Spotlight: Deadly Dozen

About Alison Bruce

Alison Bruce has an honours degree in history and philosophy, which has nothing to do with any regular job she’s held since. A liberal arts education did prepare her to be a writer, however. She penned her first novel during lectures while pretending to take notes.

Alison writes mysteries, romance, westerns and fantasy. Her novels include Under a Texas Star, a western romantic suspense, and Deadly Legacy, a suspense thriller. Her protagonists are marked by their strength of character, the ability to adapt (sooner or later) to new situations and to learn from adversity.

Copywriter and editor since 1992, Alison has also been a comic book store manager, small press publisher and web designer in the past. She currently manages publications for Crime Writers Canada and is a volunteer with Action Read Family Literacy Center. A single mother, she lives in Guelph, Ontario with her two children, Kate and Sam.

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About C. S. Lakin

C. S. Lakin writes novels in numerous genres, focusing mostly on contemporary psychological mysteries and allegorical fantasy. Her novel Someone to Blame (contemporary fiction) won the 2009 Zondervan First Novel competition 2009 (published October 2010). Lakin’s Gates of Heaven fantasy series for adults (AMG-Living Ink Publishers) features original full-length fairy tales in traditional style. Already in print are the first books in the series, The Wolf of Tebron. The Map across Time, The Land of Darkness, and The Unraveling of Wentwater, with two more to follow.

In addition to her mysteries and fantasy series, she has written the first book in a young adult sci-fi adventure series: Time Sniffers. Her contemporary mystery Innocent Little Crimes made the top one hundred finalists in the 2009 Amazon Breakout Novel Award contest, earning her a Publisher’s Weekly review, which stated her book was “a page-turning thrill-ride that will have readers holding their breaths the whole way through.”

She recently completed Intended for Harm, an epic family sage that is a contemporary take-off on the biblical story of Jacob and Joseph and is developing a swashbuckling dog memoir in the style of Moby Dick entitled A Dog after God’s Own Heart. She lives in Santa Cruz, CA, with her husband Lee, a gigantic lab named Coaltrane, and three persnickety cats.

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About Catherine Astolfo

Catherine Astolfo retired in 2002 after a very successful 34 years in education. Catherine received the Elementary Dufferin-Peel OECTA Award for Outstanding Service in 1998. She was also awarded Dufferin-Peel Catholic Elementary Principal of the Year in 2002 by the Catholic Principals Council of Ontario.

Catherine is a past President of Crime Writers of Canada and a Derrick Murdoch Award winner (2012). She was a Zonta Club 2012 Nominee for Women of Achievement.

Writing is Catherine’s passion. She can recall inventing fantasy stories for her classmates in Grade Three. Her short stories and poems have been published in a number of literary Canadian presses. In 2005, she won a Brampton Arts Award. Her short stories won the Bloody Words Short Story Award (second and first) in 2009 and 2010. She won the prestigious Arthur Ellis Best Short Crime Story Award in 2012.

Catherine’s novel series, The Emily Taylor Mysteries, are published by Imajin Books and are optioned for film by Sisbro & Co. Inc.

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About Cheryl Kaye Tardif

Cheryl Kaye Tardif is an award-winning, international bestselling Canadian suspense author. Her novels include Divine Sanctuary, Submerged, Divine Justice, Children of the Fog, The River, Divine Intervention, and Whale Song, which New York Times bestselling author Luanne Rice calls “a compelling story of love and family and the mysteries of the human heart…a beautiful, haunting novel.”

She is now working on her next thriller.

Cheryl also enjoys writing short stories inspired mainly by her author idol Stephen King, and this has resulted in Dream House (short story), Skeletons in the Closet & Other Creepy Stories (collection of shorts) and Remote Control (novelette eBook). In 2010 Cheryl detoured into the romance genre with her contemporary romantic suspense debut, Lancelot’s Lady, written under the pen name of Cherish D’Angelo. And she even has a children’s picture book published, The Elfling Princess.

Booklist raves, “Tardif, already a big hit in Canada…a name to reckon with south of the border.”

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About Cynthia St-Pierre

Melodie’s co-writer, Cynthia St-Pierre wrote promotional, packaging and communications materials; penned articles for business periodicals; and a chapter of How to Successfully Do Business in Canada. Currently a member of Crime Writers of Canada, she has one award for fiction and has been a writing contest judge. Best of all for a mystery writer, Cynthia has received a York Regional Police Citizens Awareness Program certificate, presented and signed by Julian Fantino, former Commissioner of the Ontario Provincial Police.

In addition, Cynthia grows vegetables in her backyard, makes recipes with tofu, and speaks English-accented French with husband Yves.

About Donna Galanti

Donna Galanti writes murder and mystery with a dash of steam as well as middle grade adventure fiction. She is an International Thriller Writers Debut Author of the paranormal suspense novel A Human Element, the short story collection The Dark Inside, and Joshua and The Lightning Road.

She’s lived from England as a child, to Hawaii as a U.S. Navy photographer. Donna dreamed of being a writer when she fell in love with the worlds of Narnia and Roald Dahl while attending school in a magical English castle where her dark imagination ran wild in an itchy uniform (bowler hat and tie included).

