2026 Faculty: G through L
Debra Gaskill
Debra Gaskill was an award-winning journalist for 20 years, writing for a number of Ohio newspapers and the Associated Press, covering the cops and courts beat.
She is the author of 15 mysteries and a 2018 Silver Falcon winner.
Find her at www.debragaskillnovels.com.
Ronald Gerber / Agent
Ronald Gerber is President at Lowenstein Associates, where he has been a literary agent since 2019. His clients include: Daniel Kenitz, whose debut thriller THE PERFECT HOME was published by Scribner in 2025; Sonja Thomas, author of the acclaimed children’s books SIR FIG NEWTON & THE SCIENCE OF PERSISTENCE and OLIVE BLACKWOOD TAKES ACTION! with Aladdin/Simon & Schuster; and Lorissa Rinehart, author of feminist biographies FIRST TO THE FRONT and WINNING THE EARTHQUAKE with St. Martin’s Press. Ronald is focused on cinematic stories with strong hooks and relatable characters, and is always looking for projects from queer, BIPOC, and other underrepresented authors. He is a proud graduate of Bard College at Simon’s Rock and Clark University. He resides in Queens, New York with his wife and too many books to count.
Rick Glaze
Rick Glaze lives in Nashville, Tennessee. He published The Purple River (Amazon #1 New Release) 2021, about whitewater rafting. The Pieces of Eight series includes Spanish Pieces of Eight, a mystery set in the sailing world, and Eight Pieces of Eight an Amazon #1 Best Seller and #1 New Release. The humor and satire of Ralph & Murray, was a Silver Falchion Top Pick in 2024, Kirkus starred review and Indie Book of the Month. His credits include a short story collection, and a weekly column in Silicon Valley. He’s released two albums, with songs featured on Country Music Television (CMT), BBC Radio as well as radio airplay
Bill Gormley
Bill Gormley is a retired Georgetown University Professor of Public Policy. He has published two police procedurals with Level Best Books. Too Many Bridges (2024) and The Silent Trumpet (2025) are set in Pittsburgh, his hometown. His podcast, PROFS ON COPS, features interviews with criminologists about research on policing. www.billgormley.com.
G.P. Gottlieb
G.P. Gottlieb is the author of the Charred: A Whipped & Sipped Mystery (Anamcara Press, May 29, 2026), the third in a culinary cozy mystery series. She is on the board of Sisters in Crime Chicagoland and a member of SinC Colorado, MWA, and Blackbird Writers. As host for New Books in Literature, a podcast channel on the New Books Network, she has interviewed nearly 280 authors. If you enjoy culinary cozy mysteries set in Chicago, the Whipped & Sipped Mysteries invite you into a world of friendship, coffee, pastries, and crime-solving without the nightmares.
Mark T. Greene
Mark T. Greene is an enthusiastic songwriter, mystery writer, and mental health advocate. He authored three books and two CDs, including “Full Bloom,” adapted into a screenplay. For the past four years, Mark has been a member of the Chesapeake Bay Writers critique group in Williamsburg, Virginia.
Judy Lyn Gregg
After teaching school for years, Judy Lyn Gregg decided to fulfill the ambition of her eleven-year-old red-headed, freckle-faced self, who wrote stories on notebook paper to read to her sixth-grade class. Now she is realizing her dream and writes about adventure, legends, myths, and fantasy. Currently, she is working on a series of ghost stories and a sequel to her YA fantasy novel, DOPPELGäNGER JUMPER. DOPPEäNGER WARRIOR will be out soon.
H. Fields Grenée
H. Fields Grenée is a former reporter for the Seattle Times, Asbury Park Press, and the founder of Penpoint Productions, a boutique marketing content consulting firm that had offices in Chicago and Melbourne. She is the author of CATCHING ANGELS, a yet to be published multigenerational, upmarket fiction about the identities we inherit, the ones we manufacture, and the devastating cost of both.
