2026 Faculty: S through Z
R.C. Reid
R. C. Reid is the author of two action-espionage thriller series: the Mother Russia Series and the Morrigan Stories.
With his friend Tim Bischoff, he is the vice president and editor at Southern Wilds Publishing. His website is www.rcreidauthor.com and he is active on Facebook and Instagram.
Mark Rein
Mark Rein is a Desert Storm era Marine Corps veteran. His path into law enforcement began while studying criminal justice at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, balancing coursework with a job as a security officer for the college police department.
In 1995, Mark joined the Anchorage Police Department, where he worked the streets as a patrol officer, field training officer, and Sergeant. Over the years, he received two life-saving awards and the Police Medal of Valor. As a detective and detective sergeant, he tackled cases in burglary, vice, sexual assault, and major narcotics, gaining firsthand insight into the darker corners of crime.
After retiring from law enforcement, Mark turned his focus to storytelling, channeling his real-life experiences into crime thrillers and hosting Crime Raven, a true-crime podcast. When he’s not writing, he’s tending to Three Little Birds Farm in eastern Kentucky, where he raises Katahdin sheep and breeds registered Anatolian shepherds.
He can be reached at Markrein907@gmail.com.
Cathey Rhamy
Cathey Rhamy, a recently retired finance professional, writes cozy mysteries set in the American South. Her debut novel, Steeped in Gossip, is a finalist for this year's Claymore Award for Best Cozy Mystery. She lives in Summerville, South Carolina, where she's hard at work on the next Georgiana Starlington mystery.
Jennifer Sadera
Jennifer Sadera writes psychological suspense. Her debut, I Know She Was There, won the 2025 gold medal IPPY and a Judges' Top Pick at last year's Killer Nashville. Her next thriller, Maybe You Lied, will release on September 22nd of this year, and her latest, Got You Where I Want You, is slated for release in January of 2028. When not writing, she eats too much chocolate and enjoys traveling with suitcases loaded with books.
Alan Schmadtke
Alan Schmadtke writes novels of mystery and suspense under his pen name, David Ryan. His first novel, Dead Odds, captured a Royal Palms Literary Award gold medal for best suspense novel. Alan is also founder of MacGuffin Publishing, a content marketing company. After 40 years in Florida, he now lives in East Tennessee.
Jack Sharman
A graduate of Harvard Law School, Jack Sharman is a white-collar criminal defense lawyer. He holds an MFA in Fiction from Washington University in St. Louis. His short stories have been published in The Southern Review and elsewhere. Jack’s comments on white-collar trials and government investigations have appeared in the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, the New York Post, and other national outlets. On Substack, he writes at “The Last Word” (jacksharman.substack.com) about crime fiction, artificial intelligence, and cocktails, and he blogs about white-collar crime at “White Collar Wire” (jacksharman.com).
Kirsten Shuford
Kirsten Shuford is a Washington, DC based mystery/suspense writer. DAMAGE CONTROL is her debut novel.
She is a retired intelligence analyst, with experience at the CIA, FBI, NSA, and Defense Department. Her unique background shapes her writing, especially via the protagonist of DAMAGE CONTROL, amateur sleuth Andrea Sheffler.
James Siburt
James Siburt is the author of the western novel, Murder Most Public: A U.S. Marshal Ward Wilkinson Murder Mystery Adventure and its forthcoming sequel, Thicker Than Blood. His latest publication, “Mirage of Gold,” appeared in the Dragon Soul Press anthology, “Wild Frontier.” In non-fiction, he writes Civil War military history.
Lynn Slaughter
A former dancer, Lynn earned her MFA from Seton Hill University. Her novels have received numerous accolades, including a Silver Falchion Award. Midwest Book Review called Missing Mom (2025), a “remarkable book” that “invites readers to immerse themselves in a narrative that beautifully captures the essence of struggle and triumph.”
