Your Instructors
Meet the Outliers growing team of bestselling authors and industry experts — the experienced writers who mentor our students
Kathleen Antrim
Outliers Co-Creator and CEO
Kathleen Antrim is the award-winning and bestselling author of the political thrillers "Capital Offense" and "Through a Veil Darkly.” A former national correspondent and columnist for the "San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Examiner Newspapers," she also hosted the nationally syndicated radio show "Silk & Antrim," and was a regular guest on HotTalk 560 KSFO and “Battleline.”
She has served on various boards of directors including the San Francisco Writers Conference and International Thriller Writers. She is the past Co-President and Vice President of various roles at International Thriller Writers, and now channels her passion for writing education as the Co-Creator and CEO of Outliers-A Writing University.
DP Lyle
Outliers Co-Creator and Program/Education Director
DP Lyle is the Amazon #1 Bestselling; Macavity and Benjamin Franklin Award-winning; and Edgar(2), Agatha, Anthony, Shamus, Scribe, Silver Falchion, and USA Today Best Book(2) Award-nominated author of 26 books, both fiction and non-fiction. He hosts the Crime Fiction Writer’s Blog and the Criminal Mischief: The Art and Science of Crime Fiction podcast series. As a founding member of International Thriller Writers he created and directed CraftFest and the Online Thriller school, and co-created and directed the Master Class program. He has worked with many novelists and with the writers of popular television shows such as Law & Order, CSI: Miami, Diagnosis Murder, Monk, Judging Amy, Peacemakers, Cold Case, House, Medium, Women’s Murder Club, 1-800-Missing, The Glades, and Pretty Little Liars.
Jeffery Deaver
Jeffery Deaver is an international number one bestselling author. His novels have appeared on bestseller lists around the world. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. He has served two terms as president of Mystery Writers of America, and was recently named a Grand Master of MWA, whose ranks include Agatha Christie, Ellery Queen, Mary Higgins Clark and Walter Mosely.
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The author of more than forty novels, three collections of short stories, and a lyricist of a country-western album, he’s received or been shortlisted for dozens of awards.
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Deaver has been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, the Strand Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award and the Raymond Chandler Lifetime Achievement Award in Italy.​
James Rollins
James Rollins is the #1 New York Times bestseller of international thrillers, sold to over forty countries. His Sigma series has earned national accolades and has topped charts around the world. He is also a practicing veterinarian, who still spends time underground or underwater as an avid spelunker and diver.
Heather Graham
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home with her third baby and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over two hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult, sci-fi, young adult, and Christmas family fare.
She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages. She has written over 200 novels and has 60 million books in print. Heather has been honored with awards from booksellers and writers’ organizations for excellence in her work. She is the proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers and was awarded the prestigious Thriller Master Award in 2016. She is also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.
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Meg Gardiner
Meg Gardiner is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of sixteen novels. Her thrillers have won the Edgar Award and been summer reading picks by The Today Show and O, the Oprah magazine. In August 2022 Heat 2, co-authored with Michael Mann, debuted at #1 on the New York Times best seller list. A former lawyer, two-time president of Mystery Writers of America, and three-time Jeopardy! champion, Gardiner lives in Austin.
Allison Brennan
New York Times bestselling and award-winning author Allison Brennan believes that life is too short to be bored, so she had five kids and writes three books a year. She lives with her family in Arizona where she enjoys hiking, baseball Spring Training, and (of course) reading. Best known for her long-running Lucy Kincaid FBI series, Allison is currently writing the Quinn & Costa thrillers (Make It Out Alive, Jan 2026) and Angelhart Investigations (Don’t Say a Word, Sept 2025). Her first romantic mystery, Beach Reads and Deadly Deeds, was released June 2025.
JD Barker
J.D. Barker (Jonathan Dylan Barker) is a New York Times and international bestselling American author whose work has been broadly described as suspense thrillers, often incorporating elements of horror, crime, mystery, science fiction, and the supernatural.
Don Bentley
Don Bentley is the New York Times Bestselling author of the Matt Drake series (Forgotten War 2023), four Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. novels (Weapons Grade 2023), and the Vince Flynn Mitch Rapp series (2024). Don spent a decade as an Army Apache helicopter pilot, and while deployed in Afghanistan was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with "V" device for valor. Following his time in the military, Don worked as an FBI special agent, focusing on foreign intelligence and counterintelligence and was a Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team member. Don lives with his family in Austin, Texas.
Alex Finlay
Alex Finlay is the bestselling author of the 2021 breakout novel, Every Last Fear, the 2022 Goodreads Choice nominee for Best Mystery and Thriller, The Night Shift, the 2023 Library Reads Hall of Fame recipient, What Have We Done, and his latest release, the USA Today bestseller, If Something Happens to Me. Alex’s novels are regularly on "best of the year" lists, have been translated into twenty-five languages, and have been optioned for film or television. Every Last Fear is in development for a major limited series, and his upcoming May 2025 release, Parents Weekend has already been acquired for film. Alex lives in Washington, DC and Virginia.
Steven James
Steven James is a critically acclaimed author of nineteen novels and numerous nonfiction books that have sold more than 1 million copies. His books have won or been shortlisted for dozens of national and international awards. In addition, his stories and articles have appeared in more than eighty different publications, including The New York Times. He is also a popular keynote speaker and professional storyteller with a master's degree in storytelling. Since 1996 he has appeared more than two thousand times at events spanning the globe, presenting his stories and teaching the principles of storytelling to writers, speakers, teachers, and leaders. When he's not writing or speaking, he hosts the weekly podcast The Story Blender, on which he interviews some of the world's leading writers and storytellers. In 2020 he was inducted into the Christy Hall of Fame for excellence in fiction writing. Publishers Weekly has called him "[a] master storyteller at the peak of his game.”
Hank Phillippi Ryan
Hank Phillippi Ryan is the USA Today bestselling author of 15 psychological thrillers, winning the most prestigious awards in the genre: five Agathas, five Anthonys, and the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award. She is also on-air investigative reporter for Boston's WHDH-TV, with 37 EMMYs and dozens more journalism honors. National book critics call her “a superb and gifted storyteller.” Publishers Weekly says “Ryan is a master of suspense!” and Library Journal says "Ryan has a gift for writing superb suspense." Hank is the co-host and founder of THE BACK ROOM, host of CRIME TIME on A Mighty Blaze, and co-host of FIRST CHAPTER FUN. Catch her newest thriller, ONE WRONG WORD.
Boyd Morrison
Boyd Morrison is an actor, engineer, Jeopardy! champion, and the #1 New York Times bestselling author of fourteen thrillers, including six collaborations with Clive Cussler in the Oregon Files series. His debut novel, THE ARK, was an Indie Next Notable pick and has been translated into over a dozen languages. Before becoming a writer, he worked at Johnson Space Center, RCA/Thomson, and Microsoft’s Xbox group. His latest thriller THE LAST TRUE TEMPLAR is the second book in the Tales of the Lawless Land series of historical adventures co-written with his sister, expert medievalist Beth Morrison.
Jon Land
Jon Land is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of over 60 books, including his Texas Ranger Caitlin Strong series. Jon has also taken over two of the most iconic legacy brands in mystery-thriller fiction, penning six titles in the Murder, She Wrote and two in the Capital Crimes series. Additionally, Jon has teamed with multiple New York Times bestselling author Heather Graham on a bestselling sci-fi series that includes THE RISING and BLOOD MOON. His next thriller series, written with fellow author Jeff Ayers under the pseudonym A. J. Landau, debuted in February of 2024 with Leave No Trace from Minotaur. The author of numerous, similarly acclaimed nonfiction titles, Jon has more recently turned his talents to ghostwriting with his first effort in that arena, WHITE ROBES AND BROKEN BADGES from Harper Collins.
