Mystery Writers Talk Shop

Who says I don't have class? An online class, anyway, which I'm offering via the Kiss Of Death Chapter of the Romance Writers of America, along with fellow authors Harley Jane Kozak, Jo Ann Ferguson, and Angie Fox. (Check out our bios below!)

Killer Instinct - May

Title: Mystery Writers Talk Shop: Conversations and Q&A with...

Instructor: Harley Jane Kozak, Colleen Thompson, Jo Ann Ferguson, and Angie Fox

Class Description: In this four week workshop, there will be a different mystery writing featured each week. And we do mean that this is conversations with questions and answers because that is exactly what we'll be doing. Asking each of these ladies how they write. You supply the questions.

But you've only got one week with each. They pass the baton on to the next mystery writer when their week is finished. That's what makes this different from the sort of roundtable discussion in physical workshops but would be less time consuming for the authors in the online format. There are no assignments given, just be prepared with your questions.

The four mystery writers each represent a different niche in the field of murder and suspense.

May 1 - 7: HARLEY JANE KOZAK. Winner of the Agatha, Anthony and Macavity Awards for her Wollie Shelley mystery series, Harley Jane Kozak is also a well respected actress, and now speaker and workshop presenter as well as writer. There are currently four Wollie Shelley stories out: Dating Dead Men, Dating is Murder, Dead Ex, and A Date You Can't Refuse. While Wollie is romantically involved (not always with the victim, fortunately), there is no reoccurring hero across the four books, although it looks like there may be based on the past two books in the series. Harley represents Comedic Series Mystery the first week of the workshop.
May 8 - 14: COLLEEN THOMPSON. Colleen Thompson has been turning out fast-paced, steamy romantic suspense tales since her 2004 thriller, Fatal Error, launched a new line at Dorchester Publishing, was nominated for the RITA Award for Best Romantic Suspense and won the Texas Gold for Best Mainstream Fiction. Another eight titles, with Touch of Evil the latest release in March 2010, have followed, and Colleen has two Harlequin Intrigues on the way, beginning with Capturing the Commando, a Romantic Times Top Pick for June 2011. But she hasn't always written thrillers - she began her writing career spinning historical tales. Colleen represents Romantic Suspense for her week with the workshop.
May 15 - 21: JO ANN FERGUSON. The holder of two ARTemis Awards from RWA, and many other nominations, Jo Ann Ferguson has had over 80 titles published, sometimes writing under four different pen names as well. A former Army quartermaster officer, she is the author of the Lady Priscilla Flanders Regency mystery series, which has been released through Zebra, Five Star, and now ImaJinn. She is no stranger to KOD though, having taught a workshop on Regency era crime and punishment in the past. Jo Ann, naturally, will represent Historical Mystery series the third week of the workshop.
May 22 - 28: ANGIE FOX. New York Times bestselling author Angie Fox claims she has as much fun doing research for her Demon Slayer series as she does writing them. Angie holds a degree in Journalism and worked in television news and in advertising before beginning her career as an author. There are currently four books in her urban fantasy/mystery series, the most recent title, A Tale of Two Demon Slayers, released in January 2010. Angie will represent Paranormal Mystery series the final week of the workshop.

Registration for the class, which is conducted through posts on Yahoogroups (making it accessible to students on their own schedule) is a bargain, $15 for KOD members and $30 for non-members. For more information, please follow the link. I'd love to see you on my roster.

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