About Us
Carolyn Haines grew up more tomboy than Daddy’s Girl, but she has come to greatly
admire the skill set of those women and girls who learn “you can catch more flies with sugar than vinegar.” A native of Lucedale, Mississippi, Carolyn has written many stories set in the state that she loves. In her Sarah Booth Delaney mystery series, set in fictional Zinnia, Mississippi, she has found characters and plots to explore the wonderful, fascinating, and sometimes hard world of the Delta. Carolyn also writesdarker stories, and she delights in scaring her friends and family (she admits she is not right in the head). An activist for animal rights, she is founder of Good Fortune Farm Refuge, a very small rescue, and works to educate people on the desperate need to spay and neuter cats and dogs. While she loves writing, she also loves mischief.
Dean James is a seventh-generation Mississippian long transplanted to Texas. In October 1996 he became the full-time manager of Murder by the Book, one of the nation’s oldest and largest mystery specialty. After nine years he returned to the library world in 2006, and he is now the Associate Director, Collection Development at the Texas Medical Center Library.Dean’s first novel, Cruel as the Grave (Silver Dagger Mysteries) was
published in 2000. Since then he has published fourteen more novels,
writing under his own name and the pseudonyms Jimmie Ruth Evans and Honor Hartman. In August 2010 he launched a new series under the name Miranda James, and the first book under this name, Murder Past Due (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99) spent four weeks on the extended New York Times bestseller list for mass market paperbacks. The newest book in the series, File M for Murder (Berkley Prime Crime; $7.99), was released on January 31, 2012, and is number 19 on the New York Times bestseller list!
Dean lives with his cat, thousands of books, and plays bridge whenever he can.
A graduate of Swarthmore College, Marian Young has been working in publishing her entire career. Her first job, with a publishers’ advertisingagency, led to a position with Harper & Row (now HarperCollins) as
advertising director. Preferring to work directly with writers, she decided
to become an agent and worked at two literary agencies before going out
on her own in 1986.
Over the years, she has had the privilege of working with a diverse group
of writers in many fields: art, history, fiction, cookbooks, and general non-
fiction. She represents Bret Lott, author of one of the highest-selling
Oprah’s Book Club picks, JEWEL; the PEN/Bingham Award-winner
WE’RE IN TROUBLE, by Christopher Coake; historian Maury Klein; and
the mystery/thriller writers Carolyn Haines, Thomas Lakeman, and
newcomer Jeannie Holmes. Two of her cookbooks, ALL ABOUT
BRAISING, by Molly Stevens, and TASTY, by Roy Finamore, were
awarded the prestigious Beard Award, and another cookbook, FISH
WITHOUT A DOUBT, by Rick Moonen and Roy Finamore, was chosen as
the first book in the Gourmet Magazine Cookbook Club. Finally, she liked
the work of writer T.R. Pearson so much that she married him. If there is a
theme to her preferences, it would follow the words of Oscar Wilde: “My
tastes are simple. I am always satisfied with the best.”
Sue Walker is Poet Laureate of Alabama, Director of Creative Writing at the University of South Alabama, and Stokes Distinguished Professor. She has published eight books of poetry, drama, fiction, and criticism. She is the publisher of Negative Capability Press.
Thomas Reid (T.R.) Pearson was born in 1956 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. After earing a BA and MA in English from North Carolina State University, he taught at Pearce College in Raleigh, NC. He later enrolled as a Ph.D. candidate in Pennsylvania, but soon returned to North Carolina, where he wrote his first two novels while working as a carpenter and housepainter. His first novel, A Short History of a Small Place, appeared in 1985 to strong reviews. Since then, he has authored eleven additional novels, four works ofnonfiction (including Seaworthy and Year of Our Lord), and six screenplays
(including The Runaway Jury and The Rainmaker). He also served as editor of
Crystal Zevon’s I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: the dirty life and times of Warren
Zevon, Pearson lives and works in Virginia.
