Bouchercon – October 21 and 23, 2026
On October 21, Debra was a “Previous Careers that Morphed into Fiction” panelist.” She moderated the “Changing Face of Short Fiction” panel on October 23.
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President – Sisters in Crime Worldwide October 21 – Bouchercon – Calgary, Canada
Debra was installed as the 2026-2027 President of Sisters in Crime Worldwide on October 21, 2026 in Calgary, Canada at Bouchercon.
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Ask The Writers Anything SEMWA Program – October 12, 2026
Valerie Burns, Diane Kelly, Melissa Bourbon and Debra participated in an Ask The Writers Anything program for the Southeastern Mystery of America (SEMWA) chapter on October 12.
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The Times the World Shapes the Story by Ryk E. Spoor
Every author has their own particular way of approaching a new story; some make a meticulous outline and stick to it. Others have only the vaguest idea of what’s going to happen and just strap in and find out as the characters drive. Mine sits somewhere in between: I tend to know the ultimate outcome
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Crime Writers, Stick to Your Guns! by Gerald Elias
During those intense, isolating Covid years, my wife and I watched just about every streaming detective series we could find. Some were riveting, others meh, a few downright boring, but most of them shared one peculiar characteristic: The crime solver––whether a cop, detective, PI, amateur sleuth, male or female––was, one way or another, semi-dysfunctional. They
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The Day My Thriller Became Reality by Sophy Smythe
I invented a virus. Fortunately, I did it in a novel. When I started writing The Hellraiser, the third book in my Charlie Martens series, I wanted to take the science a little further than I had in my previous books. I had spent most of my working life as a doctor, so I have
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Word Games by Gay Yellen
Words are the instruments with which writers ply their trade. On good days, the work seems to magically flow in an unending stream. On others, a writer may lean on a dictionary or thesaurus in search of a perfect word to set the tone, or describe a character, or ensure that the language reflects the
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The Fun of Writing Historical Fiction by Carol L. Wright
Has an older relative ever told you an old family story that surprised you? Or perhaps you’ve stumbled (hopefully not literally) over an item at a flea market and wondered what it was ever used for? Or maybe you have happened on a historical marker that gave you peek into previously unknown events of the
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Characters Who Need Caring For by Edith Maxwell/Maddie Day
Many crime fiction protagonists don’t have to take care of anyone except themselves. They are single, divorced, or widowed. Some are young and haven’t found anyone to start a family with. Others are older, or jaded, or have lost what family they had. Being single makes the sleuthing life of an amateur – or a
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Once a Mystery, Always a Mystery? By TG Wolff
Did you know “Mystery”, the genre we all know and love, wasn’t a genre in the early 1800s? There was romance (which did not mean what it does today) and horror (which does mean what it does today), history, and biographies, but no Mystery. In addition to writing full-length mysteries, including my current release Guilty
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