Panelists on this fun, fast-paced improv game in which authors brainstorm on their feet to create a brand new mystery will be:

Sharon Daynard: Sharon Daynard is the author of Murder Points North. Her short stories have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US and Canada. Her short stories include “The Boss of Butler Square” which received Honorable Mention for the 2019 Al Blanchard Award and “Widows Peak”, a 51-word story, which was short-listed for a Derringer Award for Best Flash of 2004 and has been used to help teach minimalist writing in college classes. She is a managing partner at Potter’s Field Publishing and the co-creator of Evidoozle, an online evidence board-based playing card game. She holds degrees in Environmental Sciences and Geology and often incorporates elements from them in her stories. She is a past president of SinCNE and a former co-chair of the New England Crime Bake.

Kate Flora: Flora’s fascination with people’s criminal tendencies began in the Maine attorney general’s office. Deadbeat dads, people who hurt their kids, and employers’ discrimination aroused her curiosity about human behavior. The author of twenty-four books spanning many genres including crime fiction, true crime, memoir, and nonfiction, and many short stories, Flora’s been a finalist for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer awards. She won the Public Safety Writers Association award for nonfiction and twice won the Maine Literary Award for crime fiction. Flora has taught writing for the Maine Writers and Publishers Alliance, Brown University Continuing Education, The Cambridge Center for Adult Education, the Cape Cod Writer’s Conference, and for Grub Street in Boston. She’s a former international president of Sisters in Crime, and a founder of the New England Crime Bake and the Maine Crime Wave conferences. She blogs with the Maine Crime Writers. Flora divides her time between Massachusetts and Maine, where she gardens and cooks and watches the clouds when she’s not imagining her character’s dark deeds.

J.A. (Judith) McIntosh: writes legal suspense and mysteries for thinking adults who like to see people get what they deserve.  An attorney for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Department of Children and Families  representing the state in child custody matters and in child abuse and neglect cases,  her novels are about this area of law and its heartbreaking consequences on families. Her books are primarily about people trying to make the best of an awful situation and their attempts to connect with others and get what they need.  All does not turn out well. She lives in a small town, much like her fictional Meredith, Massachusetts, and has lived here most of her life.  Most of her family lives here also, an atypical situation in the twenty-first century.  As the town has less than 10,000 people, she knows a large percentage of the population. 

Kim Herdman Shapiro: is an author, journalist, graphic artist, and vlogger. She has worked in both print and broadcast journalism, as well as creating one of the first ever digital e-zines with her Microsoft Award-winning travel site, Footloose. Although she grew up in Vancouver, she has lived and traveled to many different places around the world. Some of these places are detailed in her book, Gelato with the Pope: and other adventures of a travel writer in Europe. She has spent the last seven years filming across Canada for What the Hell is a Toque: and other questions on the great Canadian roadtrip, where she shows her two sons what it means to be Canadian. For the past twenty years, she has lived with her husband and sons in New England. At present, her writing life is focused on her two mystery series, one based in British Columbia and the other her home for the past 25 years: New Hampshire.  She also serves on the board of Sisters in Crime New England and works as their Public Relations Director.