Welcome to Speed City Sisters in Crime

Speed City Sisters in Crime is the Indiana chapter of the world-wide mystery/crime writers' association Sisters in Crime. The Speed City chapter was founded in 2005. Find out more about our organization.

Upcoming Events

​Writing a Mystery...Play, That Is!

​Indiana Playwrights Circle November meeting will be a conversation with four writers from the Speed City Sisters in Crime, Indiana Chapter (Crystal Rhodes, MB Dabney, Lillie Evans, and Janet Williams—thank you, Ramona Henderson, also a member of SCSIC, for suggesting the topic!), in addition to our own Andrew Black, to share some of their experiences and approaches to writing a mystery and how the process might apply to the writing of a mystery play.

People at Indiana Playwrights Circle and in the theatre community at large who are interested in learning more about writing a mystery play should find the discussion revealing and helpful.

We will begin at 4 PM CST / 5 PM EST on Sunday, November 1.

Click the link to register for the event and to be sent the zoom link.

​Novel Writing Basics:
Using NaNoWriMo to Kickstart Your Project

Please join Speed City Sisters in Crime and MCPL Monrovia Branch in a virtual panel Wednesday, November 18th at 6:30 p.m.

​Local Indiana authors will discuss aspects of novel writing from creating strong characters, single sentence story concepts, stylist approaches such as in outlining or writing by the seat of your pants, and how to take the spark of a story idea and make it into a novel. As November is National Novel Writing Month, panelists will offer helpful suggestions on how to push through and finish your project just in the nick of time. 

Moderator: Janet Williams
Panelists: Diana Catt, Carol Paddock, MB Dabney, Russ Eberhart, Brigitte Kephart. 

​This is a FREE event but you must register; please contact brigitte.kephart@yahoo.com to get your Zoom link. 
​Saturday November 28 Meeting
11:00 a.m. business meeting
12:00 noon -  Speaker Les Roberts
Getting Away with Murder

​Renowned, prolific mystery and suspense author LES ROBERTS will be our special guest speaker in November, coming to us from his living room in Cleveland, Ohio. His program topic will be “Getting Away with Murder,” a subject all mystery authors are interested in perfecting. Joining LES will be our own renowned member, RUSS EBERHART, who will facilitate the program and tell stories about his special friendship with Les.
 
LES is the author of 6 mystery novels in the Saxon series set in Los Angeles and 19 featuring Cleveland detective Milan Jacovich, 6 other books of fiction, and his autobiography. Les came to mystery writing after a 24-year career in Hollywood, where he was the first producer and head writer of the Hollywood Squares and wrote for the the Lucy Show, the Andy Griffith Show, the Jackie Gleason Show, and the Man from U.N.C.L.E., among others. He has been a professional actor, a singer, a jazz musician, and a teacher. Past president of both the Private Eye Writers of America and the American Crime Writer's League, Les received the Cleveland Arts Prize in 2002 and the Sherwood Anderson Literary Award in 2003. His first Saxon novel, “An Infinite Number of Monkeys,” won the very first “First Private Eye Novel Contest.” A native of Chicago, he has lived in Northeast Ohio since 1990.

See Les Robert's page on Good Reads

​Speed City Sisters in Crime Anthology #8 Guidelines

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Checkout the guidelines for Speed City Sisters in Crime's 8th anthology, coming in October 2021. All Speed City Indiana Chapter members are eligible to submit stories to this spooky Halloween themed edition. 

Recent Events

Murder 20/20 Authors interviewed by Black Dog Books

​Interview with Authors Janet Williams and Stephen Terrell from Speed City Sisters in Crime
​Interview with Authors B.K. Hart and Ross Carley from Speed City Sisters in Crime
Interview with Authors Tony Perona and Ramona Henderson from Speed City Sisters in Crime
Interview with Authors Lillie Evans and Jon Burroughs from Speed City Sisters in Crime

Jon Burroughs as James Whitcomb Riley

Speed City Author Jon Burroughs transformed into James Whitcomb Riley for the Hoosier Poet's annual birthday celebration on Saturday, October 3rd. Burroughs created four original poems for the celebration and did a one man show as Riley talking about the poet's life through anecdotes and poems. The Greenfield Daily Reporter covered the kick-off to the annual event on Saturday, which took place at the Riley Boyhood Home & Museum in Greenfield, Indiana.

