May 17, 2026 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller |
Once again, Frank Zafiro brings his characters to life in his novella, Shades of the Job. Private Investigator Stanley Melvin overcomes his challenges and serves his client well, putting her needs ahead of his own.
By treating the dramatic principles of literature almost as characters, Zafiro illuminates Stanley’s story, which might otherwise have fallen flat in the hands of a less skilled author. These principles strengthen and carry the story, effectively building suspense.
The reader enjoys a well-written detective story while gaining a deeper understanding and appreciation of the many challenges of writing fiction.
I recommend Shades of the Job to readers and writers alike.
Mar 29, 2026 | Crime, Mystery, Thriller |
Gold Country Writers April speaker will be Karen A. Phillips on “Using Tropes to Strengthen Your Story”. Wednesday, April 15, 2026 @ 10:00 am – 12:00 noon at Auburn City Hall, Rose Room (Downstairs),1225 Lincoln Way, Auburn, CA 95603.
Karen A. Phillips is a past president of Capitol Crimes, the Sacramento chapter of Sisters in Crime. Her books in the Rocky Nelson Boxing Mystery series, which features an amateur sleuth who boxes, are: A Deadly Combo (Book 1), A Deadly Match (Book 2), and A Deadly Hook (Book 3). And yes, Karen does take boxing lessons. For more info and to subscribe to her newsletter, visit KarenAPhillips.com.
Rose Room Directions – Gold Country Writers
Apr 10, 2025 | Crime, Mystery |
Judge Debra H. Goldstein is the author of With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of her short stories, as well as Kensington’s Sarah Blair mystery series, and two standalone novels: IPPY award winning Maze in Blue and Should Have Played Poker: a Carrie Martin and the Mah Jongg Players Mystery. Her writings have won Silver Falchion, IPPY, AWC, and BWR awards, and have been named Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer finalists. Debra serves on the national boards of Sisters in Crime and was previously on the Mystery Writers of America board and president of the Guppy and SEMWA chapters. Find out more about Debra at https://www.DebraHGoldstein.com.
With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying 
is a collection of eighteen award-winning short mysteries, from cozy to dark, centering around family and friends, their sins, and their sometimes redemption.
SMFS, SinC – Guppies, Desert Sleuths, Chessie, NE, Capitol Crimes, Atlanta, MWA – SEMWA, Bethlehem Writers Roundtable, Alabama Writers Conclave, Alabama Writers Forum, Blogs: Booklovers Bench, Stiletto Gang, Writers Who Kill, It’s Not Always a Mystery; Killer Nashville (you can post on it)
1. What brought you to writing? Passion. As a young child, I enjoyed making up stories. That creativity advanced to writing plays for the neighborhood children to perform. From there, it was a natural progression to want to write – the problem was that for years, I allowed life to interfere. The result was that my writing was limited to professional dry pieces. When I finally allowed myself the freedom to be creative again, my writing began to reflect my inner passion.
2. What are you currently working on? For the past two years, I have been concentrating on short stories. As of this writing, at least ten new ones will appear in anthologies and periodicals in 2025 and 2026. With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying, a collection of eighteen of my older award-winning short mysteries, from cozy to dark, centered around family and friends, their sins, and sometimes redemption, was recently released by White City Press.
3. Has an association membership helped you with your writing? When I began writing crime fiction, I was encouraged to join Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. The classes and webinars offered at the national level by SinC, and especially by the Guppies, jumpstarted my understanding of the craft and business aspects of writing. To this day, I continue to avail myself of the offerings of SinC and MWA.
4. How long did it take you to write your first book? It took me over ten years to write my first book, IPPY award winning Maze in Blue. Although I had the idea for a book set on the University of Michigan’s campus in the 1970s, I couldn’t find or make the time to write it – only to talk about it. Finally, one of my friends said, “Leave the kids and dog at home with Joel and come to the beach with me. Except for dinners, you can write all day. If you don’t do it, I don’t ever want to hear that you want to write again.” I took her up on her offer and ended up writing eighty-five pages in long hand on a yellow legal pad. Of those eighty-five pages, five ended up in the final book. The important thing from that weekend was my realization that I could see the book’s beginning, middle, and end. Maze went in and out of my drawer and went through several revisions (for the longest time, I couldn’t seem to get the first murder to occur before page eighty), but eventually, it was written.
5. How long to get it published? The irony is that it took more than ten years to write Maze in Blue, but from the week it was read and an offer made by the owner-editor of a small publishing house and her co-owner, it was six months to publication. Unfortunately, within a year of Maze’s release, the book was orphaned when the publisher went under. Luckily, they were good people who gave me the files and artwork. This allowed me to become a hybrid author when I reissued the book and e-book through Amazon.
