- Mystery subgenre categories – Classic, True Crime, Amateur Sleuth, Suspense/Thriller, Private Eye, Police Procedural, Historical, S-F/Fantasy and Young Adult.
- New in 2021 – “Getting to know the Author” Spotlights We’re setting aside a time to meet our members up close and personal. Thursdays in June and July at 2 and/or 7 p.m., we’ll be hosting thirty minute Zoom interviews. Do you have questions you’d like to ask authors? Are you intrigued by how mysteries are constructed or how writers balance family and day job and still have time to write? Want to know more about mystery, writing, editing, finding agents, paths to publication? Look no further. Our members cover the spectrum from traditionally published, self-published to not-yet-published and they are happy to share their hard-earned knowledge. Look here for names and dates. Information for joining will be in our facebook the week before each program. Members may choose a time to sign up by Email to Fedora@FedoraAmis.com
- Summer 2021 Sisters in Crime Spotlights
- June 3 2: 00 p.m. Laine Boyd. “Killing people tastefully.” (Classic Mystery) Video is now up!
- June 10 2:00 P.M. Charlotte Ekker Wiggins. Beekeeping expert and author of three reference books is ready to launch into beekeeping murder mysteries. (True Crime)
- June 17 2 p.m. Mary Kate Mandeville. Travel maniac, Mary Kate Mandeville heats up Great Lake’s cozy tourist spots with mystery and mayhem. (Amateur Sleuth)
- June 24
- Chapter Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Make Goodreads Work for You with Goodreads Librarian Diane K. Peterson
- July 1 2:00 p.m. Laura Stewart Schmidt. Inspired by good books for bad children, Laura is writing her own for YA and adults. (Suspense/Thriller).
- July 8 2:00 p.m. Gary Miller. Colorful characters live in Gary’s novels, poems, and short stories. (Private Eye)
- July 15 2:00 p.m. Jo Allison author of fictional history and historical nonfiction, most of it centered in St. Louis. (Historical)
- July 22 2:00 p.m. Debra Walden Davis author of new book, Went for a Ride. (Police Procedural)
- Chapter Meeting at 7:00 p.m. Spotlight Interview Wrap Up
- TUESDAY JULY 27 at 7:00 p.m. President Fedora Amis will moderate cozy mystery panel with Lynn Cahoon, Maria DiRico, and Gabby Allen.
- Left Bank Books Facebook Live.
- July 28 2:00 p.m. Rebecca Young interviews Fedora Amis. This is not only futuristic, it is the most ancient. Remember Aesop? (Science Fiction/Fantasy)
- July 29 2:00 p.m. Sarahlynn Lester “Late at night, when everyone else sleeps, I write.” (YA Mystery)
- Interviews will be conducted by President Fedora Amis, author of historical whodunits with a touch of humor
Category: Past Events
SinC loves its meetings and social events. See what fun we have!
Making Goodreads Work for You
- Our June 24th, 2021 speaker, Diane K Peterson from Columbia, Missouri is a Goodreads librarian and ambassador. A member since 2011, her collection includes 26412 books and her list of friends is 2107 and growing. All of the books she owns (print and ebooks) are cataloged and she updates regularly on Goodreads to show what she is currently reading. Diane has participated in the yearly reading challenge for the past five years.
- One of Diane’s current projects is to help readers learn to use all of the great features of Goodreads. She teaches online classes and is happy to assist authors with any problems such as adding books in a series, something the author cannot do without help. Readers with questions about using Goodreads are welcome to contact her. Google at Goodreads Dianekpeterson
- You can view the meeting in the Zoom cloud using this link
- https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/Uu6ZaCRdSfCqDjF4jJ0S-oi2L1hkf6TPoOX5GAxUzkJ8YOXld8GCOilJCDU-_ni9.KUGbQr_X1SY1V0wJ Passcode: wWZ4Dt*b
Crime Scene Cleaner Wows People across the U.S. and Canada
- April 22, 2021. 7-9 p.m., Central Time Zoom.
- All about crime scene cleaning with our Texas-Based speaker, Erick McCallum, founder and CEO of https://www.cleaningguys.com We threw this exceptional meeting open to all who would like a glimpse into the good, the bad, and the ugly of the aftermath of crime.
- Ex policeman McCallum turned a carpet cleaning business into a multi-million dollar empire complete with franchisees in states from Texas to Missouri. He holds patents for equipment he has invented himself, machines powerful enough to suck up tons of rotten fish when a lake overflowed into a stream–which dried up–and left a huge mess on a golf course. He explained their protective measures and told us all about cool, warm, and hot zones. People from all across the U.S. and Canada were spellbound for an hour.
Tone and Tighten
- Thursday March 25, 2021 from 7-9 p.m. Founder of My Two Cents, editor Meghan Pinson’s interactive workshop:
- Tighten and Tone for Novelists
- Learn how to find and fix the flabby parts of your writing. In the first half of class, we’ll identify the most common types of flab and talk about why they’re so boring. In the second half, we’ll workshop a work in progress and make it lean & strong. Bring paper & pens or laptops — come ready to rewrite!
Christmas Cracker Killing
- A Christmas to Die for
- Sisters in Crime 2020 Virtual Holiday Mystery Party on December 19, 2020
- Sarahlynn, Paul, Fedora, Gary, John, Janet, Linda, Mary, and Mary Lou had a fabulous time discovering the virtual killer of the cracker factory nabob.
- Paula Kracker – Socialite and wife of the deceased. (Sarahlynn)
- Still trying to act as the perfect host despite her recent loss, Paula has an eye for fashion and has picked the most fabulous jewelry to make the most of her “mourning” black number.
- Phil Stockins – Columnist for International Geographical. (John)
- Eloquent and persuasive, Phil is a remarkable wordsmith who knows how to dress well for a dinner party and looks extremely dapper.
- Gaye Garland – Interior Designer (Janet)
- With an eye for colour and texture, Gaye is pleasing on the eye and her accessories are exceptionally coordinated.
- Rudolph Snose – Wine Merchant (Gary)
- Full of bon viveur as well as Beaujolais, Rudolph may have austere taste in clothing – but he really goes to town on his ties.
- Holly Sprig – Racehorse breeder (Mary)
- With refreshing country style, Holly has an attractive figure whatever she wears, but really brushes up well when invited out.
- Frankie Incense – Musical Conductor. (Fedora)
- Used to wearing conductor’s tails, Frankie dresses incredibly formally for any dinner gathering – and looks extremely chic because of it.
- Candy Cane – Actress (Laine)
- Desirable and delectable in anything she wears, Candy looks almost good enough to eat.
- Robin Redbreast – Retired MI6 operative. (Paul)
- Still suave and sophisticated, Robin just loves his electronic gadgets.
- Dee Coration – Wedding Planner (Mary Lou)
- With a handbag that contains every conceivable item – Dee is a woman with means, and a fabulous sense of style.
- Sy Lentnite – Merchant Navy Captain. (Linda)
- With nautical bearing, Sy Lentnite always ensures she looks ship-shape at any gathering.
Member Books
Congratulations to members’ new books in 2019.
Hooks and Anchors with Bria Quinlan
October: 10/22, 7-9 p.m.
Do you want to suck readers in immediately and keep them reading?
Are you tired of hearing that your action-packed open started too slowly OR that your slow burn was “hard to get into”?
Are you using mental movies to destroy reader exhaustion and keep those pages turning?
Want to make every scene open fresh and hot and ready to roll?
RITA finalist author Bria Quinlan will cover all of this and more in Hooks and Anchors.
Hurt in the ER
September: 9/24 7-9 p.m.
How to Injure Your Characters
Chicago-based emergency nurse Brian Cuocci, MSN RN CEN will answer questions and share stories of his life at work. Brian works in a Level I trauma center in the Chicago area. He’s a Certified Emergency Nurse and Certified Adult/Adolescent Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner.
Virtual Perfect Page Party!
Thursday July 23 from 7-9 p.m.
Instructions for joining are in the July newsletter.
- July: Thursday, July 23 at 7:00 p.m. Zoom Perfect Page Party
- Meet us over Zoom for a wacky but wonderful Perfect Page Party (If you don’t have a perfect page, get busy and write one. If you don’t have a best page, send your second best, or third—or any old page at all so long as you’ve written it yourself.) Send your page to SinCStLouis@gmail.com with the title “Perfect Page.” Be sure to include “Send to” and your email in order to receive your Phrases of Praise. Attached to this newsletter is a sample and your first installment.
- I will send these to members for PRAISE. No snarks or downers, please. We all love to hear praise—but more important for writers—we need good news for our promos, back covers, and ads. Gleaning 3-7 word phrases for the authors to use is one goal.
- The other is to analyze the ingredients that make pages sing. That leads to the final goal of making our own pages worthy of climbing the bestseller charts.
- At the meeting, we can read our pages and collect our Phrases of Praise. And yes, vote to decide who wins the Perfect Page Prize.
- Fedora – your hostess for Greater St. Louis’s SinC’s Perfect Page Party!
Escape Room!
- Thursday, June 25 at 7:00 p.m. Zoom meeting
- Spy Apprentice Digital “Escape Room” Adventure. We’ll see how good we are at solving a mystery together!
Congratulations to Laura Schmidt and Fedora Amis. The St. Louis Writers’ Guild just brought out their 100th Anniversary Anthology. Two of our own Sisters in Crime have stories included. Laura Stewart Schmidt called hers “The American Dream.” It’s about a poet with a surfeit of really rotten luck. Fedora Amis wrote “To Build a better Coffin.” It’s about a man in 1871 St. Louis who has a peculiar fixation. Care to guess the nature of his fetish?