We recently went to our local bookstore, and discovered something remarkable. Each fall, anthologies are released featuring the best short stories for a particular genre published the prior year. These series of books feature everything from mystery and suspense to food writing, and are put out by publishers like HarperCollins and the Mysterious Bookshop. In … Continue reading Best Mystery Stories of the Year 2024

One year ago, we posted about winning the Writer’s Digest Annual Writing Competition. In fact, we’ve written about the WDAWC every year since 2020. This year is no exception! Writer’s Digest Magazine supports writers in every genre and at every stage in their careers through articles, workshops, and various competitions that the magazine runs each … Continue reading Writer’s Digest 93rd Annual Writing Competition

A little over a week ago, we attended our first writing conference. Bouchercon—named for Anthony Boucher, a mystery writer and critic who helped found the Mystery Writers of America—brings together writers, booksellers, readers, and fans from across the globe for five days of panels, lectures, book signings, and special events. It’s essentially a celebration of … Continue reading Bouchercon 2024

Today is publication day for the anthology Mystery Most Devious, a collection of 17 short stories produced in partnership with Malice Domestic, a convention that celebrates the Traditional Mystery— “best typified by the works of Agatha Christie.” Now in its 36th year, each convention offers a different anthology—some uniquely themed, all following the naming conventions Mystery Most…, and we … Continue reading Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Devious

The official publication of Mystery Readers International, Mystery Readers Journal is a quarterly periodical that reaches over 2,000 mystery readers all over the world. Jennifer has a short piece in Mystery Readers Journal's newest Spring 2024 issue: Southern California Mysteries! The article is a deeper dive into the award-winning short story “Stranger” which takes place in Los Angeles. The issue … Continue reading Mystery Readers Journal

The very first blog post on this website was dedicated to the results of the Writer’s Digest 89th Annual Writing Competition—in our first year, we beat over 4,000 entries to place second in the genre category. And in the years since, we’ve won prizes in this contest another three times, including an additional runner-up accolade. … Continue reading Writer’s Digest – Annual Writing Competition First Place WINNER!

We posted previously about being finalists in the Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards—the writing contest that promotes manuscripts in all genres of commercial fiction--and at their annual conference the winners were announced. We are so honored that our story Perfect Fifth is the winner of the Mainstream/Literary category! We're so thankful to the organizers of … Continue reading Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards 2023 – WINNERS!

In a last-minute turn of events, we were fortunately able to attend the Killer Nashville Awards Banquet! We had never been to KN, or to a writing conference at all before, but we're so glad we made the trip. Killer Nashville is a writing conference focusing on the genres of mystery, thriller, suspense, and everything … Continue reading Killer Nashville 2023 – WINNERS!

As of today, the anthology collection is officially available! E-book and print versions can be ordered from Amazon or Shotgun Honey Books. To read more, follow the links above.

The Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards are an annual contest sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, an organization that “offers encouragement and opportunity to writers in all genres.” The RMFW supports and educates writers of all kinds of commercial fiction through this contest—now in its thirteenth year—in addition to offering critique groups, writing-related events … Continue reading Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards