania’s tight-knit Vance Township. Annette is the vice president of the Pittsburgh chapter of Sisters in Crime Chapter and is on the board of directors of Pennwriters. She and her husband live on a farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania with their very spoiled cat, Kensi.

Annette’s Talk: Character Arcs and Development

 Annette Dashofy will discuss the various types of character arcs and how to create them for not only your protagonist, but for secondary characters and your villain as well. From an arc to carry you through a single scene to those that take you through a novel or an entire series, you’ll learn ideas for developing your characters and your plot.

 Her Books

   Til Death

Annette writes the Zoe Chambers mysteries, which includes Circle of Influence (finalist for the Agatha Award for Best First Novel and the David Award for Best Mystery of 2014), Lost Legacy, Bridges Burned (nominated for the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel of 2015), With A Vengeance, No Way Home (Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel of 2017), Uneasy Prey, Cry Wolf (Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel of 2018), Fair Game (Agatha nominee for Best Contemporary Novel of 2019), Under the Radar, and Til Death, the 10th in the series. 

TIL DEATH was released in June 2020.                                                                                              

“The action starts off with a bang and never lets up. Zoe's on the case, and she's a heroine you'll root for through the mystery's twists and turns--strong and bold, but vulnerable and relatable. I adore her, and you will, too!”

~ Lisa Scottoline, New York Times Bestselling Author

Meeting Details
About Zoom

We will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone on-line. Recordings will be available for one month. So even if you can’t join us on October 1st, you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience. We have experienced delays with getting correct passwords, so if you can’t get in the first time, try again a few days later.

Feel free to contact Sally Handley via email if you have any questions.

Look forward to continuing our virtual journey together. Stay safe and healthy!

September 3rd--Author Donnell Ann Bell

 Hello, Sisters, Misters and Other Folks!

Can you believe September is right around the corner? Before you begin your Labor Day weekend, I hope you will be able to join us on Thursday, September 3^rd, when our guest speaker will be Donnell Bell, author of Black Pearl, a cold case suspense novel and finalist in the Thriller Category of the 2020 Colorado Book Awards. 

Donnell’s talk, entitled The Best Writing Advice I’ve Ever Received will include the following intriguing topics:

·       Staying in the Phone Booth with the Gorilla

·       Avoiding Salt and Pepper Dialogue

·       Finding Your Own Voice

·       Goal, Motivation, and Conflict

A homebody at heart, Donnell Ann Bell concentrates on suspense that might happen in her neck of the woods – writing SUSPENSE TOO CLOSE TO HOME. The author of four Amazon romantic suspense bestsellers, her latest is a straight suspense. Black Pearl is book one in a series, and a finalist for the 2020 Colorado Book Award presented by Colorado Humanities.

In the unpublished world, Donnell is a two-time Golden Heart® finalist. In the published arena she has been nominated for The Epic Award for Best Thriller Suspense, Greater Detroit’s Booksellers Best for Best First Book and Best Single Title, the Daphne du Maurier Award, and the Holt Medallion. Donnell co-owns Crimescenewriters, an online group, in which law enforcement, forensic experts and a multitude of related professionals assist authors in getting those pesky facts right in our novels.

Winner of numerous Romance Writers of America® chapter competitions, as well as several multi-genre writing competitions, Donnell Bell is a two-time Golden Heart® finalist for RWA’s® highest competition. These accolades led to the publication of  The Past Came  Hunting and Deadly Recall.

Donnell is as at home in nonfiction as she is in fiction. She worked for a weekly business publication and a monthly parenting magazine, but prefers fictional writing compared to writing about stock portfolios or treating diaper rash. Donnell has  a background in court reporting, has worked with kids and engineers, and has volunteered for law enforcement and other organizations.

A Colorado resident for forty years, Donnell and her husband now split their time between Colorado and New Mexico. 

You can find Donnell Ann Bell on Facebook too.

MEETING DETAILS

About Zoom

We will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone on-line. Recordings will be available for one month. So even if you can’t join us on August 6th, you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience. We have experienced delays with getting correct passwords, so if you can’t get in the first time, try again a few days later.

Feel free to contact Sally Handley via email if you have any questions.

Look forward to continuing our virtual journey together. Stay safe and healthy!

August 6 - J.D. Rhoades, author

Our August 6 speaker is J.D. Rhoades, author of thirteen novels and various short stories. He will talk about the craft of writing.