Ashley Sargeant Hagan
Ashley Sargeant Hagan writes traditional mysteries with a large dose of romance. She is the author of the Back Stage Mystery series in which a British actor who plays a detective on television finds himself in the middle of an actual mystery and has to prove whether he has what it takes to solve a crime. She is also a professional editor and publishing consultant with Inkwell Writers Publishing Services where she takes independent authors from manuscript to published work. She is the immediate past-president of Sisters in Crime Middle Tennessee, and the founder of The Dangerous Pen Society, a fellowship of writers, primarily in the mystery genre, who support one another through networking activities, professional development, and promotional partnerships. When she’s not writing, you’ll find her drinking tea in her vintage-and-new home decor shop in Bellevue, Tennessee.
Sean Hagerty
Sean Hagerty has combined over 25+ years of experience in the Special Operations community and deep-rooted research instincts from years of academic pursuits in history to tell his stories. Jones Point and Cabal are his first two vengeance novels in the Dane Cooper Series. The third, releases in May 2027.
Aimee Hardy
Aimee Hardy is an award-winning writer and editor who lives in Birmingham, AL. Her debut novel, Pocket Full of Teeth (Running Wild Press, 2024), was named Best 100 Books by Kirkus and won a Silver Falchion Award (Killer Nashville) and Best Novel of 2024 from Alabama Media Professionals. She is an editor with Running Wild Press and has been named a finalist for a Claymore Award (Killer Nashville) for best unpublished manuscript. Her work has appeared in Writer’s Digest, Stone Coast Review, and Killer Nashville Magazine, and she received a Pushcart Prize nomination in 2019.
Bradley Harper
Bradley Harper is a retired US Army pathologist who began writing after retirement in 2012, after 37 years of active duty. During his time serving in Colombia with US Special Forces, the FARC placed a $1.5 million bounty for his capture. (Offer no longer valid.)
Dr. Harper’s debut novel, A Knife in the Fog, was a 2019 Edgar Award finalist for Best First Novel by an American. The book won Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion award as Best Mystery, and the audiobook won Audiofile Magazine’s Earphone award in the Mystery category. The book has been translated into Japanese and German and is a Recommended Read by the Arthur Conan Doyle estate.
The sequel, Queen’s Gambit, won the 2020 Silver Falchion as Best Suspense and Book of the Year. His recently produced short animation, Dark Tryst, has won multiple awards across Europe. His poetry and essays have been published in various magazines. He recently co-wrote a memoir by Leslie Lautenslager, My Time with Colin Powell, about her twenty-five years as GEN Powell’s personal assistant, and his detective story, Reflections in a Dragon’s Eye, was a 2024 Finalist for the Silver Falchion Award.
In October 2022, Doctor Harper received his master’s degree in creative writing from Napier University in Edinburgh. He graduated With Distinction from his Screenwriting Workshop. One professor noted he was ready to work in a writers’ room for any crime series in production. While residing in the UK, he was voted a Fellow of the Royal Scottish Society of Arts after his presentation, “Sherlock Holmes as Science Fiction,” detailing how Doyle’s character inspired the world’s first crime lab.
In July 2024, he produced a short film based on a single scene from A Knife in the Fog, shot in a 19th-century morgue. The film will be used as part of a pitch to TV producers in hopes of selling the rights for a mini-series. He wrote the screenplay, and the film is currently on the film festival circuit.
You can follow him on Facebook at Bradley Harper-Author, and on Instagram as @HarknessAdventures
His website is https://www.bharperauthor.com
Millie Naylor Hast
Millie Naylor Hast is an award-winning writer with a passion for intense, twisty thrillers based on the important themes of today. She is a former journalist and local elected official who gleefully drops her characters into deadly conspiracies without a lifeline. Her home is in the Houston area.
Nancy Herriman
Nancy Herriman left an engineering career to become an author. She hasn’t looked back. A Daphne du Maurier award winner and Silver Falchion finalist, Publishers Weekly says her historical mysteries bring “…San Francisco to vivid life.” NO SOLACE FOR THE WICKED is her latest.
