2025 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
Wendy Gee
After a successful career in the U.S. Navy, Wendy Gee channels her boundless energy into community volunteering, leaving no stone unturned—or unpainted—at the Charleston Fire Department, Friends of the Lewes Public Library Board of Directors, and Sussex County Habitat for Humanity. A proud graduate of the University of Michigan, University of Arizona, Naval War College, and Old Dominion University, Wendy combines her academic prowess and life experiences into her writing. Residing in Lewes, DE, she is an avid golfer, a diehard Detroit Tigers and Lions fan (even when they’re not winning, but so excited when they are), and a pickleball enthusiast who’s always ready to serve up some fun. Her work has been shortlisted with Killer Nashville and the Writer’s League of Texas. And as a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime, Wendy’s passion for the mystery genre is no secret—though she might leave a few clues lying around just for fun.
Tara Gelsomino
Tara Gelsomino is the founder and CEO of One Track Literary Agency, a boutique editorial agency launched in April 2018. A twenty-plus year veteran of the publishing industry, she was formerly the Executive Editor of Simon & Schuster’s digital imprint, Crimson Romance, and also worked for BBC Audiobooks America/AudioGO and Romantic Times Magazine. She primarily represents genre fiction, including mystery/thriller, romance, and women’s fiction, as well as the occasional non-fiction title and licenses audio rights on behalf of small publishers and agencies. Tara is a member of the Association of American Literary Agents, and serves on the media and digital innovations committee. She is a Rhode Island native and lives in Johnston with her husband and her rescue dog, Yoda.
Ronald Gerber
Ronald Gerber has been a literary agent at Lowenstein Associates since 2019. Recent titles from his clients include THE PERFECT HOME by Daniel Kenitz (Scribner, 2025), OLIVE BLACKWOOD TAKES ACTION! by Sonja Thomas (Aladdin/Simon & Schuster, 2024) and FIRST TO THE FRONT by Lorissa Rinehart (St. Martin’s Press, 2023). Ronald is always on the lookout for cinematic stories with strong hooks and relatable characters. He lives in Queens, New York.
Debra H. Goldstein
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of her award-winning short stories, as well as Kensington’s five book Sarah Blair mystery series, Should Have Played Poker, and IPPY Award winning Maze in Blue. Her novels and short stories have been named Agatha, Anthony, Derringer, Claymore, and Silver Falchion finalists and received Silver Falchion, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, IPPY, and Alabama Writers Conclave awards.She serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime and previously was a national board member of Mystery Writers of America and president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters. Find out more about Debra at
https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com
Chris Grall
Chris Grall is a retired US Special Forces team sergeant with 26 years of service. He’s been a technical adviser to writers since 2007. Chris has shared his knowledge of firearms and tactics at several conferences and recently published Trigger Guard: A Writers Guide to Firearms.
Angela Greenman
Angela Greenman is a recognized communications professional who has worked on a myriad of national and international issues related to media relations and public messaging. Growing up in Chicago, surrounded by culture and diversity, she attended festivals where people of all races, religion and cultures came together. Her Chicago world shaped her into a passionate believer that it is in our differences that we find life’s richness. This passion brought her to use her communication skills at the City’s civil rights department to champion a bias-free City. She went on later to work at the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, receiving numerous commendations for her involvement in public affairs and highly visible meetings with the general public.
Moving from the Midwest to Up North, Angela enjoyed competitive archery and a career in international nuclear communications. For a decade, she worked in over sixteen countries as an expert and trainer for the International Atomic Energy Agency, bringing these rich experiences into her writing.
Her debut action thriller, The Child Riddler, has received 14 award recognitions, including a Killer Nashville’s Silver Falchion for Best Action Book and Gold Medal for Thriller from the Florida Authors and Publishers Association. She is currently near completion on another action thriller, The InvisiblePredator.
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.
Tricia Hedman
Tricia Hedman has worked in numerous publicity mediums, including crisis, product, and entertainment, lastly working as a photo publicist for CBS Network in Los Angeles before relocating to San Diego. It was there that she combined her publicity experience with her love of books, working as a senior publicist in the San Diego office of Harcourt Trade Publishing for six years. In September 2006, Tricia launched her own literary publicity agency, Ollie Media. Her clients include authors from FSG, HarperCollins, Knopf, Naval Institute Press, Rodale, in addition to numerous university presses and smaller indie publishers. Tricia lives in San Diego, California, with her husband Mike. Her daughter Olivia is the inspiration and namesake for her business. For further information visit www.olliemedia.com
Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong
Cathie Hedrick-Armstrong is a literary agent with Marsal Lyon Literary Agency. A prolific reader of many genres, Cathie represents Romance in all categories; Commercial, Book Club, and Women’s Fiction; Domestic and Psychological Suspense; “light” Horror; and Mystery. Cathie looks for manuscripts that catch her attention within the first few pages. If you can evoke an emotional response in the opening pages—make her laugh out loud, cause her pulse to race, make her cry, make her curious—you’ve got a winner. Cathie is never interested in Science Fiction or High Fantasy in any genre; however, “accessible” fantasy with paranormal or supernatural elements, and without excessive world building or difficult magic systems, are often a good fit. At this time, Cathie is only accepting adult fiction, and welcomes authors from all backgrounds and experiences.