Tosca Lee
Tosca Lee is a New York Times bestselling author of twelve novels. Her work has been praised by Publisher’s Weekly, Booklist, The Historical Novel Society, Woman’s World, Dallas Morning News, and The Midwest Book Review as “a tour de force,” “a must-read literary triumph,” “powerful,” and “mind-bending.” Lee’s books have been translated into seventeen languages and optioned for TV and film. She received her B.A. from Smith College and makes her home in Nebraska.
KJ Howe
KJ Howe is the international bestselling author of The Freedom Broker series showcasing elite kidnap negotiator Thea Paris. She is also the executive director of the International Thriller Writers, an organization that supports thriller authors worldwide. KJ completed her Masters in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University and won the Thriller Award for Best First Novel.
Magen Mintchev
Magen Mintchev started her thriller bookstagram account on Instagram five years ago under the name @bonechillingbooks with a following of over 90,000 people. She also began her social media management agency, Social with Magen (on Instagram as @socialwithmagen), in October 2023 after spending 20 years in Marketing Communications for various tech software companies, banks, and newspapers. She now works with multiple brands, including Outliers Writing University, authors, C-suite executives, skincare professionals, cloud companies, and others. She was born and raised in Maine and currently lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband, two sons, and Steve the guinea pig.
Shirley Jump
Shirley Jump is an award-winning, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Amazon, and USA Today bestselling author who has published more than 80 books in 24 countries, selling a combined total of more than 8 million copies. She has been published in romantic suspense, romance, women’s fiction, and young adult horror, as well as nonfiction, and also works as a ghostwriter for NFL players, TV celebrities, and top CEOs. Her YouTube channel, Writing Compelling Fiction, is in the top 7% of all YouTube channels worldwide. A former reporter, she has a background in all aspects of writing, from hard news to publicity to fiction. She has spoken all over the world about the power of narrative and how to create compelling books.
Harry Hunsicker
Harry Hunsicker is the bestselling author of nine crime thrillers, including The Life and Death of Rose Doucette (October 2024). He’s also written numerous short stories and a recently produced short screenplay, which has received numerous accolades. His prose work has been short-listed for both the Shamus and Thriller Awards. Hunsicker is the former executive vice president of the Mystery Writers of America and in 2019 he served as Toastmaster for the 50th anniversary of Bouchercon, the world mystery conference.
Dr. Katherine Ramsland
Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and behavioral criminology in the graduate program at DeSales University. She has appeared as an expert on more than 250 crime documentaries and was an executive producer on Murder House Flip and A&E’s Confession of a Serial killer: BTK. The author of more than 1,800 articles and 73 books, including Confession of a Serial Killer, The Serial Killer’s Apprentice and How to Catch a Killer, she pens a regular blog for Psychology Today. She has also written a fiction series based on a female forensic psychologist who consults on death investigations. Dead-Handed is her most recent book.
Tracy Ullman
Tracy Ullman is a documentary producer, director, and writer in Chicago. She has produced dozens of non-fiction television programs for Discovery Networks, Oxygen, AETN Networks, and PBS. Her most recent production is a six-part limited documentary series about serial murderer John Wayne Gacy and the new discoveries made in his case for NBC’s Peacock streaming service.
Mark Tavani
Mark Tavani is a literary agent with the David Black Literary Agency, where he represents both fiction and nonfiction. Before becoming an agent, he was an editor with Penguin Random House for more than 20 years. He edited bestsellers and award-winners across numerous categories of fiction and nonfiction, including books by Jim Abbott, Steve Berry, C.J. Box, Robert Crais, Justin Cronin, Clive and Dirk Cussler, Jeffery Deaver, George Dohrmann, Lisa Gardner, Jack McCallum, Lisa Scottoline, Bill Simmons, and R.L. Stine. He lives in New Jersey with his family.
