WRITE of SPRING III

WRITE of SPRING III
Saturday, March 26, 2005

Once Upon a Crime
604 W.26th St.
Minneapolis, MN 55405
612-870-3785

Author Appearance Schedule

12:00 Robert Alexander, Grant Blackwood,
Michael Dahl, Monica Ferris, Margaret Frazer, Ellen Hart, Dean Hovey, Lori Lake,
R.D. Zimmerman

1:00 Carl Brookins, Laura Childs, K.J. Erickson,
Judith Guest, Erin Hart, E. Kelly Keady,
William Kent Krueger, Ida Swearingen

2:00 Pat Dennis, Pete Hautman, Judith Koll Healey,
David Housewright, Mary Logue,
Brian Lutterman, Nancy Wikarski,
Deborah Woodworth

3:00 Gary Bush, C.C. Canby, Phil Donlay,
Chris Everheart, Vince Flynn, Anne Frasier,
Bob Rueff, Steve Thayer


32 Authors! 4 hours! Come join us for food, fun, and free stuff!
About the Authors



Robert Alexander is a pen name for R. D. Zimmerman. A graduate of Michigan State University, Mr. Alexander has also studied at Leningrad State University and has lived and traveled extensively in the former Soviet Union. In researching The Kitchen Boy, Mr. Alexander gained access to Russian archives and palaces that are closed to the general public. Under his own name, he has written numerous mystery novels. He makes his home in Minneapolis.

Grant Blackwood is a U.S. Navy veteran, having spent three years on active duty aboard the guided missile frigate USS Ford as an operations specialist and a Pilot Rescue Swimmer. His first book, End of Enemies was a nominee for the 2002 Minnesota Book Award in Popular Fiction. To date, he has published three novels in the Briggs Tanner series.

Carl Brookins, before turning to writing full time, was a freelance photographer, a Public Television program director, a Cable TV administrator, and a counselor and faculty member at Metropolitan University in St. Paul. Carl, like his character Michael Tanner, is an avid sailor. He is a frequent mystery reviewer for a variety of publications, as well as on his website: carlbrookins.com

Gary Bush’s first short fiction appeared in Flesh and Blood: Guilty as Sin, edited by Max Allan Collins. He has also appeared in the collection Fedora II, and is completing a “Benny Coopersmith” PI novel. Benny, like Gary, was a former avid sailor. Gary now writes full time, and lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Stacey, and Max, a Kerry Blue Terrier.

Laura Childs is a best-selling author of the Tea Shop Mystery series and Scrapbook Mystery series. She is a consummate tea drinker, scrap booker and dog lover, and travels frequently to Japan and China with Dr. Bob, her professor husband. In her past life, she was a Clio Award-winning advertising writer and CEO of her own marketing firm.

C.C. Canby is a retired professor of sociology and social psychology, which perhaps has given him an extra advantage in creating fictional serial killers. He taught at Central Missouri University, and Century Community College in Minnesota for 31 years. Masks of Murder is his first novel. Under his real name, he and his wife Sue run a small press publishing company in White Bear Lake.

Michael Dahl is a former bored bank employee, as well as a theater director, comedian, and author of the Young Adult Finnegan Zwake mystery series. Michael conducts writing workshops for schools, libraries, and book clubs. He lives in Minneapolis with some unusual creatures.

Pat Dennis is an award winning author and comedian. Her fiction has been published in Woman’s World and Minnesota Monthly. She wrote Stand Up and Die, Hot Dish to Die For and published a collection of short stories (and contributed to) Who Died In Here. Pat lives in Bloomington with her husband.

Phil Donlay is a professional pilot who has spanned the globe in jets for more than two decades. Self published in an edition of 2,500 copies, Phil’s first book, Category Five, is a remarkable and thrilling achievement. We still have several copies, but they’re going fast. This spring, Simon & Schuster will reprint Category Five in a paperback edition. A native of Kansas, he now resides in Minneapolis.

K. J. Erickson worked at the Federal Reserve in Minneapolis for many years before retiring to write full time. Born in Chicago, she now lives in Minneapolis. She is the author of the award winning Marshall (Mars) Bahr mystery series, most recently, Alone at Night.

Chris Everheart is an emerging writer whose short story, "Chili Dog", will appear in the upcoming crime anthology "Twin Cities Noir". A native of Minneapolis, Chris is an active novelist and screenwriter who has worked in the film and advertising industries. His first novel, The First Gentleman is currently being considered for publication by several publishers. Chris lives in Minneapolis with his wife and step-son.

Monica Ferris has taught courses on mystery writing to children at North Hennepin Community College, gifted children in District #287, and adults at one-evening seminars at Hennepin and Ramsey County libraries. She does lectures and signings, and has appeared on panels at mystery and science fiction conventions. She has won a place on national and local best-seller lists, including USA Today. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, and is a volunteer at Westwood Nursing Home and in area public schools. She lives in St. Louis Park. She is quite fond of large hats.

Vince Flynn, perennial New York Times best seller, is the author of political thrillers featuring CIA superagent Mitch Rapp. His first book, Term Limits, was self published and rigorously self promoted. It met with such huge success that it was immediately reprinted by a major publisher. Vince’s career has been one of the great “Cinderella Stories” of the industry.

Margaret Frazer is an Edgar Award nominated author of the Dame Frevisse medieval mystery series. Margaret has done voluminous research of the period. She is purported to have an index card file with at least one card for every day of the 15th century. She lives in the present day in Elk River.

Anne Frazier is a USA Today best selling author of Hush, Sleep Tight, and Play Dead. Her next thriller, Before I Wake will be published in May. She lives in St. Paul.



Ellen Hart, a multiple Lambda Award winner and two-time Minnesota Book Award winner, is the author of the Jane Lawless series and the Sophie Greenway series. Ellen lives in Minneapolis with her partner and two dogs.

Erin Hart is a Minnesota theater critic and former administrator at the MN State Arts Board. A lifelong interest in Irish traditional music led her to co-found Minnesota’s Irish Music and Dance Association. Erin has an M.A. in English and creative writing from the U of M. She has been nominated for the Agatha and Anthony Awards, and won the Friends of American Writers Award in 2004. Erin and her musician husband Paddy O’Brien live in St. Paul.

Pete Hautman is the author of Godless (winner of the National Book Award), Sweetblood, and Mr. Was, which was an Edgar Award nominee. In addition to his young adult fiction and non-fiction writing, he has written several successful and wildly entertaining adult mysteries, including Mrs. Million, which won the Minnesota Book Award. Pete lives with fellow author Mary Logue in Golden Valley, and Stockholm, WI.

Judith Koll Healey has been a philanthropic professional for 30 years, working in major foundations. She is currently president of a national firm that works with families of wealth in their philanthropic efforts. She is a published poet and short-fiction writer, and has lectured internationally on the topic of art and the unconscious. Her passion is medieval history. The Canterbury Papers is her first novel.

David Housewright has worked as a journalist covering both crime and sports (sometimes simultaneously), an advertising copywriter and creative director, and a writing instructor. He won the Edgar Award for his first novel, Penance, in 1996, and the Minnesota Book Award for his second, Practice to Deceive. David lives in Roseville. His latest novel, Tin City, is due out in April.

Dean Hovey is the author of two mysteries, both published by j-Press: Where Evil Hides, and Hooker. He holds several degrees in engineering and biology, and has traveled extensively in North America - he uses some of his travel experiences for research: Dean contends that there is no better place to study people under stress than at an airport.

E. Kelly Keady graduated cum laude in Political Science and in French before earning his law degree from St. Louis University. He is a practicing trial attorney in Minnesota and Wisconsin. He lives with his family in Minneapolis. The Cross of St. Maro is his first novel.

William Kent Krueger lives in St. Paul, and writes at the St. Clair Broiler. He is the author of the multi-award winning “Cork O’Connor” series, which includes Iron Lake, Boundary Waters, Purgatory Ridge, and Blood Hollow, as well as the “stand-alone” thriller The Devil’s Bed. A fifth “Cork O’Connor” mystery, Mercy Falls, is due out this summer.

Lori Lake was born in Portland, Oregon, and moved to Minnesota with her partner after graduating from Lewis & Clark College in 1983. She worked in government for almost two decades and resigned at the end of 2002 so she could devote full-time attention to writing, teaching, and reviewing. She teaches Queer Fiction writing courses at the Loft Literary Center, and has won multiple Stonewall Awards.

Mary Logue, an award winning poet, has authored Blood Country, Dark Coulee, Glare Ice, Bone Harvest, and soon to be released Poison Heart with protagonist Claire Watkins. Mary lives with author Pete Hautman and toy poodles Rene and Jacques in Golden Valley, as well as in the Wisconsin bluff country that is the setting for her series.

Brian Lutterman won the Salvo Press Award for his first novel, Bound to Die. A graduate of the University of Minnesota and Georgetown University Law Center, Brian has practiced law in Chicago and Minneapolis, and has served as president of a small health organization. He lives with his wife and children in St. Paul.

Bob Rueff is a native Minnesotan and a long time resident of Bloomington. His latest novel is Endgame, a serial killer thriller. An advertising executive for most of his career, Bob is also the author of Minnesota Heat, a satirical statewide bestseller based on the Minnesota psyche and way of life.

Ida Swearingen has worked as a taxi driver in New York City, a beet shoveler in Minnesota, and more recently as a family therapist. Her debut novel, Owl of the Desert, was a Lambda Literary Award nominee. She lives with her partner in Minneapolis.

Steve Thayer was born and raised in St. Paul, MN. He is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena , California. Steve spent seven years acting and writing in Los Angeles before returning to Minnesota to become a New York Times best selling author. Steve lives in Edina.

Nancy Wikarski is a Chicago native and has left our area and our local Sisters in Crime to be back home. Nancy has a PhD in Literature from the University of Chicago. She opted for a career in the business world, where she worked in banking for several years before becoming a computer consultant. Nancy’s short stories have appeared in Futures Magazine. The Fall of White City is the first in the Evangeline LeClair mystery series. As a book critic, she has written for Murder: Past Tense, and Deadly Pleasures.

Deborah Woodworth is a Barry Award winning author of the Sister Rose Callahan Shaker mystery series. Deborah spent most of her childhood in southern Ohio near the abandoned sites of several Shaker villages. Before turning to writing, she earned a P.H.D. in Sociology of Religion from the University of Minnesota. She and her husband live in New Brighton.