Find more at http://www.nancyherriman.com.
J L Hill
J L Hill, New York, is a prolific storyteller and an award-winning multi-genre author of the Killer Series. Bulletproof Morris MoJo Johnson, a gangster and his mobster friend Nicky Nails Rocci, become international criminals as the nature of the underworld is examined from all perspectives. He also owns RockHill Publishing LLC.
Roy Hiller
Roy lives in Nashville, TN with his wife, Charlene. His first book in the Cat Williamson series, the award winning A Walk in the Dark, was published in April, 2025 & Glimmers of Light, will be released September 13th. A sci-fi romance thriller, Critical Mass, is scheduled for 2027.
Nate Hoffelder
Nate Hoffelder has been helping people fix misbehaving tech since 2010. He turns broken down Wordpress sites into sites which convert visitors into superfans, and also builds sites from scratch. He has a talent for troubleshooting tools and platforms he’s never seen before.
Find out more about Nate on his website: https://www.natehoffelder.com/
Stacey Horan
Stacey Horan writes about things that scare her and plans to keep writing until nothing scares her anymore. She is the author of the Old City Mysteries, a paranormal mystery series set in St. Augustine, FL, and the host of The Bookshop at the End of the Internet podcast.
Franklin Horton
Franklin Horton is the million-selling author of over forty novels in the military thriller, techno thriller, and post-apocalyptic genres. His books blend realistic geopolitical and social threats into compelling and personal stories.
Steven James
Steven James is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of more than fifty books. With a master's degree in storytelling, he has taught writing and storytelling around the world, appearing more than 2000 times on five continents. His award-winning, groundbreaking book Story Trumps Structure has equipped thousands of authors to write organically. For the last fifteen years he has taught novel writing intensives around the country. Publishers Weekly has called him a "master storyteller at the peak of his game."
Denise Jendusa
Denise Jendusa is an award-winning suspense novelist, short story writer, and former magazine editor, faculty member at the University of Wisconsin and VP for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Currently, Denise is the VP for Wisconsin Sisters in Crime and active in the WFWA, MWA, and the Authors Guild. (denisejendusa.com)
I.M. Jones
A semi-retired business law professor, I. M. Jones writes fiction, especially mysteries. Inspired by clever and dynamic storytellers, Jones crafts layered plots, intriguing heroes and villains, and subtle clues. With prior publications in academic journals, Jones writes poetry and short stories, integrating the African American experience with imagination.
Suzanne Junered
Suzanne Junered writes psychological horror novels that are a little too close to reality. She is the author of Goodnight Monsters (Sept 1, 2026) and House of Mannequins (Sept 2027), and the host of the podcast No Secrets No Shame. Her work explores the depths of human impulses and desires, with a particular focus on women who don’t behave as expected. A Tennessee native now living outside Boulder, Colorado, Suzanne’s stories are rooted in the voices of nontraditional Southern women. For more information, visit suzannejunered.com.
Gledé Browne Kabongo
Gledé Browne Kabongo is a multiple award-winning psychological thriller author of more than ten novels where power, privilege, and deadly secrets collide. Her sophisticated thrillers frequently feature strong STEM characters, a natural outgrowth of her career as a tech marketer. Gledé is also the current Vice President of Sisters in Crime New England.
Mitchell S. Karnes
Mitchell S. Karnes is a Christian husband, father, and grandfather whose storytelling blends faith, tension, and imagination. A writer and speaker drawn to challenging issues, Mitchell has published nine novels, including a four-part YA fantasy series, a stand-alone suspense/thriller, and the ongoing Mystery/Suspense series featuring Nashville Homicide Detective Abbey Rhodes. His work continues to reach new audiences with the filming of Water Grave, the first Abbey Rhodes Mystery, for a streaming series.