Jenny Milchman
Jenny Milchman is the Mary Higgins Clark award winning and USA Today bestselling author of five novels. Her work has been praised by the New York Times, New York Journal of Books, San Francisco Journal of Books and more; earned spots on Best Of lists including PureWow, POPSUGAR, the Strand, Suspense, and Big Thrill magazines; and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Booklist and Shelf Awareness. Four of her novels have been Indie Next Picks. Jenny's short fiction has appeared in numerous anthologies as well as Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and a recent piece on book touring appeared in the Agatha award winning collection Promophobia. This fall, Jenny’s series featuring Arles Shepherd, a psychologist who has the power to save the most troubled and vulnerable children, but must battle demons of her own to do it, released with Thomas & Mercer. Jenny is a member of the Rogue Women Writers and lives in the Catskills with her family.
Terry Shepherd
Terry Shepherd has been an award-winning broadcaster, corporate executive, academic and entrepreneur. He is the author of the Jessica Ramirez Thrillers. Terry began podcasting in 2005 and currently hosts IN CONVERSATION WITH TERRY SHEPHERD, focusing on the writers and support systems behind the stories we love. He also writes non-fiction, including SOCIAL MEDIA AND YOUR PERSONAL BRAND (2007) and the 2024 release HOW TO BE A DYNAMIC PODCAST GUEST AND SELL STUFF. When he’s not writing, he hosts a daily radio program at Detroit’s Keener 13.
Tim Maleeny
Tim Maleeny is the bestselling author of the multiple award-winning Cape Weathers mysteries and the comedic thriller JUMP, which Publishers Weekly describes as “a perfectly blended cocktail of escapism.” His latest is a global art heist called HANGING THE DEVIL, which Library Journal calls “relentlessly fast-paced with delightful dry humor” in a starred review. His short fiction appears in a number of leading anthologies and has won the Macavity Award for best story of the year. The Irish Times says, “If comic crime fiction is your thing, Maleeny delivers in spades.” He currently lives and writes at an undisclosed location in New York City.
Paul Guyot
Paul Guyot has written and produced more than 200 hours of television. He served as showrunner on the TNT hit series THE LIBRARIANS. He was the Co-Executive Producer for NCIS: NEW ORLEANS -- at the time the 8th most watched series in the world.
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Guyot co-wrote the Warner Brothers film GEOSTORM starring Gerard Butler and Andy Garcia, which grossed more than a quarter billion dollars worldwide. But don’t hold it against him.
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He has adapted books and foreign films for multiple studios, and most recently is producing a pair of independent feature films.
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He is the author of KILL THE DOG: The First Book on Screenwriting to Tell You the Truth, which was an Amazon bestseller upon its release in 2023. It’s available in print, ebook and audio everywhere books are sold.
Guyot attended the University of Arizona. In his non-writing time he enjoys golf, cycling, mechanical watches, and has been called the Tony Hawk of making old fashioneds.
Matt Witten
Matt Witten is a TV writer, novelist, playwright, and screenwriter who has written for many TV shows including House, Pretty Little Liars, CSI: Miami, and Law & Order. His thriller novel The Necklace is published in eight languages and optioned for film by Leonardo DiCaprio, and his latest thriller Killer Story, about a true-crime podcaster, came out last year. Matt wrote four amateur sleuth novels, including the Malice Domestic Award-winning Breakfast at Madeline’s, and he has been nominated for two Edgars and an Emmy. His published stage plays include The Deal, Washington Square Moves, and The Ties That Bind. He wrote the movie Drones, produced by Whitewater Films. Most recently Matt wrote a Hallmark Mystery Movie based on the novel A Dark and Stormy Murder, by Julia Buckley.
Stacy Woodson
Stacy Woodson is a multi-award-winning crime fiction writer and a U.S. Army veteran. Memories of her time in the military are often a source of inspiration for her stories. She made her crime fiction debut in Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's Department of First Stories and won the 2018 Readers Award. It was the second time in the award's 34-year history that a debut story took first place.
Since her debut, Stacy has placed stories in several anthologies and magazines—some adapted for animation. She is a two-time Derringer award winner for excellence in short mystery fiction (three-time nominee), a quarterfinalist for Screencraft's best cinematic short story, as well as a Daphne du Maurier award winner for best unpublished novel. Currently, she is co-editing anthologies for Down and Out Books and Level Best Books. She’s also a member of the Screen Actors Guild. When not writing, she works as background talent for movies and television. Past projects include Showtime's Homeland, Amazon's Jack Ryan, AMC's The Walking Dead: World Beyond, and Wonder Woman 1984.