J.D. Rhoades

His first novel, The Devil’s Right Hand, released in 2005, was nominated for the prestigious Shamus Award for Best First Novel. Good Day in Hell, his second novel featuring North Carolina bail bondsman Jack Keller, was released in March 2006. Safe and Sound, July 2007, also features Jack Keller. Breaking Cover, July 2008, is a standalone thriller, and was followed by Broken Shield, and Devils And Dust.

Polis Books/Amazon

His newest release, Won’t Back Down, is the sixth Jack Keller book. Keller’s violent past is very much with him, despite his efforts to leave it behind. He’s back in rural North Carolina, looking for steady work, and trying to establish a relationship with Francis, the son he never knew.

Keller’s never been one to back down, and once again, he’ll be forced to pick up the gun to defend the people he loves. This time, however, he won’t be alone, and Jack will find out that the debts of his past may never be paid in full.

About J.D.         

J.D. Rhoades was born and raised in North Carolina. He has worked as a radio news reporter, club DJ, television cameraman, ad salesman, waiter, practicing attorney, and newspaper columnist. His weekly column in the Southern Pines, North Carolina Pilot was named best column of the year in its division for 2005.

He lives, writes, and practices law in Carthage, North Carolina. Follow J.D. Rhoades on Twitter and Facebook. His blog, What Fresh Hell is This?, is about Books, Pop Culture and Political Humor.

MEETING DETAILS

About Zoom

The meeting will be online with Zoom on August 6. Sign on about 6:30, and the meeting will begin at 7. We will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone online. So even if you can’t join us on August 6th, you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience.

Scheduled Speakers

September 3 - Donnell Ann Bell, mystery / thriller author

October 1 - Annette Dashofy, mystery author

November 5 - Julie Mulhern, mystery author

July 2 Speaker - Sasscer Hill

Hello, Sisters and Misters in Crime!

 Sasscer Hill

Sasscer Hill

 We are delighted to have award-winning mystery writer Sasscer Hill  as our guest speaker on Thursday, July 2nd on Zoom.

Ms. Hill will talk to us about her latest book, Travels of Quinn, and provide some insight into the research that went into this first book in her new Quinn O'Neill Mystery Series

Sasscer Hill ( www.sasscerhill.com ) has been involved in horse racing as an amateur jockey and racehorse breeder for much of her life and sets many of her novels against a background of big money, gambling, and horse racing. Her novel, Flamingo Road, won the $10,000 Dr. Tony Ryan Best in Racing Literature award for 2018. Her other novels have garnered a Carrie McCray award and nominations for Agatha, Macavity, and Claymore awards.

Travels of Quinn

At Amazon

Abandoned by her mother, Quinn is raised into a life of crime by her father and the gypsy con artists known as Irish American Travelers.

 Though Quinn can con with the best of them, she is conflicted about her crimes. Travelers leave school by the fifth or sixth grade and many resent that Quinn has educated herself with books. Erroneously, they believe she’s a snob, like her beautiful, educated mother, who they despised.

Arrested and jailed for theft, Quinn pays restitution by working on a horse farm. Unfamiliar with horses, her love for them surprises her. They make her hope for a better world. But the farm’s owner is brutally murdered and Quinn becomes the prime suspect.

 On the run, Quinn uses every scam and con she knows to save herself. Can she find the real killer before she’s imprisoned for life or murdered because she knows too much?  A mystery-thriller of deceit, murder, greed and hope, by multiple award-winning author, Sasscer Hill.

MEETING DETAILS

About Zoom

The meeting will be on Zoom. Sign on about 6:30, and the meeting will begin at 7. We will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone online. So even if you can’t join us on July 2nd,  you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience.

Scheduled Speakers

August 6  - J.D. Rhoades, "Redneck Noir" and action thriller author
September 3 - Donnell Ann Bell, mystery / thriller author
October 1 - Annette Dashofy, mystery author
November 5 - Julie Mulhern, mystery author

June 4, Lori Rader-Day: "14 Tips for Suspense Writing"

Lori Rader-Day

Hello, Sisters, Misters and Other Folks!

We are honored to have Lori Rader-Day, National President of Sisters in Crime, as our guest speaker on Thursday, June 4th, starting at 7:00 PM. Lori will be presenting her 14 Tips for Suspense Writing when once again we meet on-line via Zoom. Additionally, Lori will share with us her vision for Sisters in Crime.

Lori is the Edgar Award-nominated and Anthony and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of The Lucky One, Under a Dark Sky, The Day I Died, Little Pretty Things, and The Black Hour. She lives in Chicago, where she is co-chair of the mystery readers’ conference Murder and Mayhem in Chicago in addition to being the national president of Sisters in Crime.

