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 Speed City Sisters in Crime.
Monthly MeetingsSpeed City Sisters in Crime meets online via Zoom 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.
Upcoming in 2023
Chapter Liaison Kim Garnick Giarratano
Sisters in Crime Online Community and Getting the Most Out of Your Membership Kim Garnick Giarratano is the author of several mysteries for teens and adults. Her debut novel GRUNGE GODS AND GRAVEYARDS won the 2015 Silver Falchion Award for Best YA. Before having kids, Kim taught English as a Second Language and was a Young Adult Librarian. Currently, Kim teaches GED prep classes at SUNY Orange County Community College, and she reviews YA literature for BookPage. She lives in the Poconos with her family and has been a member of Sisters in Crime since 2014. Watch the event on YouTube. 
Acquisitions Editor for Recorded Books Brian Sweany talks about Everything You Need to Know About Audiobooks
An Indianapolis native, Brian Sweany currently serves as Director of Acquisitions for Recorded Books, the largest independent audiobook publisher in the world. In his 24 years with the company, Brian has acquired the audio rights to many notable mystery and crime writers, including Patricia Cornwell, Carl Hiaasen, Charlaine Harris, Craig Johnson, C.J. Box, Elizabeth Peters, Laurie R. King, Nevada Barr, Lawrence Block, and Ace Atkins. Brian’s debut novel, BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE, was published by Rare Bird Books in 2016. Go to Eventbrite to sign up. Other Upcoming Events
Past Chapter Events
Chapter Guest Speaker October 22nd:
Elaine Munsch: A Brief History of Women Crime Writers Elaine Munsch is a native of Cleveland, Ohio, but has spent her adult life in Louisville, Kentucky. She graduated from Nazareth College of Kentucky located outside of Bardstown and attended The Ohio State University for her graduate work. She has been a bookseller for fifty years working in both large and small, chain and independent. She opened the first Barnes & Noble in Kentucky where she set up a mystery reading group which is still active today. She also taught classes in the mystery genre for the Veritas Society and joined the local chapter of Sisters in Crime. With Susan Bell, she co-edited MYSTERY WITH A SPLASH OF BOURBON, an anthology of bourbon related stories. 
As E.M. Munsch, she writes the Dash Hammond series set on the shores of Lake Erie. The latest title, A HAUNTING AT MARIANWOOD, is set to be released at the end of October.
Watch this speaker on YouTube. 
Chapter Guest Speaker September 24th:
Forensic Expert Ashley Luther Ashley Luther is Forensic Biologist and supervisor for the Indiana State Police Laboratory in Indianapolis. She conducts casework in serology, DNA, and bloodstain pattern interpretation. She has been with the ISP laboratory for 14 years and was a casework analyst for the Utah State Crime Laboratory for two years prior to hiring on in Indiana. While in Utah, she was also a member of the Crime Scene Response Team. She has testified more than 40 times throughout the state and has completed more than 1,000 cases. She has presented at several conferences and trainings across the country and is the current training coordinator for the Indiana State Police Laboratory. In 2020, she was selected as the Forensic Scientist of the Year for the Indiana State Police. She obtained her Bachelor of Science in Biology from Loyola Marymount University and is currently pursuing her Masters in Forensic Biology from the University of the Southwest. When she’s not working, she loves to spend time with her husband, three kids, three dogs, 2 cats, and her Swiss foreign exchange student. View this event on YouTube. 
Chapter Guest Speaker August 27th: Author Terry Odell How I Became A Writer By Mistake—Or What Happened When I Ran Out Of Room For Needlepoint Projects Join Award-Winning author Terry Odell as she talks about her unconventional path to publication and what she’s learned along the way. Topics will include:
C. Hope & Gary W Clark
Writing Murder Right -- and Getting Paid for It A Conversation with mystery writer C. Hope Clark and her husband, retired investigator Gary Clark.
Hope and Gary will present a multi-faceted program. Hope is a mystery author who also publishes the Funds for Writers newsletter and website. Gary is a retired federal and state law enforcement agent. They will cover:
C. Hope Clark loves writing, reading, watching, studying the mystery genre. She's published 15 mysteries with two more in progress, one to be released late Fall 2022. Several of her stories have won awards from a finalist in the Daphne du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense to a twice winner of the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award. Her most popular series is The Edisto Island Mysteries set on the very real Edisto Beach in South Carolina. She is also founder of FundsforWriters.com. The site has been recognized by Writer's Digest Magazine for its 101 Best Websites for Writers for the past 21 years, and the accompanying newsletter reaches 25,000 readers. Gary Clark is a 30-year veteran of law enforcement. He has served in multiple capacities endorsing the law. He has been a revenue agent for Georgia Alcohol, Tobacco and Tax, a US Customs Border Patrol agent, a federal criminal investigator with the Inspector Generals of both the US Department of Agriculture and the US Department of Veterans Affairs. Post-retirement, he did background investigations for federal agencies, operated as a private investigator, and even served as an investigator for a defense attorney, what he calls going over to the dark side. He serves as technical advisor to Hope for all her novels. After all, they met on an actual investigation, and their compatibility and love for crime solving continues years later through Hope's tales. 