This year's festival is simpler and socially-distanced, emphasizing local businesses and the history of Indiana's famed writer.
Writing True Crime: Q&A with Janis Thornton
Journalist and romance writer Cathy Shouse interviews Speed City Sisters in Crime member Janis Thornton about her exciting new book No Place Like Murder. A modern retelling of 20 sensational true crimes, No Place Like Murder reveals the inside details behind nefarious acts that shocked the Midwest between 1869 and 1950.
Released in September from Speed City's own Janis Thornton:
No Place Like Murder
True Crime in the Midwest
https://iupress.org/9780253052780/no-place-like-murder/

A modern retelling of 20 sensational true crimes, No Place Like Murder reveals the inside details behind nefarious acts that shocked the Midwest between 1869 and 1950. The stories chronicle the misdeeds, examining the perpetrators' mindsets, motives, lives, apprehensions, and trials, as well as what became of them long after.

An enthralling and chilling collection, No Place Like Murder is sure to thrill true crime lovers.

Murder 20/20 Is here!
Read more about the anthology here!

Our newest Anthology Murder 20/20 launched this summer! 
​The ebook and paperback are available now for sale.
​Publisher: Speed City Press 
6”x 9”, 260 pages
Softcover: $12.99
ISBN 978-0-9963092-5-7
Pub Date: June 30, 2020 
Ebook: $2.99
ISBN 978-0-9963092-4-0
Pub Date: June 16, 2020
Published June 2020.
Edited by MB Dabney, Lillie Evans, and Shari Held.

Introduction by Susan Furlong
Inheritance by Andrea Smith
One Hundred Years a Widow by Janet E. Williams
Mister 20 by J. Paul Burroughs
I See What You’re Sayin’ by Ross Carley
The Ear Witness by Elizabeth Perona
One Dead Politico by D.B. Reddick
In the Deepest Darkness by Stephen Terrell
Deception at the Double D Convention by Shari Held
Arcana 20/20 by T.C. Winters
The 20/20 Club by Mary Ann Koontz
Tailor-Made for Murder by C.L. Shore
MD 20/20 by Hawthorn Mineart
Dingo Dan by B.K. Hart
Cipher by Elizabeth San Miguel
It’s All Relative by S. Ashley Couts
The Release by Ramona G. Henderson
​The Hundred-Year Time Capsule by Diana Catt
Listen to Speed City Sisters in Crime members Lillie Evans, Tony Perona, C.L. Shore and Janet E. Williams talk about our newest and seventh anthology, Murder 20/20, with Robert Kent on the Middle Grade Ninja Podcast.

Speed City SinC Author Bios

Many Speed City Sisters in Crime members are talented writers and published authors and playwrights. Check out their author pages for information about their books, short stories, plays and other creative works.

Monthly Meetings

​Speed City Sisters in Crime meets monthly on the fourth Saturday of each month from January to November. There is a critique group meeting at 10:00, followed by the regular business meeting at 11:00 and a guest speaker at 12:00. 
MORE ABOUT MONTHLY MEETINGS  >
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Speed City Sisters in Crime is the Indiana chapter of the world-wide mystery/crime writers' association Sisters in Crime. The Speed City chapter was founded in 2005.

Members of the organization are published mystery and crime authors, writers working on mysteries and thrillers, and readers and fans of the literary genre. There are currently 40+ members who live in Indiana or the Midwest.

Speed City Sisters in Crime hosts monthly meetings with speakers on topics of interest to mystery and crime writing. Past speakers have included police officers, prosecutors, investigative reporters, forensic specialists, weapons experts, researchers, and publishing and media professionals.