The Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words with Bouchercon Chair Kim Keeline

My guest today, Wanda Morris, had the kind of breakout every writer dreams of. Her debut novel, All Her Little Secrets, won the 2022 Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery Novel and was nominated for several more. Her follow up, Anywhere You Run, picked up right where she left off, winning the 2023 Anthony Award for Best Historical Novel, the 2023 Georgia Author of the Year for Best Mystery, and the 2023 Lefty Award for Best Historical Novel. You are probably picking up the theme here – Ms. Morris is one hell of a writer.  

She’s here with me today to talk about those books as well as her new one, What You Leave Behind, which is due out in June. 

My guest today, Gigi Pandian, is the award-winning, USA Today-bestselling author of several different cozy mystery series, including the Accidental Alchemist Mysteries, the Secret Staircase Mysteries, the Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mysteries as well a handful of locked-room mystery short stories. 

She is very active in the broader crime-writing community, including being a co-founder – along with Kellye Garrett and Walter Mosley – of Crime Writers of Color, which of course was founded to serve as a voice of support and encouragement for writers coming from underrepresented communities. 

She has a new Secret Staircase book – A Midnight Puzzle – coming out on March 19th. We’re going to talk about that and much more here today.

My guest today is a man of many talents: he is a fabulous short story author, book reviewer, podcaster and interviewer and – for our purposes today – the author of four highly acclaimed crime thrillers, including his newest, When She Left, which just came out a few weeks ago. I’m very excited to talk with him about all of this today. Please welcome the fantastic E.A. Aymar to the Open Mic.

I believe most of the authors who come on this show have pretty interesting backstories, but my guest today has that in spades. She has been an actor, a yoga instructor and a martial arts teacher, has fought in the Chicago Golden Gloves competition, ran in the Chicago Marathon and competed in the Savate World Championships in Paris. In addition to her martial arts and boxing skills, she’s pretty good with a bow and arrow and a sword, so there’s that. And most of all, the reason she is here with me today of course, is that her debut suspense novel – Ghost Tamer – came out last fall. I’m reading it right now and it is a real rocket ride for sure. Please welcome Meredith Rae Lyons to the Open Mic.

One of the best parts of doing this show is getting to discover a whole lot of writers whose work I have not yet come across. Because no matter how much you read – and I read A LOT – there are just so many more writers out there doing great, great stuff that you probably haven’t read yet. 

My guest today, Chris Holm, is just such an author for me. I’d been aware of his work, seen the name a lot and mentally logged it into the memory banks to get to soon. Well, I finally got around to it and boy am I glad that I did because Chris Holm is a literary badass. 

He is the award-winning author of the really cool Michael Hendricks thrillers, scores of acclaimed short stories, an equally-acclaimed standalone novel and a genre-crossing trilogy of stories that recast the ever popular battle between Heaven and Hell as “pulpy crime fiction.” That’s quite a collection, and I am really excited to have him here with me today to talk about his work.

My guest today is Colin Conway, an author with more than 30 books to his credit, including five different series ranging from political thrillers to police procedurals to traditional crime fiction to cozies. He’s here today to talk a bit about all that and more. 

Regular visitors to this show know that my focal point is to talk to authors, predominantly crime fiction and thriller writers. But I have a different show for you today, focused instead on music. Justin Case has been one of the most well-known and beloved classic rock radio folks in Northern California and beyond for many decades. He recently returned to the morning drive slot at KSEG The Eagle for the first time in years, so I thought it would be good to have him on to talk about music and radio and perhaps get him to share some stories from his long career dealing with rock stars.

My guest today is an old friend of the show, who is making I believe this third appearance here. There’s a definite reason for this, mainly that Jim L’Etoile just keeps writing really good crime thrillers! And the fact he’s a really good guy who is always willing to share insights with a fellow writer is a big part of it too. He’s here today to talk about his newest book, Face of Greed, which is the first in a new series featuring Detective Emily Hunter and her partner, Javier Medina.

My guest today, Matt Coyle, is a true star in modern crime fiction. He is the author of the bestselling Rick Cahill series, which features the exploits of the title character, a former cop-turned-PI who often finds himself sparring with the law as with criminals. His work has been called gritty, emotionally wrenching and hard-boiled, and I concur with all that. His latest Cahill book – Odyssey’s End – came out on the day we recorded this, Nov. 14th.

My guest today, Lou Berney, is considered by many to be one of the really truly great crime thriller authors in the world today. His books have earned him all the major awards this industry has for thriller writers, including the Edgar, Hammett, Steel Dagger, Barry, Macavity, Lefty, and Anthony awards. He’s also been a finalist twice for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. 

I recently finished reading 2018’s November Road, which was stellar, and I’m two-thirds of the way through his latest, Dark Ride, which is also just fantastic. I can’t say enough good things about his writing, so let me just say what a pleasure and an honor it is to have Lou Berney on today's edition of the Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words.