2026 Faculty: A through F
Traci Hunter Abramson
Traci Hunter Abramson worked for the Central Intelligence Agency for six years, eventually resigning in order to raise her family. She credits the CIA with giving her a wealth of ideas as well as the skills needed to survive her children’s teenage years. She prefers it when her research requires a plane ticket and loves to explore new places. She has written more than fifty best-selling titles and is a ten-time Whitney Award winner. You can find out more about Traci at www.traciabramson.com.
Joy Allyson
Joy Allyson developed a deep appreciation for history and a passion for travel as the daughter of a US military officer. This former teacher and Killer Nashville Award finalist has an unquenchable thirst for research, especially while writing her whiskey romance novels. Her favorite characters are rebel heroines and salvageable scoundrels. Find Joy at www.joyallyson.com
Carmen Amato
A 30-year veteran of the CIA, Carmen Amato pens the award-winning Detective Emilia Cruz series pitting the first female police detective in Acapulco against cartels, corruption, and social inequality. Carmen also writes historical fiction, the Crime Fiction Files newsletter, and lives with a very large white dog named Bear.
Please visit carmenamato.net.
Carol Amorosi
Participating in archaeological digs? Studying Greek and Roman theatre? Living near America's colonial capital? Or was it living in four different countries? When her son dared her to join a writing challenge during COVID, is it any wonder Carol mixed her passion for history with her love of mysteries?
Dee Armstrong
Dee Armstrong writes mysteries with a paranormal twist. Her latest release, Haunted by a Broken Oath, is a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Finalist.
A former U.S. Air Force Russian linguist and three-time National Sparring Champion, Dee believes in fierce justice and unforgettable heroines.
Find her @DeeArmstrongAuthor and at www.DeeArmstrong.com.
Tina Austin
Tina Austin is an author of LGBTQ+ crime fiction. Her first thriller, The Last Draft, will be released in October 2026. She has also published over twenty novels in women’s fiction and contemporary romance under the name Michele Shriver. She is a recovering criminal defense attorney and current judicial magistrate.
Patrick Balester
Patrick Balester is a published mystery writer whose debut novel, In The Dismal Swamp, was published by Avalon Books and then on Kindle by Thomas and Mercer. He has 16 years of experience as a tax professional with HR Block and the IRS. In that time, he has prepared or examined over 150,000 tax returns, many for small businesses. His presentation, Tax Tips For Writers, has been well received by both Sisters In Crime and Killer Nashville. He currently resides in Kansas City, where he is working on a non-fiction book about taxes for creative artists. Comment
Michael Balter
Michael Balter is the award-winning author of the Marty & Bo crime thriller series, including Chasing Money, The Vatican Deal, and Dead Exit. His novels follow two business partners whose bad luck and questionable decisions draw them into deadly peril. Balter’s writing blends authenticity, dark humor, and page-turning suspense.
Dawn Barclay / Editor
Dawn M. Barclay is an award-winning author and Derringer-nominated editor who writes psychological/domestic/romantic suspense as D.M. Barr and nonfiction under her own name. The owner of Suggested Development Editing/Book Coaching (https://suggesteddevelopment.com), she’s a former acquisition editor for Champagne Book Group and book/anthology editor for Down & Out Books. She currently edits for individual authors and Hold Fast Publishing, and will have five anthologies published by White City Press starting in 2026. Dawn has won several awards including a 2026 Agatha Award, a 2026 Chanticleer I&I Award. She is also a finalist for a 2026 Macavity Award and a 2026 Silver Falchion Award, as well as currently being a nominee for a 2026 Anthony Award.
Rebecca Barrett
Rebecca Barrett writes the Hugo August Detective Series set in the deep south of the 1960s, historical women’s fiction, the Cat Callahan Cozy Mysteries Series, and short stories about life in the South. She’s a member of Sisters in Crime and teaches writing workshops in the Mobile Bay area.
Lauren Harper Barrow
Lauren Harper Barrow is a veterinarian currently living in Virginia Beach. She’s written for websites such as webMD and dogcancer.com, has published several short stories, and just finished her first novel-length psychological thriller. When not writing, she’s roller skating, painting creepy dolls, or walking her dogs on the beach.