BJ Sloan
BJ’s debut novel, The Forgotten Son, was winner of last year’s Reader’s Choice Award. Her second novel, The Unfavored Children’s Club, is a delightful dark comedy through the morally gray shenanigans of disinherited adults. Papa’s Gold, also with Fawkes Press Publishing is scheduled for release in early 2027.
Alan Spira
Dr. Alan Spira has degrees in emergency medicine, tropical medicine and acupuncture. He is a retired reserve Navy doctor, and served as a Battalion Surgeon for the United States Marine Corps. In 2006 he deployed to the combat area of Al Anbar province in Iraq, spending seven austere and turbulent months providing trauma and medical care for US troops and Iraqi nationals. He is a graduate of the Stanford Online Writing Certificate Course and a member of the International Thriller Writers. He won the Conference Choice award at the 30th Annual SDSU Writing Conference. He is an instructor at KillerNashville, teaching writers about the craft of medicine in fiction. He has written both fiction and non-fiction. He received his BS degree (Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa) as well as his MD degree from UCLA, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine. He is the founder and director of Jamii Health International, an international non-profit organization dedicated to creating local self-sustaining health care systems in the developing world.
Clay Stafford
Clay Stafford is a bestselling author, award-winning filmmaker, and internationally recognized storyteller whose work spans publishing, film, television, and professional education. With nearly four million books sold and translations into sixteen languages, his writing and creative leadership have reached audiences worldwide.
Stafford has collaborated with major studios, including Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal, as well as networks such as ABC, CBS, and NBC. He is the founder of the Killer Nashville International Writers’ Conference, named the #1 writers’ conference in the United States by The Writer Magazine; Killer Nashville University, a Writer’s Digest “101 Best Websites for Writers”; Killer Nashville Magazine, available online wherever magazines are sold; and Clay Stafford’s Writers’ Podcast: Craft, Creativity, Career, and Community, available on your favorite streaming services. He speaks internationally on storytelling, publishing, and creative leadership. https://claystafford.com/
Walter Sticht
Walter Sticht is a native Tennessean and graduate of the University of Memphis and currently works as a child support and paternity investigator in Northwest Missouri. In 2025, he self-published his first two novels Audacity is My Middle Name and A Little Splash of Panache. He is currently querying a new paranormal mystery series.
Leigh Stroh
As a career educator, Leigh Stroh used the literature he taught as a lens to help his students recognize the ways they could realize their dreams. Then he retired to realize one of his own in the publication of his debut novel, Just A Shot Away, which releases September 15th.
Susan Tanner
Susan Tanner began writing at seventeen. Twenty years later, five historical romances were published by Dorchester. She mastered the not-so-cozy mystery with five novels featuring a feline supersleuth published by Kalioka Press. Her latest series is a blend of romance and suspense. All of her work is now with Columbine.
Emmett Tatter
Emmett Tatter's a public advocate, criminal justice educator, yoga teacher, and guest lecturer at Flagler College and St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and frequent CounterPunch contributor. His completed prison memoir, COUNT TIME is a 2026 Claymore Award Finalist. His work's currently in active production for publication with Harvard Law's Inquest.
Jaden (Beth) Terrell / Editor
Jaden (Beth) Terrell is a Shamus Award finalist and the internationally published author of the Nashville-based Jared McKean private detective series. Terrell’s short stories, which range from cozy to noir, have appeared in several anthologies, and she’s a contributor to ITW’s The Big Thrill online magazine and Now Write! Mysteries, a collection of how-to essays for writers of crime fiction. Terrell is the recipient of the Killer Nashville Builder Award and two awards for service to the Southeast Mystery Writers of America. She offers workshops, coaching, and courses for writers.
Website: https://www.jadenterrell.com
Kristen Terrette / Agent
Kristen is honored to be a literary manager with Martin Literary and Media Management. She’s excited to continue building her list featuring titles in young adult, new adult, fantasy, thrillers/mysteries/suspense, romance, women’s fiction, horror, literary fiction, historical fiction, contemporary, non-fiction, all faith-based books.
