GUESTS
OF HONOR:
Our intent was to feature one guest of honor in each of the first
few newsletters. We did in
fact feature Jan Burke in our first newsletter, several months ago.
Since time is now running out, we have information on all of our
guests of honor in this newsletter. If
you’d like more information about any of them, a link to their website
is included below.
Lee
Child:
Lee
is the author of the Jack Reacher series, for which he has received the
Barry Award (from Deadly Pleasures magazine) and the Anthony Award.
Lee was born in Coventry, England, but grew up in nearby
Birmingham. After graduating
from the same high school that J.R.R. Tolkien attended,
he
went to law school in Sheffield.
Later,
he joined Granada Television in Manchester for what turned out to be an
eighteen-year career as a presentation director, during which time the
company made Brideshead Revisited, The Jewel in the Crown, Prime Suspect,
and Cracker.
When
he was fired as a result of corporate restructuring, the voracious reader
bought six dollars’ worth of paper and pencils and sat down to write a
book, which turned out to be Killing Floor, the first in the Jack Reacher
series.
Lee’s
Books:
The Jack Reacher series:
Killing Floor
Die Trying
Tripwire
Running Blind (US)/The Visitor (UK)
Echo Burning
Without Fail
Persuader
The Enemy
One Shot
The Hard Way
Bad Luck and Trouble
Nothing to Lose
Gone Tomorrow
Short Stories:
“James Penney’s New Identity”, in FRESH BLOOD 3
“Ten Keys”, in THE COCAINE CHRONICLES
“The Greatest Trick of All”, in GREATEST HITS
“Enough”, in MWA PRESENTS DEATH DO US PART
“The .50 Solution”, in BLOODLINES
Chapter Six in LIKE A CHARM, a serialized novel
Chapter 15 in THE CHOPIN MANUSCRIPT, an audio serialized novel
Visit
Lee’s website at http://leechild.com
Jan
Burke:
Jan
Burke is the author of the bestselling Irene Kelly series, for which she
won an Edgar award, as well as short stories and her most recent novel The
Messenger.
Although
Jan was born in Texas, she has spent most of her life in Southern
California, from which she has combined several cities to create Las
Piernas, Irene Kelly’s hometown.
She
has 2 sisters and a brother, and remains very close to them, their
parents, and several nieces, nephews, cousins and other extended family
members. She and her husband, musician Tim Burke, share their home with
their dogs Cappy and Britches.
Jan
is the founder of the Crime Lab Project, a non-profit organization
dedicated to the
improvement
of public forensic science. She has also served as a speaker for the
National Institute of Justice, the American Society of Crime Lab
Directors, the California Association of Criminalists, and other
organizations. She is a member of the honorary board of the California
Forensic Science Institute, which is connected to the Los Angeles Regional
Crime Lab, the forensic lab the LAPD and the Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department. She has been instrumental in organizing the
Forensics Day at Left Coast Crime 2010.
Jan
is a Distinguished Alumna of California State University in Long Beach,
and has taught writing classes at UCLA Extension, and was the associate
editor (with Sue Grafton) for MWA’s Writing Mysteries.
Jan’s
books:
The Irene Kelly series:
Goodnight, Irene
Sweet Dreams, Irene
Dear Irene,
Remember Me, Irene
Hocus
Liar
Bones
Flight (from Frank Harriman’s point of view)
Bloodlines
Kidnapped
Standalones:
Nine (standalone)
The Messenger (supernatural thriller)
Short Story Collection:
Eighteen (short story collection)
Visit
Jan’s website at http://janburke.com/
Janet
Rudolph:
Janet
grew up in Philadelphia, and earned a B.A. from the University of
Pennsylvania.
She
then moved to Berkeley, where she completed a Master’s Degree in art
history, a credential in secondary education and a Ph.D. in religion and
literature with a specialty in mystery fiction.
Known
as “the mistress of mystery”, Janet has been a columnist for several
mystery periodicals. She is the editor of the Mystery Readers Journal (the
official publication of Mystery Readers International, of which she is the
director), and the writer/producer of Murder on the Menu (a mystery event
company). A member of Mystery Writers of America, the International
Association of Crime Writers, the British Crime Writers Association,
Sisters in Crime and the American Crime Writers League, she has also been
on panels at conventions and conferences including Bouchercon and Left
Coast Crime. Janet has taught mystery fiction, and has participated in
international writing conferences in Spain, England and Cuba.
Janet
was Fan Guest of Honor at Malice Domestic in 1993 and won an Anthony Award
for Special Service to the Field in 2006. She still lives in Berkeley.
Janet’s
website can be found at http://www.murderonthemenu.com/murder/janet.html.
Bill
Fitzhugh:
Bill
was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi, and began writing
professionally while he was still in high school.
Through the Junior Achievement program, he wrote and narrated a
series of radio programs about various rock ‘n’ roll bands.
As a result, he began working late night shifts at the radio
station that had aired his shows, and after he graduated, he became the
morning drive-time DJ there.
After
a few years he grew bored with this, and moved to St. John, US Virgin
Islands in an effort to emulate Jimmy Buffett, and ended up working on a
freight-charter boat.
Eventually,
he ended up back in Mississippi, and supported himself as a DJ while he
went to college. In 1981, he
moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington where he received
a psychology degree. He also
met Matt Hansen, with whom he collaborated on a radio program called
“Radio Free Comedy” which was syndicated on several radio stations
across the country. Bill and
Matt turned this radio show into a television pilot called “Stellavision”,
which, though critically acclaimed, did not sell.
In
1988, Bill moved to Los Angeles and looked for television writing jobs.
Matt joined him and for the next few years they wrote unsuccessful
television scripts, and a screenplay called “Pest Control”
that Bill eventually turned into a novel that was one of Amazon’s
Top 50 Mysteries in 1997.
Bill
was co-winner of the 2002
Lefty Award for “Fender Benders”.
(The other winner was Jerrilyn Farmer, for :”Dim Sum Dead”.)
Bill’s
books:
Pest Control
The Organ Grinders
Fender Benders
Cross Dressing
Heart Seizure
Radio Activity
Highway 61 Resurfaced
The Adventures of Slim and Howdy (with Brooks and Dunn)
Short
Stories:
“Fiddy Dolla Smile” in Full House, a young adult anthology of
poker stories”
Visit
Bill’s website: http://billfitzhugh.com