A book birthday – part 2

Okay, I could get used to this.

Keenan Powell and I have a joint birthday this time – Mystery Most Historical, the twelfth anthology from the folks at Malice Domestic, is now available from Wildside Press. The link is to Wildside – I’m not sure about availability from other vendors and no ebook is listed…yet. But anyway.

So Keenan and I thought it would be nice to highlight all the authors in the collection because there are some doozies. Some of us are new, with the sparkle still shining on the edges. Others, well, just check out these names.

Without further ado, here are authors 1-14 in the anthology. Next week, Keenan will highlight the remaining fifteen.

Mindy Quigley writes the Lindsay Harding mysteries. An award-winning author, Mindy has written three books in her Rev. Harding series and, according to her website, is working on a middle-grade project.

Michael Dell – this one is interesting. As far as I can tell, Michael is either the editor-in-chief of LCS Hockey (“the world’s greatest non-updated hockey site”) or the founder and CEO of Dell Technologies. You know, the computer people (his book, Honest John Churchfield, which I found by Googling “michael dell mystery author” is listed on Bookwire with a bunch of business books). I guess I’ll find out at Malice!

Carole Nelson Douglas writes the Irene Adler series. Yes, that Irene Adler. A series of books with “the woman” as a sleuth? Sign me up! According to her website, she’s the author of 62 novels (and a lot of them feature cats on the covers, so there’s a cat in there somewhere).

Liz Milliron – yeah, no clue who this woman is. <insert grin> Anyway, Liz has a couple unpublished novels under her belt, but her short fiction has been in Blood on the Bayou, Fish Out of Water, and Lucky Charms: 12 Crime Tales. See? The collection has all kinds of writers!

P.A. DeVoe is an anthropologist, she writes the young adult Mei-hua Adventure triology. The third in the series, Trapped, is nominated for the 2017 Agatha for Best YA Novel. She also has a story in Fish Out of Water.

Peter W.J. Hayes – I know Peter. He’s a member of my Sisters in Crime chapter (see, we accept misters in crime, SinC isn’t all women!). Peter has had a number of short stories published in Yellow Mama, Shotgun Honey, and Out of the Gutter. He was shortlisted for the Crime Writers Association “Debut Dagger,” and has won awards from Pennwriters. Like me, he’s chugging along on a novel.

Susanna Calkins has written several historical mysteries and received awards for them. The fourth, A Death Along the River Fleet was released in 2016 and was nominated for a Lefty award for Best Historical Mystery. Susanna teaches at Northwestern University.

Carla Coupe has had short stories published in Chesapeake Crimes II and Chesapeake Crimes III. She has also had Sherlock Holmes pastiches published in Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine.

Valerie O. Patterson has written mysteries for middle-grade readers as well as short fiction. A member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, her book The Other Side of Blue was a finalist for an Agatha Award.

Catriona McPherson – well, where do I start? Catriona writes the Dandy Gilver historical series and The Reek of Red Herrings just won the Lefty for Best Historical Mystery and is shortlisted for this year’s Agatha in the same category. Her standalone thrillers have garnered praise from multiple sources. I just finished The Day She Died and it was chilling. And she’s a hoot to talk to.

Marcia Talley is another author who has racked up a number of awards, including the Agatha and the Anthony. She writes the Hannah Ives Mystery series, and has had short fiction published in, oh, lots of places. Like Catriona, she has a past president of Sisters in Crime.

Elaine Viets is well known for her Dead End Jobs and Mystery Shopper series, but she’s written darker mysteries as well. Her website says “a mystery for every mood” and in poking around her website I believe it. Cozy, Traditional, Dark – she’s got it all.

Susan Daly has published short fiction in a number of places, including Fish Out of Water, The Whole She-bang 2, and The Whole She-bang 3. On her website, she describes herself as “A refugee from the mind-numbing, soul-destroying worlds of banking and insurance” who has found peace through killing people in fiction. Oh, that sounds very familiar.

Shawn Reilly Simmons writes the Red Carpet Catering series for Henery Press. She’s held a bunch of jobs in catering and with books. Not only is she on the board for Malice Domestic, she is a member of the Dames of Detection, and an editor/co-publisher at Level Best Books (which puts out its own outstanding anthologies).

K.B. Inglee has been writing historical fiction since, well, a while. She has published her own collections, the most recent being The Casebook of Emily Lawrence and her short fiction has appeared in Murder Most Conventional, Fish Nets, Fish Tales, and Chesapeake Crimes III.

So there you go. The first fourteen authors in Mystery Most Historical. Check back next week when Keenan profiles the other fifteen. If you’re in Bethesda, hopefully we’ll see you at Malice. Pick up the anthology and lose yourself in a good story from a different time.

Oh, and one other thing. Keenan’s story, “The Velvet Slippers,” is deliciously gothic. I know I’m thrilled to be included with this group of authors, I’d imagine she is too, and I can’t wait for you to join us!

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