She now lives in Pennsylvania with her family in an old farmhouse. It has lots of writing nooks, fireplaces, and stink bugs, but she’s still wishing for a castle again—preferably with ghosts.

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About Gloria Ferris

Gloria Ferris began her writing career by authoring and editing operating procedures for a nuclear power development. It was an exciting job, but opportunities for plot and character development were limited, so she turned to crime fiction and found it to be a lot more fun. Cheat the Hangman was shortlisted for the 2009 Crime Writers of Canada Unhanged Arthur contest.

Gloria recently moved back to her native Guelph, Ontario, after spending 20 plus years in several small towns by Lake Huron, which inspired her mysteries. The stories are written in a humorous style, but the crimes are deadly serious. A sequel to Cheat the Hangman is in the works.

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About Jesse Giles Christiansen

Jesse Giles Christiansen is an American author who writes compelling literary fiction that weaves the real with the surreal. He attended Florida State University where he began writing short stories and exposing himself to the great literary classics, his greatest influences at the time consisting of London, Hemingway, and Wilde. He received his B.A. in English literature in 1993.

He wrote his first novel, About: Journey into the Mystic, after spending a summer in Alaska working on fishing boats. His second novel, Pelican Bay, part of a trilogy, focuses on a mysterious old fisherman and the unforgettable lessons he imparts on an eccentric, nosy, sea-battered beach town. The second book in The Captain Shelby Trilogy, Captain Shelby, was recently released and explores the old fisherman’s past.

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About Kat Flannery

Kat Flannery has loved writing ever since she was a girl. She is often seen jotting her ideas down in a little black book. When not writing or researching, Kat enjoys snuggling on her couch with a hot chocolate and a great book.

Her first novel, CHASING CLOVERS became an Amazon’s bestseller in Historical and Western romance. LAKOTA HONOR, Kat’s second book and book 1 in the Branded Trilogy became an instant success in Paranormal Historical Mystery/Romance. This was followed by book 2, BLOOD CURSE, which will be released October 1, 2014. Kat is now working on the final book in the trilogy.

When not focusing on her creative passions, Kat is busy with her three boys and doting husband.

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About Linda Merlino

Linda Merlino is the author of Hudson Catalina and Room of Tears. She began writing fiction as a young mother on the sidelines of endless soccer practices. Linda wrote anytime any place. A manuscript filled a carton in the back seat of her car. Many years have passed since those early beginnings, but her work continues to be inspired by her children.

The author has a fascination with heroes and writes her fiction to honor ordinary men and women who react unselfishly in extraordinary circumstances. She extends her gratitude to all who keep us safe and free.

Her hometown is outside of Boston. She lived for many years in New York City and more recently calls Connecticut her home.

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About Melodie Campbell

Billed as Canada’s “Queen of Comedy” by the Toronto Sun (Jan. 5, 2014), Melodie Campbell achieved a personal best when Library Digest compared her to Janet Evanovich.

Melodie got her start writing comedy. In 1999, she opened the Canadian Humor Conference. She has over 200 publications, including 100 comedy credits, 40 short stories and 6 novels. She has won 9 awards for fiction, including the 2014 Derringer Award.

In addition to writing, Melodie has been a bank manager, hospital director, college instructor, association executive, and possibly the worst runway model ever. She lives in Oakville Ontario, where she is lamentably addicted to fast cars.

Melodie is the Executive Director of Crime Writers of Canada.

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About Rosemary McCracken

Born and raised in Montreal, Rosemary McCracken has worked on newspapers across Canada as a reporter, arts writer and reviewer, editorial writer and editor. She is now a freelance journalist, specializing in personal finance and the financial services industry. She advocates greater protection for investors.

Rosemary’s short fiction has been published by Room of One’s Own Press, Kaleidoscope Books and Sisters in Crime Canada. Safe Harbor, her first suspense thriller, was shortlisted for Britain’s Debut Dagger award in 2010, and released by Imajin Books in 2012. Black Water is the second book in the Pat Tierney series.

Rosemary lives with her husband in Toronto, and does much of her fiction writing at her stone cottage in Ontario’s Haliburton Highlands.

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About Susan J. McLeod

Susan Jane McLeod has been writing since she was seven years old. At age eleven, she won a countywide essay contest, and her professional career was launched. By the time she was nineteen, her poetry had appeared in several magazines, including American Girl and Seventeen.

She also won an honorable mention in The Writer.

Susan grew up in Rochester, New York, with her three sisters and one brother. In her early thirties, she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and given a 50/50 chance to live. She survived only to have the cancer recur, necessitating more surgery and an aggressive course of chemotherapy. Today she is cancer free.

The best job she’s ever had was managing a bookstore, surrounded by her passion: literature.

Susan has published several short stories and two novels. The first, Soul and Shadow, is an award-winning paranormal historical romance. The second, Fire and Shadow, is classified as paranormal suspense. Both have garnered impressive reviews.

Susan believes strongly in several causes and has raised money for the American Cancer Society, Foodlink, and the House of Mercy homeless shelter.

She still resides in Rochester and will always call it home.

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