About The Lucky One

“This might well be my favorite Rader-Day so far: a brilliant premise intriguingly developed,
totally believable characters and a climax that took my breath away.”
— Ann Cleeves, New York Times bestselling author of The Shetland and Vera Series   

Lori teaches courses and workshops in creative writing, crime fiction, creative nonfiction, and strategies for writers in writing, revising, publishing, and marketing and promotion. She taught at Ball State University, Roosevelt University, Yale Writers’ Workshop, Rocky Mountain Fiction

The Lucky One

 

Writers Colorado Gold Conference, Antioch Writers’ Workshop, Chicago Writers Workshop, Midwest Writers Workshop, and StoryStudio Chicago.

About Zoom

Be sure to send me an email if you plan to participate so I can send you the link. Feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions.

Look forward to continuing our virtual journey together. Stay safe and healthy!

Best regards,

Sally Handley, President, Upstate SC Chapter, SinC

Hello, Sisters, Misters and Other Folks!

Based on the success of our lunch hour Zoom Meeting last week, we have decided to move forward with on-line meetings until we can once again meet at the Runway Café. I’m delighted to announce that Carla Damron will be our speaker on May 7th at 7:00 PM via Zoom.

Carla’s topic is Writing on the Edge: Straddling Genres. She will discuss her evolution as a writer. A clinical social worker, she's always explored social issues in her mysteries. After plunging into literary fiction and completing an MFA, she's immersed herself in two projects of literary crime fiction. She says she sometimes wishes she'd taken up crochet instead.

About Carla Damron

South Carolinian Carla Damron is author of the novel The Stone Necklace and recipient of the 2017 Women’s Fiction Writers Association Star Award for Best Novel. The book was also selected the “One Community Read” novel for Columbia SC in 2016. Carla is also the author of the Caleb  
Knowles mystery novels Keeping Silent, Spider Blue, and Death in Zooville. Her essay, “Sarah Leverette”, was published in Setting the Supper Table, 2019. Her short stories have appeared in numerous journals and she’s had op-eds published in Social Work Helper, the State Newspaper, and The Sumter Item newspaper.

To learn more about Carla you can visit:

·       Website: www.carladamron.com

·       Twitter: carlawritesfic

·       Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carladamronwrites/

 About Zoom

Next week I will be sending you the log-in information for our meeting. I will enable entry to the virtual meeting room at 6:30 so that you can chat with one another in advance of Carla’s presentation. Promptly at 7:00 PM I will start the meeting and explain the interactive capabilities of Zoom and how you will be able to ask Carla questions. Best of all, we will be recording this meeting and will make it available to everyone on-line. So even if you can’t join us on May 7th, you will still be able to watch the meeting at your convenience.

Feel free to contact me via email if you have any questions.

Look forward to continuing our virtual journey together. Stay safe and healthy!

Meeting

May 7th at 7 p.m. from the safety of home through ZOOM!

Dear Sisters, Misters and Other Folks,

I write you today with good news and bad news.

First the bad news.  After thoughtful deliberation, the Upstate SC Sisters in Crime Board of Directors has decided to postpone An Afternoon of Mystery originally scheduled for March 28th.

The good news—we definitely  plan to re-schedule the event sometime in the future. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a new date at this time.

We hope that you and your families remain healthy during this trying time, and we look forward to seeing you at this event when we re-schedule.

If there is a bright side to this, it may be that for the next few weeks we all have time to catch up on our reading. LOL!

Best regards,

Sally Handley, President, Upstate SC Chapter, Sisters in Crime

March 5 -- Mike O'Shea, Forensic Accountant and P.I.

We are fortunate to have Michael F. O’Shea as our March speaker. Mr. O’Shea is a forensic accountant and a licensed private investigator with a wide-ranging and interesting career. He has testified in both federal and state courts as an expert in forensic accounting and accounting in a number of states and in Middlesex Crown Court in the UK. He has worked for the Office of the Controller of the Currency, the FBI, the US Secret Service, and the ATF on financial matters.

Mr. O'Shea has traveled extensively servicing clients in the US, UK, France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Italy, Columbia, Dubai, and China. In addition to performing financial investigations for the Forensic Research Group, Inc., he has extensive experience with  corporate and individual due diligence and litigation support.