Paula Gail Benson
A legislative attorney and former law librarian, Paula Gail Benson’s thirty plus short stories have appeared online and in publications including, Killer Nashville Noir: Cold Blooded and Malice Domestic’s Mystery Most Diabolical. She blogs with partners at The Stiletto Gang and Writers Who Kill. Her website is http://paulagailbenson.com
Chris Berg
Chris Berg is an award-winning crime thriller author whose fiction draws from the inside—vice, intelligence, undercover narcotics, and as a court-certified expert witness. He co-authors the Night Police series with former detective partner Paul James Smith. Their work has earned a Claymore Award and Pageturner Award finalist recognition.
The Night Police, Beyond the Line of Duty debuted in 2020. One manuscript is currently on submission via their agent, with two more in development. The Judas Game, Berg's first solo novel, is among them. More at nightpolice.com .
Tim Bischoff
Tim “Cajun” Hardy Bischoff has had three short stories published, It Came From the Trailer Park Volume 4. Has his own workshop on being Creative During Times of Grief and Trauma.
He has been doing Developmental Editing for his best friend of 50 years, author R. C. Reid. The Red Moscow series, Red Moscow and Red Eagle now released under Southern Wilds Publishing. the company ran by Tim and Stephen Bowling.
Sarah P. Blanchard
Sarah P. Blanchard's poetry and short fiction have appeared in many publications. She is a 2025 Pushcart nominee and the the author of a 2023 poetry chapbook (river, horse, morning); two novels (Grabtown, Drawn from Life); and a short story collection (Rift Zone). She writes from her home in northeastern Connecticut, the setting for many of her stories and poems.
BJ Bourg
BJ Bourg is a former professional boxer and thirty-year veteran of law enforcement. He has worked as a patrol cop, detective, police academy instructor, SWAT operator, sniper commander, and chief investigator for a district attorney’s office. He is the author of the Clint Wolf mystery series.
Janet Boydell
Janet Boydell traded boardrooms for murder plots with her debut thriller Deadly Exploits. Enjoy the razor-sharp twists, a dash of romance, and relentless suspense, this mystery keeps readers guessing until the jaw-dropping finale. Janet is working on her sequel, coming in 2027. Find Deadly Exploits on Amazon or visit www.janetboydell.com.
John Bradshaw
John Bradshaw is a West Texas native, award-winning journalist and novelist. His works include Elmer Kelton’s The Familiar Stranger, co-authored with Steve Kelton, Elmer Kelton’s The Blessing, and Between Two Skies, From Vietnam Medevac Pilot To Helicopter Cowboy.
Cody Breunig
Cody Breunig has spent his career finding evidence people didn’t know existed. A former Cyber Crimes investigator and Secret Service task force officer, he has worked thousands of cases involving capital murder, human trafficking, and international drug rings. He founded Black Dog Forensics, where he still does that work today.
Elise Burke Brown
Elise Burke Brown comes from a family of detectives, including a grandfather who filled her childhood with true crime stories she learned not to repeat at daycare. Her debut novel, Chase Harlem, has been short-listed for the Silver Falchion Award for Best P.I. Novel and the Shamus Award.
T.G. Brown
When T.G. is not writing books, he is a full time patrol sergeant for a tribal police department in Oregon. He is also competitive CrossFit athlete and practices mixed martial arts including: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Krav Maga and boxing.
In 2019, T.G. placed in the top 1 percent of the world, in the sport of CrossFit and as part of that competition he competed in the Law Enforcement Division placing 29th in the World.
T.G. Brown is also a certified Defensive Tactics Instructor in the state of Oregon and works with police officers and civilians who want to learn how to stay alive in verbal, physical, or deadly use-of-force conflicts.
He lives in the Pacific Northwest with his family and uses all of his real life experiences to inspire his writing.
T.G. published his debut novel, Tribal Honor, in December of 2023 and plans to continue writing long after he retires from law enforcement.
David Bruns
David Bruns has written and co-written over 24 novels and dozens of short fiction pieces across multiple genres. He has published with a Big Five traditional publishing house, released with a mid-sized press, crowdfunded novels, and self-published. He is a graduate of the Clarion West six-week workshop.
John Bukowski
Dr. John Bukowski is a former veterinary practitioner, health researcher, and medical writer who now pens short fiction and award-winning, fast-paced novels, including Project Suicide, Checkout Time, The Peeper, and Bad Pennies (a sequel to Project Suicide.) John has also authored twenty-two published short stories and a variety of consumer materials, including handbooks, website content, and radio scripts. Shadows and Dust, his soon-to-be published collection of short fiction was a finalist for both a 2025 Claymore awards and a 2026 Chanticleer CIBA awards. He has extensive public speaking experience on theatrical stage, radio, television, podcasts, workshops, and seminars. He’s a Detroit native who currently resides in southern Ohio with his wife Susan and a dysfunctional dog named Webster.
Thomas A. Burns Jr.
Thomas A. Burns Jr. writes the Natalie McMasters Mysteries from Wendell, NC. The 6th book, Killers!, won a Silver Falchion in 2022, and the 7th, Sister!, was a finalist in 2023. To Keep Our Honor Clean: A 3M Detective Agency Novel, was chosen as a judges’ top pick last year.
Valerie (V. M.) Burns
Valerie (V. M.) Burns is an Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Next Generation Award finalist. She is the author of five cozy mystery series, and is also an adjunct professor in the Writing Popular Fiction MFA Program at Seton Hill University.
Ellen Butler
Ellen Butler is the bestselling author of the Karina Cardinal mystery series and award-winning historical fiction. Drawing on her career in Washington, D.C., she crafts fast-paced, mysteries filled with humor and intrigue. Her historical novels have earned multiple national awards and Publisher's Weekly praised the Karina Cardinal series as "intelligent escapism."
Sandra J. Cady
Sandra J. Cady is a former police officer and past owner of a PI agency. Her detective novel, A Game of Luck released 4-30-26. Her short story, High School Reunion, appears in the anthology, The Not So Frail Detective Agency, a finalist for the Derringer and Silver Falchion Awards.
J.J. Cagney
J.J. Cagney writes twisty, atmospheric mysteries and thrillers where every clue is a risk and every secret comes at a price. Her award-winning books follow smart, determined protagonists as they face danger, both in the wild landscapes of New Mexico and Yellowstone and in their own lives.
Cagney is best known for the acclaimed Cici Gurule Mysteries. A Pilgrimage to Death was named one of Kirkus Reviews’ 100 Best Books of 2018, won the National Indie Excellence Award, and became a Goodreads Best Mysteries reader favorite. An Artifact of Death was called “an exhilarating entry in a thoroughly enjoyable series” (Kirkus Reviews) and was a BookLife Award quarterfinalist. Her newer books, like Bayou Venom, have also earned her Judge’s Top Pick for both the Claymore and Silver Falchion Awards at Killer Nashville 2025.
Before becoming a full-time storyteller, Cagney worked as a literary agent and as a marketing director for elite athletes. These jobs helped her develop a sharp sense for high-stakes drama and character-driven conflict. She now lives in northern New Mexico with her family, two mischievous dogs, and a small but suspiciously well-organized tank of fish.
Cagney’s next thriller, The Kill Line, is a gripping cat-and-mouse survival story set deep in Yellowstone. It will be released on August 25, 2026, by City Owl Press.
Nikki Carrero / Agent
Nikki Carrero (she/her) is an avid reader, writer, and dog mom. She has a background in bookselling, publishing, social media and digital marketing, event planning, and education. She reads approximately 150 books each year (although it's become much less since agenting due to the queries and partials/fulls), she's disabled and lives with a chronic illness, and has an adorable mini Australian Shepherd named Mochi. Previously an Agency Assistant, Editorial Assistant, and Social Media Manager at The Rights Factory, she was promoted to Assistant Agent in 2025. Nikki has made books her entire personality, believing worlds hold power: a chance at escape and an opportunity to showcase how we feel. They provide the ability to learn about others, experience new things, and explore our own lives. At the base of it all, Nikki loves to see people fall in love with stories.