Jeannie Holmes is the author of the Alexandra Sabian series and fears spiders, large bodies of water, and bad weather. She moved from the backwoods of southwestern Mississippi to the Alabama Gulf Coast where she now lives with her husband and four neurotic cats.
Michelle Vega is an Editor with the Berkley Publishing Group, an imprint of Penguin Group, USA. She began her publishing career as an intern at Penguin, then worked part time at Alpha Books while earning her Master’s Degree in British and American Literature, and has been happily part of the Berkley family since 2005. She is interested in cozy, paranormal, traditional and historical mysteries. She also loves urban fantasy, thrillers, suspense, horror, and some YA but she’ll read anything with intriguing characters and a compelling plot. She is thrilled to report that she is the proud editor of several national bestselling mystery series and well as New York Times bestselling series. Her mystery authors are published under Berkley’s Prime Crime imprint and she has also acquired for the Berkley, Ace, and Jove lines.
Benjamin LeRoy is as likely to be walking the river swamps of North Florida as he is to be working book deals in a Manhattan high rise. As the Publisher of Tyrus Books, he often travels to the settings of the novels he publishes —taking extended tours of both rural and urban America with his authors and a video camera to get a better understanding of the books he reads. Tyrus Books publishes fiction that typically revolves around a crime and the effect it has on the ordinary people having to deal with its consequences.
Will Irby works as a private investigator, journalist and writer, traveling and writing extensively about Florida, the Bahamas and Caribbean. An acclaimed storyteller, his assignments often involve inquiry into little-known historical incidents, nefarious acts at sea and unusual natural
phenomena. He has published over sixty short stories and feature articles.
His work was featured in the documentary film Smuggler’s Paradise. He
continues to chronicle the underworld of modern-day pirates and
smugglers.
Will Irby is a former Florida Artist in Residence and gubernatorial
appointee to the Florida Arts Council.
Fantasy author Anton Strout was born in the Berkshire Hills mere miles from writing heavyweights Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman Melville and currently lives in the haunted corn maze that is New Jersey (where nothing paranormal ever really happens, he assures you).
He is the author of the Simon Canderous urban fantasy series and Alchemystic, book one of the upcoming Spellmason Chronicles for Ace Books, a division of Penguin Group (USA). Anton is also the author of many short tales published in anthologies by DAW Books.
The Once & Future Podcast is his latest project, where he endeavors as Curator of Content to bring authors and readers together through a weekly news show format.
He has been a featured author guest of honor, speaker and workshop leader at San Diego Comic-Con, Gencon, New York Comic-Con, the Brooklyn Book Festival and many other conventions.
Deborah LeBlanc will teach workshops on writing paranormals and romance.
Second to the love of my grandmother’s stories was my fascination with words and their meaning. Even as a kid, I thought it was important to use the perfect words when conveying anything of importance, especially emotions. Little did I know that those two loves would steer me towards writerdom.
Growing up, I didn’t have aspirations of becoming an author. In fact, aside from a few short stories written out of boredom in grade school, the thought of being a writer never crossed my mind. Instead, I dreamed of being an astronaut, Superman, a nun, a bull-rider, a singer, and a teacher. It wasn’t until life had me well in the grips of adulthood that the storytelling urge overtook me, and I started penning tales.
At first the task was frustrating and daunting. Although I saw the story clearly in my head and could have easily told it standing before a million people, writing it without the aid of hand-gestures, facial expressions, or body language seemed impossible. It took a dozen or more false starts before it finally dawned on me…. I could use all those expressions of passion and conviction . . . if I chose just the right words. You’ve got to love how life sets you up sometimes, you know? J
Enough about me for now. I want to talk about you—To anyone reading this, know that I’m truly honored that you’ve chosen to spend a little time with me here. Life is short and minutes are precious. The fact that you’ve spared a few for me has not gone unnoticed. And I’m equally honored and humbled every time you shop for a book and choose one of mine from the thousands available to you. Because of you, I’m able to continue a tradition I’ve loved for a lifetime—storytelling. Thank you for giving me that gift.
