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.
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, and is currently a nominee for a 2026 Anthony Award.
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 .
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 an associate literary agent with Rosecliff Literary. 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
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.
Lori B. Duff
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.