VP Chandler
V.P. Chandler draws on her literature degree and ranching roots for genre-blending fiction that spans from sci-fi to westerns. A Silver Falchion winner, her work has earned acclaim, including a story in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year: 2025. And her latest, Silver Falchion-nominated, For Every Evil Under the Sun.
Mike Chavarria
Mike Chavarria began his law enforcement career in 1984 as a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), a position that he took after honorably serving his country as an Officer in the United States Navy. In December 1985, after approximately 18 months of service with NCIS, Mike transferred to the Drug Enforcement Administration, where he spent 32 years as a DEA Special Agent. Mike has conducted investigations worldwide and has been responsible for the successful arrest and prosecution of drug traffickers at the highest levels.
In 1987, Mike was recruited to participate in “Operation Snowcap,” which involved a series of paramilitary operations targeting cocaine production in source countries like Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia. It involved ninety-day tours at remote jungle bases where DEA agents (partnered with members of US Special Forces, the US Coast Guard, and Tactical Border Patrol units) worked with host nation counterdrug authorities, jointly targeting remote cocaine labs and nearby clandestine airstrips used to shuttle precursors and finished product.
Throughout the remainder of his DEA career, Mike rotated every few years between domestic assignments and foreign offices, including San Diego, California; San Jose, Costa Rica; Guadalajara, Mexico; Houston, Texas; and Mexico City. Mike spent the last seven years with the DEA in Houston, TX, where he supervised technical operations.
Mike is considered one of DEA’s leading authorities on Latin America’s cartels and has frequently been called upon to provide presentations and be interviewed as a subject-matter expert. Now in retirement, he continues to consult on cartel-related issues and has appeared in the National Geographic documentary series “Narco Wars,” offering first-hand insight from his years of investigative experience in Mexico and along the border. Mike also appeared in a French-produced narco docuseries, “Narco Circus” (directed by French Producer Romain Bolzinger), focusing on Mexico’s drug war and its culture of corrupt law enforcement. Mike has also appeared in Podcasts (“Reasons We Serve” & “Game of Crimes”) and is often consulted by journalists based in the US, Mexico, and Europe.
Sandy Clements
Sandy Clements writes award-winning suspense where ordinary people face extraordinary circumstances. She is the author of Kaleidoscope of Secrets and the forthcoming thriller TRAPPED, and enjoys encouraging fellow writers through workshops and speaking engagements.
Mary Lynn Cloghesy
Mary Lynn Cloghesy is a writer and editor from Calgary, Alberta, as well as the founder of the Leadership Literary Lab, a program for nonfiction authors. She holds a master’s degree in critical and creative writing, has been nominated for the Claymore and Aurora awards, and has placed in literary competitions for Dreamers and Tadpole magazines. Her published work ranges from flash fiction to memoir. She writes articles on healthy living, and co-hosts a retreat for aspiring authors in Banff National Park. Find her on Substack and social channels @wildrosewriter, or through her website: https://marylynncloghesy.com/
Michael Cody
Michael Amos Cody was born in Sumter, South Carolina, and grew up in the village of Walnut, jewel of Madison County, North Carolina, near the ruins of Runion, a place he has reimagined for his fiction. He spent his formative twenties living and working as a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, where his songs were recorded by Glen Campbell, Gary Morris, and others, including himself. He is the author of the novels Gabriel’s Songbook (2017) and Streets of Nashville (2025), winner of the Thriller category in the 2026 Independent Press Awards and a 2025 Finalist at BESTTHRILLERS.COM. His collection of short stories, A Twilight Reel (2021) won the Short Story category in the Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022. His new novel, Avalon Moon, a 2023 Claymore Finalist, was published in May 2026 by Madville Publishing. Cody lives with wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches early American literature and creative writing in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.
Bruce Robert Coffin
Bruce Robert Coffin is an international bestselling novelist. A retired detective sergeant, Bruce is the author of the Detective Byron Mysteries, the forthcoming Detective Justice Mysteries, and coauthor of The Turner and Mosley Files. His Anthony Award nominated short fiction has been published in more than a fifteen anthologies.
