Members

Alecia Alexander is the author of Everybody’s A Critic, a cold case mystery set in Atlanta, Georgia.

She is also a photographer working on a photo book on historic cemeteries in Houston. This project inspired her next mystery, Devil On The Hill, which she hopes to publish within the next year. It is set in a small Georgia town during the early days of Prohibition.

In addition to Sisters on Crime, she is also a member of Mystery Writers of America and is currently serving of the board of the Houston Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists.

Alecia Alexander

Carol Bennetts is a New Jersey native who left snowy winters and the world’s best pizza
behind to call Texas home. Retired after spending twenty-five years as an educator, school counselor and mental health professional, she is currently working on a collection of short stories and a mystery novel set in Galveston. When not editing her work in progress, she and her husband spend as much time as possible with their three grandchildren. Carol proudly serves as past-president and communications chair for the Houston chapter of Sisters in Crime.

Carol Bennetts

Chuck Brownman has spent the last twenty-five-plus years working on becoming an “overnight writing sensation.”

Concentrating on writing mystery / suspense short fiction, his work has been published in several anthologies, including the 2019 Eyes of Texas anthology (Down & Out Press), Volumes 4 and 5 of the annual Death Edge Tales anthology, and a Book-of-the-Month club anthology. He won the 2017 Arizona Mystery Writers Short Story Contest, and he was a finalist in the 2015 Criminal Element.com short fiction contest. His stories also appeared on the mysterynet.com site.

In his “real life,” Chuck is a Houston-based corporate and energy attorney, advising and working for some of the country’s most entrepreneurial companies. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Law, and has spoken at legal seminars for many years.

Chuck Brownman

Karen Sue Burns is a retired CPA who now spends her days living her passion–writing political thrillers, cozy mysteries, and Texas ghost novels sprinkled with romance. First published in 2012 with the romantic suspense novel In Hot Pursuit, she continues to focus on writing mystery and suspense novels. She enjoys cooking and creating recipes, so her heroines do the same—all her books include one of her favorite recipes. She was a long-time member of RWA and held various chapter leadership positions over the years. She recently rejoined SinC and plans to be an active member of the Houston chapter. Karen is currently working on the follow-up novel to Capitol Secrets.

Karen Sue Burns - Capitol Secrets

Jessica (“Jess”) Capelle writes non-fiction, poetry, and suspenseful stories across genres. In addition to her own work, she has been a ghostwriter for multiple authors who, sadly, do not write about ghosts. Luckily, her alter ego, Jessa Dean, brings all the ghosts to her books for kids, including multiple books in the Spooky America series from Arcadia Children’s Books. Jess lives in the Houston area, where her day job in law proves truth is stranger than fiction. She can usually be found with coffee in hand and a cat by her side.

Spooky America by Jessa Dean

Nannette Chapman entered an essay writing contest sponsored by a juvenile magazine at age eight and won second place. Her prize was $3.00 and publication of her essay in the magazine. As a young adult, she tried writing again. In addition to a pile of rejection slips, she published a short story and won second place for a children’s picture book. With little time to write, she gave up for many years. Her second novel, a romantic suspense, won first place in a RWA contest and was a finalist in two others. She has just finished the first draft of her third book, a psychological suspense, and hopes one day to see her name on a book cover. Nannette serves as secretary and treasurer of HSinC.

Nanette Chapman

Amy Denton: History teacher/professor, I have been writing stories since I was in college and finally got serious about writing five years ago. I am currently working on my first novel and have sent in several short story submissions to contests and publications. I am waiting for that e-mail that says “You’re published” or “You’ve won.” Amy serves as president of Houston Sisters in Crime.

Amy Denton

Pamela Ebel has been published in Shotgun Honey, The BOULD AWARDS 2020 and 2021 Anthology, Tomorrow and Tomorrow 2021 Anthology, YELLOW MAMA, Kings River Life and other venues. Her poetry has appeared in the Delta Poetry Review. A native of California, she now concentrates on tales from her original home state and tales from the highways of the South. She also knows, like the Ancient Greeks and the Irish, that as a southern writer you can’t outrun your blood.

She has turned to writing full time as of 2020, obviously either perfect or bizarre timing, and this will be her fifth career. She lives in Metairie, Louisiana, with her husband and two cats.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow anthology

Terry Korth Fischer writes mystery and memoir. Her memoir, Omaha to Ogallala (S&H Publishing) was released in 2019. She writes the Rory Naysmith Mysteries (The Wild Rose Press). Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies. Transplanted from the Midwest, Terry lives in Houston with her husband and their two guard cats where she enjoys the heat, humidity, and long summer days.