Michael Bracken
Michael Bracken is the Edgar Award-nominated, Shamus Award-nominated, Derringer Award-winning author of more than 1,200 short stories, including crime fiction published in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, The Best American Mystery Stories, The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, and many other publications. Additionally, Bracken is the editor of Black Cat Mystery Magazine and several anthologies, including the Anthony Award-nominated The Eyes of Texas: Private Eyes from the Panhandle to the Piney Woods. His stories have been translated into several languages, released in audio format, and adapted for animation.
Additionally, Bracken served as vice president of the Private Eye Writers of America, has served on the board of the Mystery Writers of America and is a Consulting Editor for Level Short, an imprint of Level Best Books.
Joseph Badal
Prior to his literary career, Joe served six years as an officer in the U.S. Army, including tours of duty in Vietnam and Greece, from which he received numerous decorations. After his military service, he worked for thirty-six years in the banking & finance industries and was a founding director and senior executive of a New York Stock Exchange-listed company for sixteen years.
Joe is an Amazon #1 bestselling author, with 18 published, award-winning suspense novels. He has been recognized as “One of The 50 Best Writers You Should Be Reading.” He was named Writer of the Year by the Military Writers Society of America in 2021, is a two-time winner of the Tony Hillerman Prize for Best Fiction Book of the Year, a four-time Military Writers Society of America Gold Medal Winner, an Eric Hoffer Prize Winner, a Book Excellence award winner, a four-time “Finalist” in the International Book Awards competition, and a top prize winner on multiple occasions in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards competition, including “Best of Show” in 2021.
Tamara Grantham
Tamara Grantham is the author of more than twenty books and novellas, including many multi-award-winning fantasy novels for middle-grade through adult readers. Many of her novels launched as #1 bestsellers on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Some of her awards include two first place Rone awards, a Praiseworthy award, and an Indiefab book of the year award for fantasy. Born and raised in Texas, Tamara now lives with her husband and five children in Wichita, Kansas. When she gets a moment to relax, she enjoys reading fantasy novels and watching every Star Wars or Star Trek movie ever made.
Amy Scher
Amy B. Scher is the bestselling author of five books which have been translated into over 20 languages. Amy’s work helps people break through blocks to become their happiest, healthiest, and most creative selves. With over a decade’s experience in publishing, business, and marketing (former marketing director for Harley-Davidson), she has a knack for seamlessly combining the necessary elements a proposal needs. She helps authors think like a “business person” to write a compelling book proposal that gets noticed—and garners offers for a deal. Her work has been featured in Oprah Daily, CNN, CBS, Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, Good Morning America, and more. She lives in New York City.
Lt. Brandon Watkins
Lt. Brandon Watkins is a 27 year veteran of the Tulsa Police Department having spent over 20 years of that in the Detective Division—working in the Child Exploitation unit and leading the Burglary and Armed Robbery Units. For the past six years he has led the Tulsa Police Department’s Homicide Unit investigating nearly 400 homicides with a 95 percent closure rate. The work of TPD’s Homicide Unit has been showcased on “The First 48” on A&E since 2016 putting an international spotlight on the unit’s unprecedented success. Before becoming a police officer, Watkins spent five years as a newspaper reporter covering the crime beat and seeing policing from outside the law enforcement bubble. Watkins is the father of two and spends his free time with his girlfriend traveling, camping and avoiding human contact.
Vincent Davis
Vincent B. Davis II writes historical fiction books to keep the past alive through the power of storytelling. He is also an entrepreneur, speaker, and veteran who is a proud graduate of East Tennessee State University and was honorably discharged from the the US Army in 2022. Armed with a pen and an entrepreneurial spirit, Vincent quit his day job and decided it was as good a time as any to follow his dream. He's since published eight historical fiction novels, five of which have become Amazon International Best Sellers.