M. R. Collings
M. R. Collings is an award-winning author and former spine surgery physician associate whose fascination with human behavior fuels dark, emotionally complex suspense. Her novels probe the fault lines between love and obsession, identity and illusion, truth and perception. She lives in Nashville, where she writes, paints, and plots trouble.
Elizabeth Crowens
Entertainment industry veteran, Elizabeth Crowens (NY/LA) nominated for Lefty, Agatha, Macavity, Silver Falchion and Claymore, Glimmer Train Awards and won a MWA-NY Leo B. Burstein Scholarship, NYFA grant, Eric Hoffer and two Grand prize and seven First prize Chanticleer Awards. Crowens writes humorous Golden Age of Hollywood mysteries, alternate history (Time Traveler Professor series) and has a Caption Contest on Facebook.
Charles D'Amico
Charles D'Amico is an award-winning thriller author, multi-unit business owner, and founder of Blue Handle Publishing and Book Puma Editing, where he champions an author-first approach to publishing and editing. Best known for the award-winning Neil Baggio series, he is excited to introduce his latest thriller, Why I Kill: The Cappelano Journals, releasing November 2027.
Miranda Darrow / Editor
Miranda Darrow is a freelance fiction editor and #RevPit online revision contest board member and contributing editor. She's a frequent presenter at writing groups, conferences, and online writing events. Miranda’s Concise Fiction Academy series of writing craft books and courses combines her experience as a freelance editor and a corporate attorney into an executive summary of complex writing topics with an overview, key recommendations, and sources for more information, all with a dash of humor. Miranda is doing a slow tour of the upper Midwest: she grew up in Wisconsin in a county with six times as many cows as people, attended college in Iowa surrounded by tall corn, and now lives in the great north woods of Minnesota with her husband, teen sons, and a bossy little dog.
Tommy Dean / Agent
Tommy Dean is a literary agent for Talcott Notch. He is looking for crime, mysteries, thrillers, and upmarket novels in these genres. He loves stories with clear stakes and surprise endings. Give him your characters with secrets, past loves, past crimes, and past mistakes that lead to unique stories.
John DeDakis / Editor
Award-winning novelist John DeDakis is a former editor on CNN's "The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer." DeDakis is the author of six traditionally published mystery-suspense thriller novels. He is a podcaster, one-on-one writing coach, manuscript editor, and regularly teaches novel writing at literary centers and writers’ conferences nationwide.
Website: www.johndedakis.com
Amy Denton
Amy has been a teacher at college level for twenty-two years in both history and English, always finding a way to work current literature into the lessons. She is currently at work on a full-length paranormal mystery titled Ink and Ashes. Ink and Ashes was a finalist in the 2022 Claymore Award for Unpublished Authors.
C. S. Devereaux
C. S. Devereaux’s novels present fictionalized accounts of historical true crime events. They feature mystery and Southern Gothic elements. Her novels include FALL FROM SNOWBIRD MOUNTAIN and UNBROKEN CIRCLE which is a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award. She lives in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
Lori B. Duff
Lori B. Duff is an award‑winning author, most recently the Letter Review Prize for Books and on the short list for the Sarton Award. She's also an attorney and municipal court judge whose sharp wit and deep compassion shape everything she writes. As the creator of the Fischer at Law series, she blends real‑world legal insight with page‑turning storytelling. She's known for crafting novels and essays that are as smart as they are laugh‑out‑loud funny. Published by She Writes Press and distributed by Simon & Schuster, Lori transforms life’s chaos into narratives that resonate with readers. When she’s not writing or presiding from the bench, she speaks to audiences about storytelling, law, humor, and the messy, meaningful business of being human.
Scott Ellis
Scott Ellis is a two-time Audiobook of the Year award-winning narrator with over 120 audiobooks under his belt—and somehow, he still has a voice left. He holds degrees in Theatre and Education, which means he can both perform Shakespeare and explain it with a whiteboard and dry-erase markers. Ellis Audiobooks, his audiobook production company, started in 2019 and has a team of people that work in narrating, editing, marketing and managing the business. Scott spent nearly 30 years teaching middle school literature (yes, on purpose) and a few more years as an elementary school librarian—perfect training for character voices, managing chaos, and surviving on caffeine and patience. All of that classroom time sharpened his storytelling skills and gave him a sixth sense for pacing, emotion, and when to throw in just the right dramatic pause. When he’s not behind the mic, Scott can be found golfing, fishing, kayaking, camping, or biking—basically anything outdoors that doesn’t involve grading papers. He lives in Massachusetts but escapes to Sanibel Island, Florida as often as possible, where the only thing better than the weather is the excuse to narrate in flip-flops.