6. Do you have subplots? If so, how do you weave them into the novel’s arc? All my books have secondary subplots and themes because I believe every book should have an ongoing plotline with the main characters the readers identify with. However, it should also contain subplots involving at least one or more secondary characters and a social issue theme. For example, in One Taste Too Many, the first book of Kensington’s five-book Sarah Blair series, the main plot involves a woman who is more frightened of the kitchen than murder. Still, it has defined subplots addressing economic development and animal trusts.
7. What is the best book you have ever read? The book that most influenced me as a writer was Damned If You Do/Damned If You Don’t by Marjorie K. Osterman. I found the book on an aunt’s bookshelf. As I read it, I was intrigued by its plots and subplots but even more by Osterman’s characterizations. Her settings and characters felt real. It was the first time a book made that much of an impact on me.
8. Do you have any advice for new writers? My advice to new writers is that no matter how excited you are about the words you create, you need to realize writing is a business. There will be highs and lows. No matter how well one writes, numbers and publisher’s needs will impact your career
Contacts:
Website: https://www.DebraHGoldstein
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DebraHGoldsteinAuthor
Twitter: @DebraHGoldstein
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/debrahgoldstein/
Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/debra-h-goldstein
Bluesky: @debrahgoldstein.bsky.social
Buy links for With Our Bellies Full and the Fire Dying: (use whichever ones you want)
https://whitecitypress.com/product/fire/MM/8
https://whitecitypress.com/author/debrahgoldstein/MM/8
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Bellies-Full-Fire-Dying/dp/1963479688
https://www.amazon.com/Our-Bellies-Full-Fire-Dying-ebook/dp/B0DT216K8T
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/with-our-bellies-full-and-the-fire-dying-debra-h-goldstein/1146836374?ean=9781963479683
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/with-our-bellies-full-and-the-fire-dying-debra-h-goldstein/1146836374?ean=9781963479676
Mar 6, 2025 | Action & Adventure, Crime, Thriller |
Suzanne Baginskie worked for thirty years at the same Florida law firm as a paralegal/office manager. She also volunteered for the local Sheriff’s Office and became their Volunteer Corporate Secretary, where she wrote their newsletters and helped run the Citizen Academies for eight years. A former short story writer, she finally authored her first book, Dangerous Charade, in 2020. She shopped it around and received a five-book contract from D.S. Publishing, a traditional publisher. The first book led to a series titled “FBI Affairs.” Each book features a strong FBI Special female agent and her FBI Special male partner who solve pulse-pounding crimes as they seek justice and fight off evil offenders. Her latest in the series is Dangerous Triangle-Book Five.
Dangerous Triangle – FBI Special Agents Olive London and Jason
Monroe are thrown into a decades-spanning case that will keep you on the edge of your seat. As they hunt down a serial killer and unravel a terrorist threat in Tampa, Florida, the chemistry between them is undeniable—but will they risk everything for love? Blending intense action, heart-pounding suspense, and a sizzling romance, this book is a must-read in the FBI Affairs Series.
Where do you place your settings—real or fictional locations? Real!! Here’s where the location comes in, where location equals marketing. I use my fifty-four years’ experience of living in Florida and fill the books with real town settings. I tend to do lots of research to use the correct interstates they’d travel to and add some highlights of the cities with their cultural region, tourism, and ambiance. I also like inserting the weather because it plays a role in my books. My first novel starts in Las Vegas and then immediately goes to a small fishing village in Crystal Springs, Florida.
The second is set in Allentown, Pennsylvania. It includes the Pocono Mountains, the third in Daytona Beach, my fourth begins in Miami, and the agents end up boarding a cruise ship at the port for a seven-day western Caribbean mystery cruise. The last book is set in Tampa, the third largest city in Florida, the lightning capital of the world, and features the large Port of Tampa.
Do you write in more than one genre? Yes. I’ve written mystery, horror, romance, thrillers, and non-fiction. I originally started with short stories and went back to writing for the True Confessions magazines in the early 2000s. I have also published in several anthologies of the assorted genres that I mentioned above. I’ve also written and sold twenty-three non-fiction stories to Chicken Soup for the Soul books.
How do you come up with character names? I like to have names for the series that suit the characters as federal agents. Since I have a female and a male officer, I want to make their names go together in a memorable way. I used London and Monroe in book five, which worked well for me. I usually search for first names in an old baby name book I purchased at a garage sale. That book reveals the meanings, origins, and derivations of 60,000 names. Sometimes, you may need to check the name meaning for your character, making them more personable. I always suggest to new writers they could also borrow first or last names from the daily obituary page, but please mix them up.