She has a BA in Early Childhood Education and MA in Theology and Religious Studies which led her into children’s ministry for many years. Eventually, her lifelong love of books and authors drew her back to her original dream of entering the publishing world. Kristen is a multi-published, award-winning author and freelance writer. She’s held such positions as the Blog Manager for a national women’s ministry and the Social Media Manager for a publishing house. All these components landed her a spot in the coveted Writers House Intern Program. There, she received valuable hands-on agenting and publishing experience which she brought into her position, and now learns every day beside her amazing MLM colleagues. She was also named an ECPA Emerging Leader in 2023 and went through a precious mentorship during 2024 to further her understanding of the Christian Publishing landscape.
Kristen has long been a voice for diversity. She’s written extensively on topics of racial reconciliation and unity and has been a facilitator of groups around these topics in her church. In all her focused genres, she welcomes books with BIPOC or disabled main characters and diverse friendships. She believes books change people in all the best ways and that every child should see themselves in the pages.
Sabrina Thatcher
Sabrina Thatcher is a cheerleader with a knife—an Author Accelerator certified book coach, podcaster, and writer obsessed with the dark and twisted wrapped in a bubbly package. Specializing in mystery, thriller, suspense, and horror, Sabrina’s style of coaching will keep you enthused about your work, while giving you honest and tough feedback. Through her Crime & Quill coaching programs, and podcast Slaying the Craft, Sabrina works with aspiring and emerging authors to sharpen their stories, master misdirection, and turn good manuscripts into unputdownable ones that keep readers up all night. When she’s not working on killer stories, Sabrina loves to travel, play Animal Crossing, and trying new cocktails. She lives in Seattle with her rescue pup, Ellie.
Jeniffer Thompson
Jeniffer Thompson is an author branding expert, book marketing strategist, publishing consultant, and host of The Premise Podcast. As the co-founder and creative director of Monkey C Media, established in 2004, she has spent more than two decades helping authors build meaningful platforms, clarify their message, and connect with readers. She is passionate about helping authors navigate the publishing landscape and build sustainable visibility around their work.
She is the co-founder of the San Diego Writers Festival and currently serves as President of Publishers & Writers of San Diego. She is also a founding board member of the International Memoir Writers Association and remains deeply involved in supporting the writing and publishing community. Through her books, speaking engagements, workshops, consulting, her podcast, and her popular author marketing newsletter, she educates authors on branding, publishing, and book marketing strategies. Learn more at JenifferThompson.com, MonkeyCMedia.com, and ThePremisePod.com.
Helen Thornton-Gussy / Editor
Helen Thornton-Gussy has been the editor and owner of Edit Co. since 2017, offering developmental (structural) editing, line editing, copy editing, proofreading, and formatting. She works in both US and UK English and loves a good Oxford comma. Even though Helen is based in New Zealand, she works predominantly with US authors.
Helen specializes in adult commercial fiction, particularly crime, thriller, mystery, epic fantasy/fantasy, and women’s fiction. She has a soft spot for thrillers and epic fantasy and considers herself fortunate to have worked with Grim Oak Press (Washington State), who produce limited-edition books for fantasy authors such as Robin Hobb, Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist, and others.
Learn more about Helen, and the services she offers here (https://www.editco.nz/) or on Instagram
@edit_co._ or Threads https://www.threads.net/@edit_co._/
Becky Tuch
Becky Tuch is the Founder of Lit Mag News, a bestselling Substack dedicated to demystifying the world of literary magazines. Lit Mag News has over 17,000 subscribers and has been listed in Writer’s Digest’s 101 Best Websites for Writers. Her short fiction has been honored with a MacDowell fellowship, First Place in Moment Magazine’s Karma Foundation Fiction Prize, and has appeared in STORY, Gulf Coast, Post Road, Best of the Net, and elsewhere. She has taught newsletter writing and fiction writing to kids, teens and adults throughout the country. She lives with her family in Philadelphia, PA.