Vincent’s mission is to inspire and empower others through fiction, as well as his marketing services for writers. Understanding Amazon’s algorithms are the key to success for independent and traditional authors alike. But many writers struggle with cracking the code and unlocking the secrets to gain more exposure. Through Vincent’s services at WarriorBookMarketing.com, he works with authors so that they can become found by their target readers and earn more sales on Amazon. He’s an expert at making the complex simple so authors can focus on what matters most: writing.
John Ferriso
John Ferriso is a retired sergeant with the New York City Police Department. He served as a rescue and recovery worker during the September 11, 2001 attacks and was later assigned to the Internal Affairs Bureau. His final NYPD post was as a sergeant in the Missing Persons Squad, where he supervised 20 detectives handling over 7,000 cases annually.
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John is a published author of several short stories, including In a New York Minute: An Officer’s Eyewitness Account of the Events of September 11, 2001 and All in a Day’s Work: An Officer’s Account of 20 Years with the NYPD. His story, What If the Police Called All Your Contacts—What Would They Say About You?, was featured in Psychology Today.
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As the owner of Ferriso Investigations, a New York-based private investigation firm specializing in missing persons cases, John also volunteers his expertise with national non-profits focused on re-examining cold cases. His work has been featured on podcasts, bringing attention to unresolved investigations.
John has served as a security supervisor at the Empire State Building and currently works in private security for a Wall Street firm in New York City. He lives in Queens with his wife and two children.
Tammy Euliano
Tammy Euliano’s writing is inspired by her day job as a physician, researcher and educator at University of Florida. She’s received numerous teaching awards, hundreds of thousands of views of her YouTube teaching videos, and was featured in a calendar of women inventors. In addition to award-winning short fiction, she writes medical thrillers including Fatal Intent (2021) and Misfire (2023) published by Oceanview. Kathy Reichs called it, “Medical suspense as sharp as it gets.”
Nicholas Harvey
A USA Today Bestselling author, Nicholas Harvey's life has been anything but ordinary. Race car driver, adventurer, divemaster, and since 2020, a full-time novelist. Raised in England, Nick has dual US and British citizenship and now lives nomadically wherever he and his amazing wife, Cheryl, choose to land for a few months. He is the author of the AJ Bailey Adventure and Nora Sommer Caribbean Suspense series, as well as multiple collaborations.
Douglas Pratt
Douglas Pratt, a best-selling action author hailing from Memphis, Tennessee, captivates readers with his unique blend of charm and intensity, reflecting his Southern roots. His works keep audiences on the edge of their seats, infused with a sense of adventure and exploration. Beyond writing, Pratt's personal interests lead him to sail the seas, exploring vibrant coral reefs and sunken shipwrecks, which fuel his imagination and inspire enthralling adventures in his stories.
Cody Blocker
Cody is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author and a ghostwriter of over 50 books and over 3 million words. As a freelance ghostwriter, Cody focuses on the thriller, mystery, sci-fi and fantasy genres. He also works as a story doctor, editing consultant and a writing coach. He is a lover of storytelling primarily in novels and films. When Cody is not writing, he is teaching writing and helping authors develop their manuscripts into compelling stories that sell.
Tori Eldridge
Tori Eldridge is the bestselling author of Kaua'i Storm(Ranger Makalani Pahukula Mystery) and the Lily Wong mystery thriller series—nominated for Anthony, Lefty and Macavity Awards, and winner of the 2021 Crimson Scribe Award for Best Book of the Year. Born and raised in Honolulu—of Hawaiian, Chinese, and Norwegian descent—Tori graduated from Punahou School with classmate President Barack Obama. Before writing, Tori performed as an actress, singer, and dancer on Broadway, television, film, and holds a 5th degree black belt in To-Shin Do ninja martial arts. After living in New York and Los Angeles for more than 35 years, Tori lives and writes from Portland, Oregon, where her grandchildren live.
Tracey Devlyn
Tracey Devlyn is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary and historical suspense, often layered with mystery, romance, and environmental crime. Despite the thrilling, emotional journeys she creates for her readers, Tracey enjoys an annoyingly normal lifestyle in the mountains of North Carolina with her husband and rescue dog.