What is the best marketing advice you have for a new writer? After you’ve written the book and published it online, the next step is the “toughest.”
Marketing!! How do you get your name and brand out there? Everyone, including me, blanks out on the subject. Where do you go from here? I have found that even with a publisher and books for sale on Amazon, I still needed help. You can post about them on Social Media, but that only goes so far. One thing I subconsciously did was to set four of my books in Florida. Next, I decided to start signing up for the many craft shows and farmer’s markets in my area. As a local author, I set up a table, inside or out, with a tent. Then, I pitched my books to the people who stopped at my table. Most of them are readers. I mention they are mystery & suspense, and they look them over but then walk away. That’s when I say, “My books are set in Florida.” They pause, and I fill them in on the towns, and they usually buy one or two or the whole set. I also mention I’ll autograph the books for them. Both are the best marketing tools I’ve found. Vendor shows are a great way to sell books locally. Real readers like to support local authors and go for my “Location, Location Equals Marketing” trick.
Looking to the future, what’s in store for you? My contract was just renewed for two more years, and I’m writing my next book. The title is a secret now, and I’m still deciding. I will mention that I’ve changed the genre of this novel. It’s a western romantic suspense. So far, so good. Follow me on Facebook for my author posts and vendor shows. You can also find me at the links below:
Book Link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JPCX2CX
Website: http://www.suzannebaginskie.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sbaginskie
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sbaginskie
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14062235.SuzanneBaginskie
Twitter: https://twitter.com/SBaginskie
Groups I belong to:
Mystery Writers of America,
Florida Mystery Writers of America,
Florida Gulf Coast Sisters-in-Crime,
Sisters-in-Crime,
The Short Mystery Society,
Feb 20, 2025 | Mystery, Thriller |
Former newspaper reporter Jennifer K. Morita writes stories for Sacramento State by day and murder mysteries by night. She is a member of SinC, Crime Writers of Color, Mystery Writers of America, and International Thriller Writers. Jennifer is also active with her local SinC chapter, Capitol Crimes, where she served as vice president and president. She edited Capitol Crimes 2024 Anthology Farm to Foul Play.
Jennifer was a runner up for the Sisters in Crime Eleanor Taylor Bland Award in 2022.
She is a former Sacramento Bee reporter, is a senior writer for University Communications at Sacramento State. When she isn’t pushing Girl Scout cookies, she enjoys reading, experimenting with recipes, taking leisurely hikes, doing Zumba, and doing hot hula.
Her debut novel, GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ, has been nominated for a Left Coast Crime Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery. 
It’s about an out-of-work journalist who reluctantly becomes the ghostwriter for a controversial developer. When she stumbles into murder – and her ex – she discovers coming home to paradise can be murder.
Where do you write? What, if any, distractions do you allow? I wrote Ghosts of Waikīkī in my old kitchen. We moved last summer, and now that I finally have an office with bookshelves and a good Zoom background, I’m still writing in my kitchen—or at least part of the time. I work at the kitchen island when I’m baking or needing to keep an eye on dinner and to be honest, I love writing about the heart of our home. Only now, I have the luxury of retreating to an office when a few extra squealing teenagers are in the house.
But being a mom means constant distractions—the kind you can’t ignore. So, I have to be flexible about where I write. I like cafes where I can get a good cup of coffee and ignore the giggling teens because they aren’t mine.
I also work out sentences on my phone while waiting in the pick-up line at school or on my iPad, guarding my front row spot in Zumba an hour before class. My writer friend, Hawaiʻi noir author Scott Kikkawa, told me he likes writing in bars and mentioned one in Kaimukī. I’m adding it to my list of places to go to write the next time I’m on O‘ahu.
What are you currently working on? I’m working on a second Maya Wong book. I’m not under contract, so fingers crossed that my publisher will want more of Maya. I have a few more ideas rattling around, including a mystery set in Sacramento’s declining Japantown about a woman who runs her family’s hundred-year-old mochi shop with her grandmother and secretly writes a true-crime blog.
I’m also mulling over a dual-timeline standalone about a bartender in San Francisco Chinatown whose customer drunkenly confesses a terrible secret and is found murdered in Portsmouth Square hours later.
A while ago, there was a dust-up between two women vying for a front row spot at a popular Zumba class I attend. I missed class that day but heard all about it the following week. Talk about spilling the tea! The chatter died down, but tensions flared again the other day. And now I have to write about murder in a Zumba class. But I won’t use my real name for that book ‘cause I want to keep my front row spot.