Chris Underwood
Chris is a self published author of a 4 book series and a stand alone murder mystery. He was a Claymore finalist in 2024 and a current Silver Falchion finalist. Chris tours heavily to unconventional book selling events such as ComicCons, Airshows, war reenactments, museums, military bases, car shows, street fairs, and farmers markets. The results have been positive, and better than conventional book fairs.
Yvonne Ventresca
Yvonne Ventresca’s adult thriller debut, If I’m Gone, comes out May 2027 (Poisoned Pen Press). Her previous work includes the YA suspense novels Pandemic (Crystal Kite winner) and Black Flowers, White Lies (Gold IPPY winner). She currently serves on the MWA NY Board. Visit YvonneVentresca.com/IfImGone to read a secret letter.
Nina Wachsman
Nina Wachsman studied illustration under Maurice Sendak, which is why there is usually an artist or art theft in her short stories and novels. Her novels of historical mystery set in 17th Century Venice, have been finalists for Agatha, Anthony, and Silver Falchion awards. Website: https://www.ninawachsmanauthor.com
Kimberly Wall
Kimberly Wall writes psychological suspense rooted in secrets, power, and what people don’t say out loud. Her work includes short fiction, essays, and a forthcoming novel. Her short story “Old Money, Still Water” appears in the Sisters in Crime North Dallas anthology Boots, BBQ, and Bloodshed: Mysteries of the Metroplex, V.
Stephen J Wallace
Stephen J. Wallace says he’s a writer in an engineer’s body, or vice versa. His first novel, Hazardous Lies, received numerous awards for thrillers and mysteries, including the IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold. His latest, Average Civil Employee, was a finalist in the International Book Awards. He lives in Washington, DC.
J. E. Weiner
J. E. Weiner is the author of The Wretched and Undone, a searing Southern Gothic saga set in the Texas Hill Country. The novel was a 2024 Killer Nashville Top Pick and Claymore Award Finalist, and a 2025 Laramie Book Award semifinalist, recognizing emerging new talent in Americana Fiction.
Darin Werkmeister
Darin Werkmeister is an award winning author and a retired FBI Agent. He has 21 years of street experience in Philadelphia, including 8 years on the FBI SWAT team. Prior to the FBI, he was a Marine Corps officer. His genre blending supernatural VOLK series is best described as “The X-Files meets the Bourne Identity.” When not writing, he enjoys spending time with his family, hiking and traveling.
Christine Mager Wevik
Christine Mager Wevik is the author of the award-winning Brynn Young mystery series, including Borrowed Memories, recipient of the Silver Falchion Best Supernatural and Best Book of the Year. Her non-fiction books include It’s Only Hair, a humorous, self-help book about coping with hair loss, and bestseller, Someone Knows, detailing 52 of SD’s many cold cases. Mother of four and grandmother of six, she lives in southeast South Dakota with her husband, Doug (the other Clint Eastwood), and her dog, Livie.
Lauren K. Whitley
Lauren K. Whitley has been fascinated by mysteries since reading the first Trixie Belden book in the third grade. She is an award-winning writer, writing coach, and developmental editor specializing in the genre. When she’s not helping other authors strengthen the stories only they can tell, she looks for ways to get the characters of her debut novel, Deadly Dosage: A Black Quill Mystery into trouble—and sometimes out of it.
Lauren holds a BA in Creative Writing and Business from Western Oregon University and is an active member of Sisters in Crime, Florida Writers Association, Editorial Freelancers Association, Writing Away Refuge, and Emerald Coast Writers. She is an entrepreneur that grew two successful companies, one in software and one in retail, from the ground up and brings the same skills and creativity to the craft of fiction.
David Lane Williams
David Lane Williams is a veteran paramedic and police officer whose assignments have included helicopter rescue, tactical medic, mental health liaison, and Special Investigations Unit detective. Twice named Officer of the Year by the Fraternal Order of Police, he has also been recognized by Rotary Club, the American Legion, and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center for his work with trauma victims and families in crisis. Williams is a criminology lecturer at the University of Arkansas and a bestselling author of nonfiction books on violence prevention and mitigation, as well as Carousel Grift, a darkly comedic novel about forgiveness. His debut mystery/thriller novel, The Shadow Box, will be released through Black Rose in February 2027.
