Panelists 2020

  James L’Etoile James L’Etoile uses his twenty-nine years behind bars as an influence in his novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California’s state parole system. He is a nationally recognized expert witness on prison and jail operations.…

  John DeDakis Journalist, novelist, and writing coach John DeDakis is a former Senior Copy Editor on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.” DeDakis is the author of five novels in the Lark Chadwick mystery-suspense series. His fourth novel, Bullet in the Chamber, is the winner of Reviewers Choice, Foreword INDIES, and Feathered Quill…

  Roger Johns ROGER JOHNS is the author of the Wallace Hartman Mysteries from St. Martin’s Press/Minotaur Books: Dark River Rising (2017) and River of Secrets (2018). He is the 2018 Georgia Author of the Year (Detective·Mystery Category), a 2018 Killer Nashville Readers’ Choice Award nominee, a two-time Finalist for the Silver Falchion Award, and…

  Sheila Sobel Sheila Sobel’s debut novel Color Blind won the 2017 Killer Nashville Reader’s Choice Award for Best Fiction YA and Finalist for the 2017 Silver Falchion Award for Best Fiction YA. Sheila is a member of ITW, MWA, SinC, SCBWI, and Women in Film. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, two…

  Elena Taylor Elena Taylor writes the Sheriff Bet Rivers Mysteries, about a law enforcement officer who returns home to fill in for her dying father, only to discover her new role as interim sheriff may be more permanent than she planned. As Elena Hartwell she writes the humorous Eddie Shoes Private Eye series. When…

  Susan Crawford Originally from Miami, Susan lived in New York and Boston before moving to Atlanta, where she raised three daughters and taught Adult Education in a variety of settings. An award-winning poet and best-selling author, Susan is a member of The Atlanta Writers Club, The Village Writers, and Sisters in Crime. Her two…

  Nina Sadowsky Nina Sadowsky is an author, filmmaker and educator. She has written numerous screenplays and produced such films as “The Wedding Planner.” Her debut thriller, JUST FALL, was published in 2016 and her BURIAL SOCIETY series launched in 2018 with the second book in the series, THE EMPTY BED, published on January 28,…