Chapter Guest Speaker May 28th:
Author Amy Crider The Persistence of a Writer Amy Crider will speak on "The Persistence of a Writer," something which she knows from her personal experience. Her first novel, Disorder, was recently published after a 15-year journey. "Disorder" is a psychological thriller that follows graduate student Wendy Zemansky, who has just come off disability after starting medication for bipolar disorder. But when her roommate goes missing, Wendy plunges into an investigation that is roadblocked by everyone in her life. Amidst a swirling and uncontrollable mania, Wendy learns what it means to persevere when everyone is seemingly against you. Publishers Weekly states, "The ingenious plot will keep the reader guessing." Grand Master Sara Paretsky termed the book "Riveting." Amy grew up in Sauquoit, New York, and received her BA in Theater from Goddard College, where she also earned an MA in Education. She is a playwright whose work has been seen around the country. Last year she won the Tennessee Williams One Act Play Contest. She has degrees in Theater and Education. Amy and her husband now live in Chicago. You can now see this on YouTube. Chapter Guest Speaker April 23:
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Submission are open for Speed City's next anthology!
See the submission guidelines for more information. 
Become a member of Speed City Sisters in Crime
Membership benefits include:
Speed City Critique Group Members of Speed City Sisters in Crime can join our critique group that meets the fourth Saturday of the month before our regular monthly meeting and program. As with almost everything in our lives, the COVID-19 pandemic has moved the critique group to the virtual world. The group is led by Russ Eberhart, who also coordinates the Zoom meeting. Find out how to submit your work, critique and attend the zoom meetings on our Critique Group page. Speed City SinC Author Bios
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. See a list of published books by Speed City Sisters in Crime members New book from author Susan Furlong
What They Don't Know A picture-perfect suburban life fractures . . . and a darker reality bubbles beneath the surface.
Mona Ellison's life is as perfect as the porcelain dolls lined up on her shelves. She has a successful husband, a loving son, a beautiful home, and a supportive group of girlfriends ever ready for their weekly wine night. But when Mona’s son gets entangled with the wrong crowd and runs away from home, her blissful suburban world begins to unravel. She tells her friends that boys will be boys, that he’ll be back as soon as his money runs dry . . . but deep down she knows there’s something else going on. With unrelenting psychological suspense and a wicked twist, What They Don’t Know marries small-town thriller and domestic mystery—suburban paranoia at its best. Susan Furlong is the author of several mysteries including the acclaimed Bone Gap Travellers series, and SHATTERED JUSTICE, a New York Times Best Crime Novel of the Year. She also contributes, under a penname, to the New York Times bestselling Novel Idea series. 
New book from author Janis Thornton
1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes in Indiana Author Janis Thornton reveals the stories of a day in Indiana like no other. Palm Sunday 1965 started as the nicest day of the year, the kind of weather that encouraged Hoosiers to get out in the sun, fire up the grill, hit the golf course, or roll down their car windows and take a leisurely drive. That evening, however, throughout northern and central Indiana, the sky turned an ominous black, and storms moved in, quickly manifesting as Indiana's worst tornado outbreak. Within three hours, twisters, some a half-mile wide, ripped through seventeen counties, devastating communities and leaving death and destruction in their wake. When the tornadoes were finished with Indiana, 137 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were forever changed.
Get your copy today! The 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes in Indiana Janis Thornton is an award-winning Hoosier author of history, mystery and true crime. Her works include three pictorial-history books in the Images of America series for Arcadia Publishing, two cozy mystery novels in the Elwood Confidential series and true crime books No Place Like Murder and Too Good a Girl. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, Speed City Sisters in Crime, the Author's Guild, Women Fiction Writers Association and the Indiana Writers Center. This is her first book for The History Press. 
Speed City Member MB Dabney interviewed by Fox59 for Black History MonthAuthor MB Dabney appeared on Fox59's Indy Now program Monday morning, Feb. 21, in a three-minute segment from 10-11. to talk about his novel An Untidy Affair.
Author MB Dabney
Published August 15, 2021
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