E. R. Kaye
E. R. Kaye is a modern-day Renaissance woman.
When she's not lost in the wide open spaces of her own creation, you'll find E. R. Kaye reading, teaching, editing, cooking, thrift shopping, or “walking strenuously” with her beloved dog, who serves as her loyal muse and partner-in-crime. She's equally at home discussing the latest trends in literature as she is exploring the mysteries of the universe. From art to science, philosophy to pop culture, there's nothing she won't dive into with unbridled curiosity and infectious enthusiasm. That doesn’t mean she knows what she’s talking about all the time, but usually she knows a little bit of something.
Henry James Kaye
Born and raised in Pittsburgh, Henry has produced over thirty short stories selected for anthologies and magazines. He’s also written multiple award-winning novels. He credits his writer’s groups for his writing successes. Henry and his wife live in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, with their menagerie of dogs and birds.
Robert T. Kelley
Robert T. Kelley writes high-stakes thrillers in which power, privilege, and peril collide. He is the author of short stories and novels, including the technology thriller Raven. He draws on over 30 years of experience as a technology entrepreneur to create propulsive stories that resonate with readers.
Patrick Kendrick
Patrick Kendrick had a dual career as a firefighter and freelance journalist before dedicating himself to writing fiction full-time. As a freelance writer, he published articles and short stories in various newspapers and magazines. One assignment led him to correspond with a serial killer for several years—until the killer began threatening him and filing multiple lawsuits against him. The killer was eventually murdered in prison, but his chilling and graphic “diaries” detailing his crimes became the inspiration for the fiction book: “Extended Family.”
That story now unfolds in the true crime thriller: "American Ripper: The enigma of Gerard Schaefer Enigma of America’s Serial Killer Cop"
Kendrick was knighted by the Fraternal Order of Police for his articles on crime. He's won honorable mentions from the Mystery Writers of America and the Beverly Hills Film Festival, the Opus Magnum Discovery Award from the Hollywood Film Festival and his first Florida Book Award for his novel, "Papa's Problem." "The Savants," won his 2nd FBA. "Edison's Last Breath" won an unprecedented 3rd Florida Book Award.
His True Crime book, "American Ripper: The True Story of Gerard Schaefer, America's Killer Cop," won the Royal Palm Literary Award Gold for Best Biography from the Florida Writer's Association.
Kendrick lives in South Florida and when he is not writing, spends as much time as possible in, on, or under the ocean.
Renda Knapp
Renda Knapp is an OB/GYN by day, medical thriller author by night. She writes what she lives, high stakes obstetrics, institutional gaslighting and the terrifying situation when the people we trust to save lives become killers.
Vanessa M. Knight
Vanessa M. Knight has always enjoyed writing and once she found mysteries, she was addicted. She writes contemporary romantic suspense and mysteries with a dash of humor and splash of snark.
Dean Krystek / Agent
Dean is holds a BA in English from the University of South Carolina. A Pittsburgh native, he retired from the US Army as a Sergeant Major after a long career that began in the sizzling heat of Vietnam and ended inside the cool interior of Cheyenne Mountain in Colorado. After stepping away from the military, Dean held numerous positions in state government and the private sector, including for a number of years as a DoD contracted trainer in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. When he finally turned his attention from wars to words, he brought WordLink, an agency that had begun in New Zealand by a college friend, to Pennsylvania. WordLink is a small town agency with worldwide reach. Its agents reside in Colorado, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and New York. Visit the www.wordlink.us for the agency’s wish list and current client list.
Dean is looking for authors with distinctive voices whose narratives invoke a strong sense of time and place and whose stories create a memorable reading experience. He’d like to see mysteries (whodunit, cozy); psychological suspense; thrillers (looking for small town America setting vs international in scale); military fiction (character-driven pieces). In YA he would like to see mysteries, paranormal, sci-fi, coming of age, and suspense with writing that stirs the imagination and caters to the young reader’s sense of wonder and adventure.