Kaira Rouda
USA Today bestselling and award-winning author Kaira Rouda has written more than twenty novels beloved by readers and acclaimed by critics, who’ve called her books “chilling, satisfying suspense” (Good Housekeeping) and “delightfully wicked fun” (Kirkus Reviews) that are “destined to fly off the shelves” (Library Journal). She’s distinguished herself in the popular genre of psychological suspense by constructing seemingly perfect lives and then tearing down facades to reveal the inner, often grim truths of her characters. At the same time, Kaira’s razor-sharp wit and wicked sense of humor shine through to counterbalance the darkness. Simply put, Kaira Rouda has great fun skewering the badly behaved in her fiction.
David Putnam
During his career in law enforcement, best-selling author David Putnam has worked in narcotics, violent crimes, criminal intelligence, hostage rescue, SWAT, and internal affairs, to name just a few. He is the recipient of many awards and commendations for heroism. The Diabolical is the eleventh novel in the acclaimed and best-selling Bruno Johnson Crime Series. Putnam lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife, Mary.
The Blind Devotion of Imogene was released in July 2025, and The Diabolical (a Bruno Johnson novel) came out earlier in the year. A stand alone novel, The Obsession of Harvey Usher comes out next January. Also, a third in the Dave Beckett series, A Gray Cadaverous Dawn comes out this October.
Sara DiVello
Sara DiVello is a true crime writer and the creator/host of Mystery and Thriller Mavens, a popular author series and interactive Facebook group. For her weekly Mystery and Thriller Mavens live events, she has interviewed more than 300 authors, ranging from the bestselling and world-renowned (Dean Koontz, Patricia Cornwell, Lee Child, Jeffery Deaver, Tamron Hall, Karin Slaughter, Ruth Ware, Lisa Unger, and many more) to the buzziest debuts. While creative and active on her own social media platforms, DiVello also serves as the director of social media strategy for the International Thriller Writers association. Sara has appeared on CBS, ABC, and CNBC, as well as in the New York Times, Forbes, the San Francisco Chronicle, and more.
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Her articles have been published in Marie Claire, Elle, Redbook, Cosmopolitan, and Woman’s Day, among others. In her spare time, she loves to teach yoga, cook (and eat!), garden, and go for leisurely walks with her husband and their beloved rescue mutt, Peluda.
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Sara is passionate about all things books (especially mysteries and thrillers), the craft of writing, and connecting readers to their favorite authors, as well as introducing them to their new discoveries.
Jennifer Dornbush
Jennifer Dornbush is a screenwriter, author, international speaker, and forensic specialist. Raised as the daughter of a medical examiner whose office was in their home; forensics and crime writing are infused into her DNA. Jennifer penned suspense thriller Hole in the Woods; historical crime fiction The Locard Principle; on-going mystery series The Coroner’s Daughter, and contributes to mystery anthologies, She also created the acclaimed crime writer’s guide Forensic Speak. As a screenwriter Jennifer has optioned, sold, developed, and adapted material for film and television. She is a sought-out international teacher, speaker, and mentor.
DiAnn Mills
Bestselling author DiAnn Mills has published 96 books. Readers of her gripping romantic suspense novels experience adventure, romance, compelling characters, and well-constructed plots. With multiple Christy Awards and bestsellers, her stories captivate readers with their depth and intensity.
Carter Wilson
Carter Wilson is the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestselling author of ten psychological thrillers known for their intense emotion, tight pacing, and haunting twists. His books have received starred reviews from every major trade publication, have been optioned for film and television, and his 2025 novel Tell Me What You Did was selected as a national monthly pick by Barnes & Noble. In addition to his fiction, Carter is the creator and host of Making It Up, a podcast featuring unscripted, revealing conversations with fellow writers about the creative process. He is also the founder of Unbound Writer, a company devoted to helping writers find their voice through coaching, immersive retreats, and online classes.