J.T. Ellison
J.T. Ellison, a NYT bestselling author of over thirty psychological suspense novels, cohosts the Emmy Award-winning PBS series A Word on Words. She also publishes The Creative Edge newsletter and lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens.
Stephen G. Eoannou
Stephen G. Eoannou is the author of the The Nicholas Bishop Mystery Series. After Pearl, the first in the series, has been awarded The BookFest Award and CIBA Clue Award for Best Detective Novel. The second book in the series, The Falling Woman, will be published in 2027.
Christine M. Fairchild
Christine M. Fairchild writes Suspense and Historical Fiction, so she understands the challenges authors face. Through workshops, conferences and editing guides, Christine helps authors take their work/career to the next level. A former journalist/editor with 35yrs experience, she now operates as a Book Doctor specializing in Suspense Fiction.
Mike Faircy
Independent publisher Mike Faricy has published 97 books and is in the process of creating his next work of genius. His series are Dev Haskell Private Investigator, Jack Dillon Dublin Tales, Corridor Man, Yucky Yates, Hotshot series, and Partners (in Crime) a series for children 9-14.
Cheryl Fallin
Cheryl Fallin M.D. is a pediatrician, author, wife, and mother who lives in rural Wyoming. She is a Colorado Gold Rush Awards Winner and a Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award Finalist for her novel SERAPH. When not writing or working, she loves adventure travel with her family
Rosy Fenwicke
Rosy Fenwicke retired from medicine to write crime fiction. Cold Wallet (2022) a psychological cryptocurrency thriller was a finalist in the National Indie Book Awards. The Secret of the Angel Who Died at Midnight (2025) was twice an Amazon No 1 Best Seller. Rosy lives in Martinborough New Zealand with her dog Buster.
Peregrine Finn
Peregrine Finn's day job involves research on everything to do with air and space – from designing flying systems to understanding whether AI can be trusted. Peregrine writes speculative fiction with no genre boundaries. Her story “Dry Heat” is in the 2026 July/Aug issue of EQMM. Her website is at www.peregrine-finn.net.
Steven Fisher
Steven Fisher has a BA in Honors English from Penn State University, a law degree from University of Chicago, and most recently an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. He is the CEO of a global electronics company but has always had a passion for writing. He is married to his wife of thirty-six years, and they have three children and a brilliant dog. He resides in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and has a lifelong love of all things Italian.
K.M. Freeman
K.M. Freeman spent more than a decade in engineering and technology before writing The Niagara Event, a Claymore Top Pick of 2025. Drawing on her engineering background, she blends scientific concepts with adventure to explore one question: "What if?" A Nashville native, she is always curious how technology will impact the writing community and change the landscape of the industry.
Susan Hatters Friedman
Susan Hatters Friedman, MD, MSt is a forensic psychiatrist and a writer. Dr. Friedman is Past President of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Family Murder: Pathologies of Love and Hate, an academic volume which she edited, was awarded the Manfred Guttmacher Award from the American Psychiatric Association. Her short crime fiction can be read in Mystery Tribune and Bristol Noir, as well as the Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law. Her flash fiction was short-listed for the Derringer Award. Susan recently completed her Master's degree in Crime and Thriller Writing at the University of Cambridge, studying under Sophie Hannah.
Terry S. Friedman
Terry S. Friedman, an FBI Citizens Academy alumna and MFA graduate, has published 24 articles and co-edited DEATH KNELL V. A Sisters in Crime member and Pennwriters Board member, she writes paranormal thrillers and historical fiction from coastal South Carolina. CamCat Books released her award-winning novel, BONE PENDANTGIRLS, in 2024.