Kim Lajevardi
Kim is a former teacher who traded the insanity of middle school science for working with her family, but writing has her heart. Her books have been recognized by several writing competitions including The Zebulon, The Pacific Northwest Writer's Association, and The Tucson Festival of Books.
John Lamb
With over 30 years in police work, John Lamb was a homicide investigator in one of California’s most violent cities. He was also a CSI, a hostage negotiator, and a detective sergeant. Lamb is the author of 10 books, including Beach Blanket Bedlam, a 2026 finalist for the Silver Falchion Award.
Kimberly Lander
Kimberly Lander’s interest with true crime deepened after her family moved to San Antonio, Texas in 1990—a move marked by the tragic kidnapping and murder of the eleven-year-old sister of a friend. Motivated by this formative experience, Kimberly began a twenty-year career as a Forensic DNA Analyst with the Bexar County Criminal Investigation Laboratory, analyzing biological evidence from sexual assaults, homicides, and other violent crimes. She served for sixteen years as a local CODIS administrator aiding law enforcement navigating the complexities of DNA database matches and evidence interpretation.
Since retiring in 2023, Kimberly now provides attorneys and detectives forensic DNA training, providing expert case reviews in preparation for court and help in cold-case investigations. In her new-found spare time, she began to consider writing crime fiction based on her experiences and discovered a new opportunity, sharing her knowledge of forensics with other aspiring and seasoned writers.
Avram Lavinsky
Avram Lavinsky’s writing has appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and several best-of compilations. In a starred review, ALA Booklist called his story “Playing God” a “particular standout” in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2023. In 2025, he received the Al Blanchard Award for best New England crime story.
Chris Lengquist
Chris Lengquist spent nine years as a private investigator and process server in Washington, DC. Twenty-five years as a Kansas City real estate agent. A lifetime spent watching people lie, cheat, and sign documents they never read somehow turned into fiction. His debut novella releases this October: Notice of Assignment.
Nancy Locklin
Locklin is a published historian who has served as a professor of history at Maryville College in East Tennessee since 2000. Her specialty is the history of 18th-Century France and her first book, Women’s Work and Identity in Eighteenth-Century was a hit with specialists in the discipline. Her second book, Murder, Justice, and Harmony in an Eighteenth-Century French Village shifted her focus towards the history of violence and the emergence of the modern criminal justice system. Her upcoming book, The Night Marauder: East Tennessee’s Serial Killer, 1919-1926 is due out in February 2027 from the University of Tennessee Press.
Jo Loveday
Jo Loveday is an award-winning thriller author and former registered nurse who brings clinical authenticity to medical fiction. Her hands-on critical care experience shapes every scene, from neurological procedures to ethical crises at the bedside. She writes compelling medical suspense where compassion, expertise, and life-or-death stakes collide with unflinching honesty.
Marty Ludlum
Marty Ludlum writes the Disco Divas series featuring Vegas detective Donna Summer Wyznecki.
Book one, AT FIRST I WAS AFRAID, was a finalist for the 2025 Silver Falchion Award.
Book two, SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY, was released in late June.
Published by Babylon Books, the Disco Divas series is available everywhere books are sold.
DP Lyle
DP Lyle is the Amazon #1 Bestselling; Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Award-winning; and Edgar(2), Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, Scribe, Silver Falchion, and USA Today Best Book(2) Award-nominated author of 26 books, both non-fiction and fiction (the Samantha Cody, Dub Walker, Jake Longly, and Cain/Harper thriller series and the Royal Pains media tie-in series). He hosts the Crime Fiction Writer’s Blog, the Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction YouTube/podcast series, and is co-creator of the Outliers Writing University. He has served as story consultant to many novelists and the screenwriters of shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Judging Amy, Peacemakers, Cold Case, House, Medium, Women’s Murder Club, 1-800-Missing, The Glades, and Pretty Little Liars.
Website: https://www.dplylemd.com
Outliers Writing University: https://www.outlierswritinguniversity.com