Meet Susan Budavari Award-winning author Susan Budavari has always loved reading mysteries. After years as a scientific writer/editor and information specialist in the pharmaceutical industry in New Jersey, she moved to Arizona and began to write fiction. Her Merano & Bell novels feature a small-town, Arizona Private Investigator (an ex-New Jersey cop) and his physician

Meet Elle Jauffret Elle’s interest in writing began at an early age. “I would say (it started) in 6th grade, after reading The Martian Chronicles by Ray Bradbury,” she said. It continued to grow because of her love of stories that reach out and touch readers’ emotions. “I never thought about ‘being an author’ per

Meet Leslie Budewitz Bestselling author Leslie Budewitz tells “stories about women’s lives, seasoned with friendship, food, a dash of history, and a spoonful of mystery.” In her youth, Leslie enjoyed writing but chose to pursue a career in another field. “I started writing at four-years-old, on my father’s desk. Literally. I did not understand the

Meet Jennifer K. Morita. Former newspaper reporter Jennifer Morita says she believes “a good story is like good mochi—slightly sweet with a nice chew.” Jennifer delivers that story in her highly praised debut mystery, GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ, released by Crooked Lane Books on November 19th . The novel features an out-of-work journalist who stumbles into a murder—and her ex—when she discovers coming home to the paradise of Hawaiʻi can be a killer.

Meet Ellen Byron, crime fiction author, playwright, and screenwriter. In her early writing career, Ellen focused on writing plays and screenwriting.
“I never set out to be an author. I launched my writing career as a playwright. After joining Actor’s Equity and not able to do non-union theatre she was out of work and bored, so she wrote a play. Soon it was goodbye acting and hello, writing.

Meet Darlene Dziomba.mystery author and animal lover.

Attendance at one of the premier crime fiction conferences, Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, inspired Darlene to start her writing career.

An aspiring author on the cusp of being published. With her first book in the hands of an agent, Tawn’s writer’s journey is an inspiring one. She credits her amazing mother with encouraging her earliest work. “Like many authors, my road to becoming a writer followed a circuitous route. When I was a child, I enjoyed writing poetry. Initially, my poems were rather pedantic, of the ‘roses are red’ variety. But my mother gushed over my efforts and encouraged my creative writing. She was a writer at heart and had a notebook filled with her scribblings. Some of her plays had been produced and her poems published, and she knew the personal satisfaction of seeing your thoughts sprout wings and come to life.

Meet Donna Van Braswell. Before writing her debut novel, Daughter of the Ancients, which has been lauded as a “compelling adventure”, and “exciting and humorous”, Donna Van Braswell’s life included a few adventures of her own.

Bestselling author, Debra Sanders, thanks her parents for her love of adventure and travel, along with the creative spirit her family’s road trips instilled in her. Her passion for exploration and crafting stories began in her early school years and increases each day.

“I enjoy the process of storytelling,” she said. “As a child, I was an avid fan of the television series, Bonanza. Instead of counting sheep at bedtime, I mentally developed new screenplays. Each night I would add scenes until they became a complete show. After a few weeks, I’d have a complete story and start another.”