How do you come up with character names? I’ve always liked the name Maya, but I couldn’t sell it to my husband when I was pregnant with our first daughter. While I’m not the “yes dear” kind of wife, he was a middle school teacher at the time (now an elementary school principal) who had multiple Mayas in all of his classes. Fair point.
So, I used the name for my protagonist in Ghosts of Waikīkī instead, and I think it worked out for the best. I also shamelessly stole names from friends and acquaintances, raided my Hawaiʻi school yearbooks, and consulted the Social Security website to come up with character names for my first book.
Now, I collect names I like. I’ve got them scattered in random notes on my phone. The guy at the Hertz rental car stand in Honolulu, a kid in my daughter’s fifth-grade class, the woman who helped me put on my yukata for Obon Odori – they’ll all be character names someday.
I am picky about central character names, though. A lot of thought goes into them, and I play around with how they sound for a while before I commit. It’s almost as important as naming a child.
How long did it take you to write your first book? Twenty-plus years ago, when I was working at a suburban weekly covering local government, I initially thought of writing an amateur detective series featuring an Asian American newspaper reporter. I thought it was going to be set in Sacramento. I played around with character and plot ideas, but nothing gelled. Years later, when I was a stay-at-home-mom doing freelance writing, I started thinking more about that book I’d always wanted to write. The pandemic gave me the chance to finally do it.
I began plotting in September of 2020, writing in October, and finishing my first draft in January of ‘21. Mind you, we were sheltering in place, so there were no school drop-offs or pick-ups, no shuttling kids to dance classes or Girl Scout meetings. I didn’t even have to change out of my pajamas in the morning.
I sent out a few cold queries, got instantly rejected, and tinkered around with my manuscript, query letter, and synopsis before querying again. I signed with my agent, Lori Galvin, in May of ‘21.
How long to get it published? It took me two years to rehaul and revise my manuscript before Lori, and I felt it was ready to pitch to publishers. It was all over the place, with too many characters and themes. I scrapped a whole storyline, cutting about two-thirds of my manuscript. I had to stop saying I was “revising” and finally admit that I was rewriting my book.
Lori recommended Paula Munier’s PLOT PERFECT, and it helped me figure out what story I wanted to tell and how to structure my plot. I took many online writing classes, including just about every webinar offered by the Sisters in Crime Guppy chapter.
Of course, this is when my kids went back to school, and all their activities slowly ramped up again. I also returned to work full time, writing for University Communications at Sacramento State. I also served as vice president of our local SinC chapter, Capitol Crimes.
I got frustrated with myself for taking so long, but in retrospect, it might have been a blessing. Those two years gave me time to join a writing community where I could watch and learn from other writers about the craft and the business side of being an author. I’m grateful for Capitol Crimes, Sisters in Crime, and Crime Writers of Color because they gave me a better idea of what to do once I got a book deal.
We went out on submission with my book in June of ‘23, and I signed with Crooked Lane on my birthday in August. GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ was released in November of ‘24.
Do you outline, or are you a pantser? Most people would be appalled if they saw my “outline” for GHOSTS OF WAIKĪKĪ. It’s over a hundred pages in 14-point font, Google Docs with red strike-throughs, yellow highlighted passages, and comments in the margin. It’s part of the messy, weird, stream-of-consciousness process I need to go through to know my idea is enough to carry an entire book.
I tried a more organized, cleaner method to plot a cozy idea I’ve since put aside. Basically, I stuck to one or two sentences per scene, and I had a much harder time writing it. I think I need to hash out the action and events more thoroughly so I can play around with the words. I guess I can’t make up stuff and compose well-written sentences at the same time.
I also can’t move forward until I’m satisfied with the sentences I’ve put together. It’s self-editing as you go, and you’re not supposed to do that, but I think all those years as a journalist trained me to perfect the writing as much as possible the first time around.
The way I plotted Book 2 falls somewhere in between, and so far, it’s working for me. I wouldn’t recommend what I do, but it seems to be my process.
You can learn more about Jennifer at www.jenniferkmorita.com or follow her on social media.
Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/authorjenniferkmorita
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/jenniferkmorita/
Bluesky – https://bsky.app/profile/jenniferkmorita.bsky.social
Ghosts of Waikiki is available to purchase at Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Frank’s one of those writers who never turns in a bad story or book. He’s got several series going and I’ve enjoyed a lot of them. I’m ordering Shades of the Job today. Good luck, Frank, and George, thanks for keeping your blog going.