Gone Astray by Terry Korth Fischer

Jann Franklin lives in the small town of Grand Cane, Louisiana. She graduated from high school in Russellville, another small town in Arkansas. She obtained her accounting degree from Baylor University in Waco, Texas and moved to Dallas in 1989. She still dabbles in accounting but has taken up writing to satisfy her creative side. She has published a book titled Trading Bright Lights for Lightning Bugs, a fiction book about a big city girl who moves to a small town.

Jann Franklin

Millie Naylor Hast is an award-winning writer with a zest for action-packed, twisty stories based on the important themes of today. She is a regular contributor to The Big Thrill magazine, and her fiction has been published in Mystery Tribune. She is a winner of the Freddie Award for Writing Excellence (FAWE) from the Florida Chapter of Mystery Writers of America, First Place in the Mystery/Suspense/Thriller category from the Houston Writers Guild, and the Doris E. Gleason Publications Award from the National Association of Healthcare Access Managers. A former journalist and city council member with a passion for writing and politics, she holds a B.A. in Journalism and is a member of Sisters in Crime, International Thriller Writers and Mystery Writers of America. She is also a graduate of the FBI, DEA and Houston Police Citizens Academies. When not writing or playing cat mama, you can find her hiking, kayaking or planning her next adventure.

Karen Heines is an aspiring author of police procedurals. She is working on her second book. (The first one will never again see the light of day.) Karen grew up in Oklahoma, lived on both coasts, and has come “home” to Houston, where she worked for the first seven years after college graduation. She enjoys the 3 Ws: Writing, Watercolor, and Wine, although not always in that order. She lives in League City with her Maltese dog.

Karen Heines

USA Today and Amazon Bestselling Author Joanne Jaytanie writes mystery/thriller/suspense, romantic suspense, and paranormal. A transplant from upstate New York, Joanne lives with her husband and Doberman in their home located on the Olympic Peninsula with a panoramic view of the Olympic Mountains.

When she’s not writing, she loves to travel and enjoys time with her family, and friends. Joanne has recently returned to dog training. Mazie, their newest addition to the family loves to work. The duo is trialing in Scent Work and working toward Mazie’s first title in 2021.

Joanne showed and titled dogs in conformation, obedience, agility, and rally. She has worked in personnel, finance, and managed her husband’s forensic engineering firm.

Reaching Hope by Joanne Jaytanie

Kristi Jones grew up traveling the world as an Air Force brat. There is nothing she loves more than exploring old airfields, foggy crooked lanes, castles, haunted battlefields, and more – except reading about them, of course! She has a passion for languages, travel, and unexplained mysteries. She lives in Houston with her husband and their two rescue pups. When she’s not writing, Kristi visits with her two college kids, swims, paints, and explores every chance she gets.

Kristi Jones

Carol Kilgore is the award-winning author of Witches and Fairies and Tacos… Oh My, the first book in the new House Witches Mysteries series. She is also the author of the Amazing Gracie Mysteries and the Coastal Connection standalone romantic suspense novels. Each series is set in a different area of Texas. She is currently working on the second House Witches mystery. Carol lives with her husband and a very spoiled rescue beagle about an hour northwest of Houston.

Witches and Fairies and Tacos... Oh My

Michelle Hillen Klump is a former newspaper reporter, turned cozy mystery author. Murder Served Neat is the second book in her Cocktails & Catering Mystery Series. Michelle lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and young daughter. When she’s not writing or working her day job, she enjoys gardening, reading, exploring Houston’s neighborhoods, and creating craft cocktails for friends and family.

Murder Served Neat

G. M. Malliet’s first DCI St. Just mystery won the Agatha Award for Best First Novel. The series was later nominated for Anthony, Macavity, and Left Coast Crime awards. The series continued in 2021 with St. Just in Cornwall. Many of her Max Tudor novels were Agatha finalists. She was nominated for a 2020 Macavity Award for best short story for EQMM’s “Whiteout,” which also placed 3rd in EQMM’s Readers Choice Award. Her 2020 novella “Murder at Morehead Mews” was nominated for a Derringer and placed 5th in the EQMM Readers’ Choice award.

G.M. Malliet

Multi-award-winning romantic suspense author Leslie Marshman writes novels that
feature kick-ass heroines, the heroes who love them, and the bad guys who fear them.
From Colorado, she now lives near Houston after marrying a Texan without reading
the fine print.

Leslie Marshman - Scent Deception

Best-selling author Felicia Mason has written more than 25 books for St. Martin’s Press, Kensington Publishing and Harlequin. She was a Romance Writers of America RITA award finalist in 2005 for the inspirational romantic suspense novel Gabriel’s Discovery and her novel Rhapsody was made into a TV film. For more than 30 years she has been a newspaper editor and columnist in Pennsylvania, Virginia and Texas. She lives in Houston, where she writes crime novels as well as mainstream fiction, romance and romantic suspense. Her short story, “The Inheritance,” was published in SinC’s Coastal Crimes: Mysteries by the Sea by Wildside Press in June 2021.

