Click here for a list of past events.
Ongoing Event: MWA NorCal Saturday Write-In
Every Saturday from 10:45 AM-Noon
Join us on Saturday mornings for 10 minutes of chatty camaraderie followed by some dedicated writing time.
Members, email MWANorCalEvents@gmail.com and request the Google Meet link to join.
Upcoming Events:
January 18, 2025
Indie Authors: Things I Did Right and Things I Did Wrong
2 PM
Please join us for a Zoom event with authors who went the indie route. Margaret Lucke will be moderating the panel with fellow authors Rachele Baker, M.K. Dean, Janet Dawson, Ellen Kirschman, and Lexa Mack to discuss the ins and outs of indie publishing.
Margaret Lucke (Moderator) is the author of three mystery novels: Snow Angel, about artist/PI Jess Randolph’s search a missing child; A Relative Stranger, which was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best First Mystery; and House of Whispers, a tale of love, ghosts, and murder on the California coast. She has also written two how-to books on writing, Schaum’s Quick Guide to Writing Great Short Stories and Writing Mysteries. She is a former president of the Northern California chapter of Mystery Writers of America. Visit her at www.margaretlucke.com.
Rachele Baker is a veterinarian and mystery author. She lives in northern California close to Lake Tahoe and the Napa Valley wine country where the Rylie Sunderland Mysteries take place. She drew on her many years of experience as a practicing veterinarian to develop the main character for this series, Rylie, who is also a veterinarian. Rachele’s golden retriever Savanna was the inspiration for Rylie’s golden retriever Bella. In her free time, Rachele enjoys exploring northern California wine country, Lake Tahoe, and areas along the California coast like Mendocino, Monterey, and Big Sur. Some of her favorite things include freshly brewed coffee in the morning, walks in nature, and, of course, golden retrievers. She is the author of two mysteries, Tragedy in Tahoe (published on Amazon on August 2023) and Vengeance in the Vines (available for purchase on Amazon on 1/11/2025).
You can sign up for Rachele’s Cozy Chat monthly e-newsletter on her website to get more info about her books, photos from her adventures, news for book lovers, and the opportunity to participate in fun contests and giveaways.
Janet Dawson’s life of crime began with her long-running series featuring Oakland PI Jeri Howard, whose latest case is The Things We Keep. Janet stepped back in time to the 1950s and climbed aboard the historic train known as the California Zephyr, where her sleuthing Zephyrette Jill McLeod assists passengers and solves crimes. Jill’s latest adventure is Death Above the Line. Janet also writes about geriatric care manager Kay Dexter, who advocates for her elderly clients in The Sacrificial Daughter. Janet has written numerous short stories. She lives in Alameda.
M.K. Dean is the award-winning author of the Ginny Reese Mysteries, featuring a house-call veterinarian and her trusty German Shepherd sidekick. Kirkus Reviews calls An Embarrassment of Itches “a well-paced and entertaining series opener with an appealing protagonist.” The fourth book in the series, A Nose for Death, will be released in March 2025. As McKenna Dean, she also writes paranormal romance set in the 1950s based on an elite agency charged with collecting and storing mysterious alien artifacts. She lives with her family on the Virginia-Carolina border in a home she shares with dogs, cats, and assorted livestock. She likes putting her characters in hot water to see how strong they are. Like tea bags, only deadlier.
Ellen Kirschman has been an award-winning police and public safety psychologist for forty years. She is the author of three non-fiction books and the Dot Meyerhoff mystery series. Ellen finds writing fiction to be therapeutic. She gets to take potshots at nasty cops, incompetent psychologists, and her two ex-husbands. Dot Meyerhoff, her protagonist, is named after her mother and maternal grandmother. Dot is too dedicated for her own good, takes orders from no one, including her chief, and persists in solving crimes when she should be counseling cops—often using methods that would have cost the real Ellen her license. You can sign up for her occasional newsletter here.
Lexa M. Mack is an avid mystery reader and writer. She lives with her husband, a very fat cat, 8 chickens, and 40,000 honeybees in the Sierras between Sacramento and South Lake Tahoe. Her next goal in life is to upgrade her MWA membership to Active Status. She published her first mystery, Legacy of Lies, in 2022 and her second book, Litany of Lies, in 2024.