Sisters in Crime: a Panel Discussion

Join us in our Spicer Reading Room for an evening panel discussion featuring women in crime writing! Kathleen Marple Kalb, J.A. Dayton, Elise Hart Kipness, and Laurel Peterson will discuss their newest titles and the art of mystery.

Kathleen Marple Kalb author of A Fatal Reception

Kathleen Marple Kalb describes herself as an Author/Anchor/Mom…not in that order. An award-winning weekend anchor at New York’s 1010 WINS Radio, she writes short stories and novels including the Ella Shane and Old Stuff series, both from Level Best Books. As Nikki Knight, she writes the Grace the Hit Mom and Vermont Radio mysteries. Her stories have appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and others, and been short-listed for Derringer and Black Orchid Novella Awards. She’s currently the Vice President of the Short Mystery Fiction Society and a co-VP of the New York/Tri-State Chapter of Sisters in Crime. She, her husband, and son live in a Connecticut house owned by their cat. 

J.A. Dayton author of Set in Stone

J.A. Dayton, a thriller writer, lives on a former cranberry farm in a small New England town. She is a former newspaper columnist and has extensive experience as a policy analyst and advocate for public issues. Dayton has held several elected offices which developed her love of public speaking. She is a member of Sisters In Crime and International Thriller Writers and the Connecticut Association of Authors and Publishers. When not on travel adventures abroad, she loses sleep reading spine-tingling, mind-bending, heart-racing thrillers. Set in Stone is her debut novel, published 2023 and detailed at her website jadayton.com.

Elise Hart Kipness author of Lights Out

Elise Hart Kipness is a television sports reporter turned crime fiction author. Her debut novel, Lights Out, is an Amazon bestseller and a Men’s Journal top 10 book of 2023. The second novel in the series, Dangerous Play, comes out September 17, 2024. Like her main character, Elise chased marquee athletes through the tunnels of Madison Square Garden and stood before glaring lights reporting to national audiences. 

A graduate of Brown University, Elise was also a news reporter for WNBC-TV, News 12 Long Island and the Associated Press. Elise, her husband, and their three labradoodles split their time between Stamford, Connecticut and Key West Florida. In addition to writing, Elise is president of Sisters in Crime Connecticut and a Board member of the Friends of Key West Library. 

Laurel Peterson author of The Fallen

Laurel S. Peterson is a community college English professor whose poetry has been published in many literary journals. She has two poetry chapbooks, That’s the Way the Music Sounds (Finishing Line) and Talking to the Mirror (Last Automat), and two full-length collections, Do You Expect Your Art to Answer? and Daughter of Sky (Futurecycle). She has also written two mystery novels, Shadow Notes and The Fallen (Woodhall). She is a member the Norwalk Public Library Board, and served as Norwalk, Connecticut’s, Poet Laureate from April 2016 – April 2019.