Chrissy Hicks
Chrissy’s writing portfolio features publications in various anthologies and magazines, and her writing has garnered recognition, winning awards such as First Place in the Seven Hills Literary Contest and the Thomas Mabry Creative Writing Award. She holds degrees in Psychology and Counseling, complemented by a Specialization in Developmental Editing from the University of Washington. Since 2013, she has guided countless individuals in their career journeys through coaching and resume development. Translating these skills into her passion for books, she transitioned to freelance work and founded Ember Skye Editorial. She’s an active member of the Editorial Freelance Association and her local writing group, The Ink Tank. Chrissy lives in Tennessee with her family, including a frenetic cat.
At the time of this writing, she is in contract negotiations to sell her first novel, a 2022 Claymore Suspense Finalist. Ask her how it went! Visit her online at chrissyhicks.com or hire her for your next editing project at emberskyeeditorial.com.
Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes
Dr. Katherine Hutchinson-Hayes is an editor, author, speaker, podcaster, educational consultant, and the owner of a small publishing company—Dressed in Love Press. She’s a member of Word Weavers International and serves as an online chapter president and mentor. She belongs to FWA (Florida Writers Association), ACFW (American Christian Fiction Writers), CWoC (Crime Writers of Color), AWSA (Advanced Writers and Speakers Association), and AASA (American Association of School Administrators). She serves on the nonprofit 540 Writers’ Community board and is an art instructor for the nonprofit organization Light for the Future in Guatemala. Katherine hosts the podcast Murder, Mystery & Mayhem Laced with Morality. She contributes regularly to several magazines, blogs, and newsletters. She has authored five Bible studies, three collaborative anthologies of devotions, and is currently working on the sequels of her first general market thriller novel. Her thriller A Fifth of the Story debuted in February 2024 through Endgame Press.
Steven James
Steven James is a critically acclaimed author of twenty novels and numerous nonfiction books that have sold more than 1 million copies. His books have won or been shortlisted for dozens of national and international awards. In addition, his stories and articles have appeared in more than eighty different publications, including the New York Times. He is also a popular keynote speaker and professional storyteller with a master’s degree in storytelling.
Since 1996, James has appeared more than two thousand times at events spanning the globe, presenting his stories and teaching the principles of storytelling to writers, speakers, teachers, and leaders. He also hosts the weekly podcast The Story Blender, on which he has interviewed more than 150 of the world’s leading writers and storytellers. In 2020, he was inducted into the Christy Award Hall of Fame for excellence in fiction writing. Publishers Weekly has called him “[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.”
When he’s not writing or speaking, you may find him playing basketball or disc golf, or hiking near his home in the Appalachian Highlands of East Tennessee. He may or may not watch too many science fiction movies while eating bottomless bowls of chips and salsa.
For all things Steven James, click to www.stevenjames.net
J.A. Jance
In a writing career that spans more than forty years, J.A. Jance has written close to seventy books in four separate series. She was born in South Dakota and raised in Bisbee, Arizona. She now resides in Seattle, Washington.
Dean Krystek
After retiring from a long military career, Dean put away his uniform and decided to follow his passion for books. He is an alumnus of the University of Maryland and the University of South Carolina with a B.A. in English. He’s a published novelist and short story writer. He currently resides in Pennsylvania with his wife Lynda. 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 paranormal; crime (police procedural); mysteries (whodunit, cozy); sci-fi (space opera, dystopian, alternate history, time travel); psychological suspense; thrillers (looking for small town America setting vs international in scale); military fiction (character-driven pieces; favoring post-WWII. **Vietnam**). In YA and middle-grade fiction 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. Dean is also looking for film & television projects to develop in his areas of interest either as original works or adaptations of an author’s work (published or unpublished).
Avram Lavinsky
A recovering musician with one gold record on his living room wall and countless unsold ones in his attic, Avram Lavinsky has published a dozen short stories in esteemed magazines and anthologies, with nine more accepted and awaiting publication. In a starred review, the American Library Association’s Booklist called his story, “Playing God,” a “particular standout” in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, 2023. He’s also earned starred reviews from the nation’s toughest critics, his three teenage sons, although not often.
Greg Laird
Greg Laird is a retired attorney now fully immersed in a life of travel, writing, and legal consultation. After publishing his debut novel, One Life for Another, he closed his private practice in Tulsa, Oklahoma to pursue his passions full-time. The novel, inspired by his decades of high-stakes legal work, quickly resonated with readers and landed on Oklahoma’s Best Seller list twice during the summer of 2024.
Throughout his legal career, Laird represented numerous defendants at every stage of death penalty jurisprudence, including securing two victories at the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals—ultimately saving his clients from execution. He wrote his first book to give readers a visceral look into the twists, turns, and emotional weight that comes with defending those on death row.
Laird is the founding partner of The Laird Law Group, where he led representation across a wide range of legal areas, including criminal defense. When he’s not writing or consulting, Greg enjoys reading, attending sporting events, and spending time with family and friends—always seeking new adventures to inspire his next unforgettable character.