SISTERS IN CRIME MISSION STATEMENT: To promote the professional development and advancement of women crime writers to achieve equality in the industry.
This site is dedicated to promoting our local mystery writers in Orange County, and adjacent California regions.
Do you love reading a good mystery novel? Do you write mysteries? We meet on the fourth Sunday of every month to learn about, and discuss, all things about crime fiction.
Our meeting on Sunday, September 27 at 2 p.m. will be a book launch for Crossing Borders, the anthology published by the San Diego Chapter of SinC, edited by Lisa Brackmann and Matt Coyle.
A few of us writers with stories in the anthology, along with Lisa Brackman, and moderated by Maddie Margarita, will talk about writing short stories, as well as what inspired our own stories.
Our Panel
Greta Boris is the author of The 7 Deadly Sins, standalone novels of psychological suspense. Ordinary women. Unexpected Evil. Taut psychological thrillers that expose the dark side of sunny Southern California. Her stories have been called atmospheric, twisty and unputdownable.She’s also the Co-Creator of The Author Wheel, a site for writers on writing, and a popular conference speaker and workshop instructor. She describes her work (and her life) as an O.C. housewife meets Dante’s Inferno. You can visit her at http://gretaboris.com
Lisa Brackmann is the NYT best-selling author of the Ellie McEnroe crime fiction trilogy set in China — Rock Paper Tiger, Hour of the Rat, Dragon Day — and suspense novels Getaway, Go-Between and Black Swan Rising. Her books have been shortlisted for numerous awards, including the Strand Critic’s best first novel, SCIBA’s T. Jefferson Parker award, as well as landing on some “best of” lists, including Amazon’s Top 100 Books of the Year and Top 10 Mystery/Thrillers. Her work has also appeared in San Diego Noir, The Wall Street Journal, Travel+Leisure, Salon, LARB, Murder-a-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of The Go-Go’s and CNET. In addition, Lisa teaches writing, edits, crafts the occasional screenplay and does explainers about foreign affairs. She’s been a keynote speaker at various writers’ conferences and writers’ groups and has done more panels at various events than she’s able to remember. In past lives, she was a teacher in China, an issues researcher for a presidential campaign, a mid-level film studio bureaucrat and the singer/songwriter/bassist in an LA rock band. She lives in San Diego with a cat, far too many books and a bass ukulele, and plays a regular bass in a local band. You can find her online at www.lisabrackmann.com
Barbara DeMarco-Barrett is the author of Pen on Fire: A Busy Woman’s Guide to Igniting the Writer Within (Harcourt, re-released by Mars Street Press), a Los Angeles Times bestseller. She’s published short fiction and essays in USA Noir: Best of the Akashic Noir Series, Serial Magazine, Shotgun Honey (Down & Out Books), Crossing Borders (Down & Out Books), Inlandia, Antarctica Journal, Authors Guild Bulletin, and Belle Ombre. Her journalism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Poets & Writers, The Writer, and the Los Angeles Review of Books. Since 1998, she’s hosted Writers on Writing, a radio show on KUCI-FM and podcast on iTunes. She’s editor of the upcoming Palm Springs Noir (Akashic, April 2021). She’s president of Sisters in Crime, Orange County Chapter. She has taught at UC-Irvine, where she was named Distinguished Instructor, and currently teaches at Gotham Writers Workshop (NYC) and Saddleback College (Orange County, CA).
Kathy Krevat is the author of the GOURMET CAT MYSTERY series featuring cat food chef Colbie Summers and her demanding cat Trouble. She also writes the bestselling CHOCOLATE COVERED MYSTERY series under the name Kathy Aarons. Her short story “One Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was selected for the Crossing Borders anthology published by Down & Out Books in March 2020.
Kathy lives in San Diego with her husband of twenty-eight years. When she’s not writing, she’s volunteering with youth arts education organizations and performing stand-up comedy – now via Zoom.
Follow Kathy on Facebook or Twitter or visit her at: www.kathykrevat.com.
Maddie Margarita mystery and suspense. She is also the host of Lit Up! OC –a monthly writer’s salon in Orange County, CA. and CHARACTER FLOSS, a podcast on Authors on The Air Global Network. When not writing, talking into a mic, or writing her current book, Maddie serves on the Boards of Sisters-in-Crime OC, and the Southern California Writers Association. Her short stories can be found in IT’S ALL IN THE STORY – CALIFORNIA, an anthology of short fiction.
Maddie’s web site: https://maddiemargarita.com
Carl Vonderau is the author of MURDERABILIA, a thriller that takes place in the upper crust world of private banking. He studied economics at Stanford and music at San Jose State University before embarking on a career in banking, where he worked in Latin America, Canada, and North Africa. A partner at San Diego Social Venture Partners, Carl serves on the Board for the local chapter of Sisters in Crime called Partners in Crime. He and his wife live in San Diego and has two grown sons who wonder how he knows so much about serial killers and banking crimes.
The event will begin at 2:00. We will not be having a Readers’ Forum this month.
Here’s the Zoom login, and note there is a password. https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86269877831?pwd=Ukx3dnR3QkVUTGdadGZsV0dORG1zdz09
Meeting ID: 862 6987 7831
Passcode: 939970
One tap mobile. +16699009128,,86269877831#,,,,,,0#,,939970# US (San Jose)
If you have questions that are not answered on this website, please contact us at secretary@ocsistersincrime.org.
Due to COVID-19, Ladies of Intrigue will not be taking place this year. Check back for more information.
Membership is open to all who have an interest in mysteries. This includes, but is not limited to, authors pursuing a career in crime and mystery writing, booksellers, publishers, librarians, editors, fans and readers.
Membership Dues and Forms
You must join the National organization to be eligible for membership in the Orange County chapter.
National dues are $40 per year, ACTIVE* and $50 per year, PROFESSIONAL**
To join national Sisters in Crime, please visit the national Sisters in Crime Website: http://www.sistersincrime.org
Orange County dues are $25 per year.
To join Sisters in Crime Orange County, please print send the completed Orange County Sisters in Crime form on our membership page and a check for $25 payable to Sisters in Crime, O.C. or join online by filling out the following form and pay using PayPal.
Meeting place (when we can again meet in person):
Irvine Ranch Water District*
15500 Sand Canyon Ave.
Irvine, CA 92618-3102
The usual meeting location is in the Community Room, on the far left side of the parking lot when you enter the complex from Sand Canyon Avenue.
Map for Irvine Ranch Water District
*Disclaimer: Irvine Ranch Water District neither supports nor endorses the cause nor activities of organizations which use the District’s meeting rooms that are made available as a public service
Check us out on Facebook: Sisters in Crime Orange County