He attended Union College (Business Administration) and Fairleigh Dickinson University (Business / Management Accounting). He is certified as Homeland Security Level III in Accounting & Security. His professional affiliations include the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners American College of Forensic Examiners; A.L.M.I.E. (Association of Legal, Medical and Investigative Experts) in New York; Association of British Investigators; Institute of Directors (UK); and Greenville County – Court Appointed Guardian ad Litem.

MEETING DETAILS

Our monthly meeting will take place on Thursday, March 5th, at The Runway Café, 21 Airport Rd, Greenville, SC.  Be there at 6:15 p.m. to meet Mike O’Shea and enjoy chapter fellowship. Supper should be served at 6:30. Our speaker will begin after new and old business at about 7 p.m. Both dinner and the meeting are open to the public.

Please e-mail your dinner and drink order before 10 a.m. on Thursday to Ellis Vidler (click on link). This speeds service and helps us plan. The link for our special menu is located on the right-hand column listing. If you place an order and do not attend or fail to cancel by noon, you will be charged for the meal. Look forward to seeing you!

JOIN US FOR COMING EVENTS

January 2 – Ann Middleton, former FBI Special Agent

February 6 – CANCELED DUE TO INCLEMENT WEATHER

March 5 – Mike O’Shea, Forensic Accountant

March 28 - Hank Philippi Ryan, investigative reporter and award-winning mystery author, "An Afternoon Most Mysterious" at Greenville Co. Main Library. 

April  – No Meeting

May 7 – Amy Staton, a DNR Law Enforcement Officer
June 4 - Carla Damron, Author
July 2
August 6 - Sasscer Hill, Author

Author SASSCER HILL on February 6!

Meeting cancelled due to bad weather

Sasscer Hill

We are delighted to have award-winning mystery writer Sasscer Hill as our guest speaker on Thursday, February 6th. Ms. Hill will talk to us about her latest book, Travels of Quinn, and provide some insight into the research that went into this first book in her new Quinn O'Neill Mystery Series

Sasscer Hill has been involved in horse racing as an amateur jockey and racehorse breeder for much of her life and sets many of her novels against a background of big money, gambling, and horse racing. Her novel, Flamingo Road, won the $10,000 Dr. Tony Ryan Best in Racing Literature award for 2018. Her other novels have garnered a Carrie McCray award and nominations for Agatha, Macavity, and Claymore awards.

Travels of Quinn

Abandoned by her mother, Quinn is raised into a life of crime by her father and the gypsy con artists known as Irish American Travelers.

 Though Quinn can con with the best of them, she is conflicted about her crimes. Travelers leave school by the fifth or sixth grade and many resent that Quinn has educated herself with books. Erroneously, they believe she’s a snob, like her beautiful, educated mother, who they despised.

Arrested and jailed for theft, Quinn pays restitution by working on a horse farm. Unfamiliar with horses, her love for them surprises her. They make her hope for a better world. But the farm’s owner is brutally murdered and Quinn becomes the prime suspect.

 On the run, Quinn uses every scam and con she knows to save herself. Can she find the real killer before she’s imprisoned for life or murdered because she knows too much?  A mystery-thriller of deceit, murder, greed and hope, by multiple award-winning author, Sasscer Hill.

MEETING DETAILS

Our monthly meeting will take place on Thursday, February 6th at The Runway Café, 21 Airport Rd, Greenville, SC.  Be there at 6:15 p.m. to meet Sasscer Hill and enjoy chapter fellowship. Supper should be served at 6:30. Our speaker will begin after new and old business at about 7 p.m. Both dinner and the meeting are open to the public.

In order for the Runway Café to speed service, dinner orders must be emailed by 10:00 AM the day of the meeting. If you can't dine with us, we would still like to know you plan to attend so we can be sure you have a seat. If possible, please join us for dinner as our dinner orders help to ensure we can book our meeting room for free.

To see the special menu for our group, go to the Advance Order Menu on our blogspot page, make your selection and e-mail your order to Ellis Vidler no later than 10:00 am on February 6th.

If you place an order and do not attend or fail to cancel by noon, you will be charged for the meal. And like always, we'll enjoy it. Look forward to seeing you.

SCHEDULE

January 2 – Ann Middleton, former FBI Special Agent

February 6 – Sasscer Hill, Author Travels of Quinn

March 5 – Mike O’Shea, Forensic Accountant
March 28 - Author Hank Philippi Ryan, investigative reporter and award-winning mystery author at Greenville Co. Main Library

April  – No Meeting

May 7 – Amy Staton, a DNR Law Enforcement Officer