Felicia Mason

Iona McAvoy is a writer, tarot reader and attorney, thus proving you can indeed use both sides of the brain at the same time. Walking a straight line is a different story though. She has written a children’s story about her experience in New York during 9/11, told through the eyes of her beloved German Shepherds, as well as being published with short story “JADEAD” (anthology A Box of Texas Chocolates) and “The Legends of the Guardian Wolves” in the 2021 anthology, Released from Reality.

A graduate of Florida State University (B.A., M.L.S., M.S.), she worked as a medical/ environmental analyst prior to going to law school, graduating in 1984 from South Texas College of Law. Following that was a career which included many years as an environmental and corporate attorney for international waste disposal company, fondly calling this her Trash Lawyer days. She lives in Houston with cats. Bossy cranky cats.

Iona McAvoy

Jacquolyn McMurray is published in both contemporary and historical romance and enjoys teaching writing classes and mentoring new writers. Currently, she is writing her first mystery. She and her husband live on a macadamia nut farm on the island of Hawai’i where they feed a clowder of cats and a flock of hodgepodge chickens. When she’s not doing writerly things, Jacquolyn loves spending time with family and friends, sewing, and watching reruns of “Monk.”

Jacquolyn is a member of the Pacific Northwest Writers’ Association, Emerald City Romance Writers, and Sisters in Crime.

Jacquolyn McMurray

Jennifer Murphy holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from the University of Washington and a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from the University of Denver. She is the recipient of the 2013 Loren D. Milliman Scholarship and was a general contributor at the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference from 2008 through 2012. In 2015, her debut novel, I Love You More (Doubleday, 2014), won the prestigious Nancy Pearl Award for fiction. Her love of art led her to start Citi Arts, a public art and urban planning company that has created master plans for airports, transit facilities, streetscapes, and cities nationwide. Her novel Scarlet in Blue was released by Dutton Penguin Random House on March 8, 2022, to a starred review from Booklist. She hails from a small beachfront town in Michigan and has lived in Denver, Charlotte, Seattle and Charleston. She currently resides in Houston, TX.

Jennifer Murphy

Patricia Flaherty Pagan, MFA grew up in Boston and has lived in four countries. She
teaches flash fiction writing at Writespace Houston. She has published award-winning
crime, horror, and literary short fiction and poetry in a range of journals and anthologies. In addition to authoring Enduring Spirit: Stories, she has edited anthologies such as Approaching Footsteps: Four Suspenseful Novellas for feminist publisher Spider Road Press.

Enduring Spirit: Stories

S.C. Perkins is a fifth-generation Texan who grew up hearing fascinating stories of her ancestry and eating lots of great Tex-Mex. Her first book, Murder Once Removed, was the winner of the 2017 Malice Domestic Best First Traditional Mystery competition, and an Agatha Award Nominee. She resides in Houston and, when she’s not writing, she’s likely outside in the sun or on the beach.

Fatal Family Ties

Natalie Tindall is an aspiring cozy mystery and a romantic suspense author writing as Tiana Johnson, currently living in southeast Texas. A teacher by day, she spends her evenings plotting, planning, and knitting. Natalie is the social media chair for HSinC.

Natalie Tindall

Teresa Trent lives in Houston, Texas, where she writes the Pecan Bayou and Piney Woods Mystery series. Teresa has also won awards for her work in short stories where she loves to dabble in tales that are closer to the Twilight Zone than small-town cozies. She is currently working on her Swinging Sixties Mystery Series with Level Best Books. When Teresa isn’t writing, she is a full-time caregiver for her son and enjoys spending time with her family, waiting for brownies to come out of the oven, and of course, a good mystery.  

The Twist and Shout Murder by Teresa Trent

Margie Walker is the author of nine titles under the New York Kensington Publishing Co. lines of romance and mystery. She also self-published three books available on Amazon. Transitioning to screenwriting, she won the Moondance International Film Festival shorts competition with “Tryin’ Times,” was a Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival with the short “Plum Blossoms,” and winner of Creative Screenwriting Unique Voices competition for feature “Reparations.”

Stolen Moments

Gay Yellen began her working life as a stage and TV actress, then happily moved behind the camera at The American Film Institute (AFI) as Assistant to the Director of Production. A former magazine editor and national journalism award winner, she was contributing book editor for the thriller Five Minutes to Midnight, a New York Times “New & Notable.” Her award-winning Samantha Newman Mystery Series includes The Body Business and The Body Next Door, with Book 3 due out soon. 

The Body Business by Gay Yellen