CB Wilson
Award-winning author, CB Wilson, writes two beloved cozy mystery series: the Gem Hunters Mysteries—beginning with The Fire Diamond—and the Barkview Mysteries, set in the dog-friendliest town in America. A GIA-trained gemologist and lifelong dog lover, she fills her books with sparkling clues, warm humor, and unforgettable canine sidekicks. She lives in Arizona, where she writes stories rich with diamonds, danger, laughter, and loyal dogs.
Lois Winston
Lois Winston, a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author of mystery, romance, romantic suspense, chick lit, middle-grade, and nonfiction, began her award-winning writing career in 2006 with Talk Gertie to Me, a humorous novel about a small-town girl in Manhattan and the mother determined to bring her home to marry the boy next door. That was followed by the romantic suspense Love, Lies and a Double Shot of Deception. Lois wrote her first mystery thanks to a conversation between her agent and an editor looking for a crafting-themed amateur sleuth series. Thus, was born the Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mysteries, which Kirkus Reviews dubbed, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” The series now includes fifteen novels (with two Silver Falchion winners) and three novellas.
To date Lois has published twenty-four novels, five novellas, several short stories, one children’s chapter book, and one nonfiction book on writing, inspired by the twelve years she worked as an associate at a literary agency. To learn more about Lois and her books, visit her at www.loiswinston.com where you can sign up for her newsletter and receive a free Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery. She also blogs regularly at The Stiletto Gang and Booklover’s Bench.
Steven Womack
Edgar and Shamus Award-winning author Steven Womack created the groundbreaking Music City Murders series, the first series to put Nashville on the map as a mystery setting. He’s also the author of a number of other novels, including the New York Times Notable Book Murphy’s Fault. A screenwriter and member of the Writers Guild of America as well, he co-wrote the ABC-TV movie Volcano: Fire On The Mountain. For twenty-five years, he was on the faculty of Tennessee’s first film school, the Watkins Film School.
He also writes a monthly column for Killer Nashville Magazine called This Crazy Writing Life.
Visit his website: www.stevenwomack.com.
S.L. Woeppel
S.L. Woeppel is the author of The Butcher and The Liar, a finalist for the 2026 Kirkus Indie Award. Woeppel’s books cross multiple genres, exploring the morally ambiguous and the wide spectrum of human capacity for good or evil. Woeppel lives in Minnesota and works in finance in her spare time.
D.L. Wood
D.L. Wood is a USA TODAY and Amazon bestselling suspense and thriller author. She is a two-time Illumination Gold Medal winner, three-time Daphne du Maurier Award finalist, and Killer Nashville Silver Falchion finalist. A litigator in another life, she now spends her time solving fictional crimes from her Alabama home.
Tom Wood
Tom Wood is an award-winning Nashville journalist, an unproduced screenwriter and author of the thriller Vendetta Stone. A retired sportswriter at The Tennessean, he now writes for the weekly Ledger newspapers. Besides thrillers, Tom writes short stories in various genres including Westerns, crime fiction, YA, science fiction, and Southern literature.
Cat Wyatt
Storyteller, adventurer, lifelong observer of the human experience, CAT’s fiction draws from a life filled with unexpected journeys, chance encounters, and discoveries. She crafts vivid, character-driven narratives blending heart, mystery and a touch of humor.
A trained trauma intervention specialist, CAT brings authenticity and compassion to every story she writes. Living amongst snowcapped mountains and the ocean in Alaska she continues to write inspired by the extraordinary lives of ordinary people.
Lisa Wysocky
Lisa Wysocky is an award-winning horse trainer / riding instructor who runs the nonprofit Colby’s Army. An editor / ghostwriter, she authors the award-winning Cat Enright cozy series (now in TV movie post-production), hosts the award-winning Celebs with Horses podcast, and often co-hosts Horses in the Morning on the Horse Radio Network. lisawysocky.com.