For more than two decades the Men of Mystery conference has celebrated the many great men who write the mysteries so many of us love. Established in 2000 by the late Joan Hansen, this very popular events is put on these days by today’s guests, Jan Wilcox and Cindy Woods. Over the years Men of Mystery, or MoM for short, has featured a literal who’s who of great male mystery writers: T. Jefferson Parker, Matt Coyle, C.J. Box, Michael Connelly, Baron Birtcher, Stephen Mack Jones, Brad Thor, Lincoln Child, William Kent Krueger and so many more, including this year’s headliners Craig Johnson and Walter Mosley.

This year’s event marked MoM’s 25th anniversary, and so I’m really pleased to have Jan and Cindy here with me today on the Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words to talk a bit about the conference’s great history and hopefully its future. You can also watch the episode on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/XFSbhwwIVc8

I’ve known Richie Narvaez mostly as a great crime novelist, with works like Roachkiller and Other Stories, Hipster Death Rattle, Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco, and Noiryorican. But he is also a writing teacher, a speaker and one of the very best short fiction authors on the market today. His short stories appear in any number of anthologies, including one that I just grabbed my copy of, ON FIRE AND UNDERWATER: A CLIMATE CHANGE CRIME FICTION ANTHOLOGY, edited by our mutual friend Curtis Ippolito.

My guest today is someone with whom most of you have at least a tangential relationship. How is that possible? Well, because before he started writing compelling techno-thrillers, he spent much of his career at Microsoft, where he led the creation and development of a little thing you might have heard of – the Xbox. His first technothriller – THE WILKES INSURRECTION – came out in 2021. That one introduces us to his lead protagonist, Major Tamika Smith, a failed intelligence officer in search of redemption as she goes up against an elusive extremist hell-bent on destroying America. Smith, now a U.S. Senator, is back in his new book, THE BLOCKCHAIN SYNDICATE, which comes out on October 21st. This time Smith’s challenge is even greater and more personal – her boyfriend is kidnapped after a school shooting injures his daughter, forcing her to confront a shadowy criminal syndicate aiming to “fix” America their way.

I have often noted how prolific some of my guests are in their work, but I have to say my guest today really is one of the most prolific I working in the field today. As a writer he is the author of around 1300 short stories across a wide range of genres, at least eight novels and scores more non-fiction books and articles. When not doing his own writing he has edited dozens of crime fiction anthologies, including one of my new obsessions, the Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir series. He has been nominated for all the major awards this business has to offer, is also a well- known and in-demand speaker and teacher and even finds time to write advertising copy. Holy cow.

Most of the authors who join me on this show are fiction writers, but this week I bring you a conversation with the really great nonfiction author Andrea Lankford. A former National Park Service ranger and investigator, Lankford's latest book TRAIL OF THE LOST is a gripping tale of her efforts to help find a trio of missing Pacific Crest Trail hikers who all seemed to vanish without a trace. One might think this would be an easy sale to publishers, but her path from concept to the NYT bestsellers list was anything but a gentle walk in the woods.

If you follow this show at all you know I am a big fan of the short story, and particularly the crime fiction and noir genres. Stacy Woodson's work has appeared in numerous high quality short story magazines, including Black Cat Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen, Mystery Weekly and many others. She has also had her work in a lot of other great single anthologies with awesome titles like the Tattered Blue Line, Jukes and Tonks and Groovy Gumshoes. She is a two-time Derringer winner in the short mystery category (four nominations in all) and has been nominated for several other awards as well. She is also an editor, a writing teacher and, on occasion an actor who has appeared on shows like The Walking Dead and Homeland.

My guest today has one of the most varied resumes of anyone I have ever had on this show. He is: an Author / Filmmaker / Actor / Composer / Educator / Public Speaker / Consultant / Reviewer / Writer-in-Residence /CEO/ and a columnist with Writer’s Digest. And, most important for our purposes today, Clay Stafford is the founder of the Killer Nashville International Writers Conference, which this year will be held August 22-25th, in Music City of course. Clay is also the Publisher & Editor-in-Chief of Killer Nashville Magazine, and somewhere in there he has managed to sell a whole lot of books.

My guest today is the award-winning author of a dozen books, including three different multi-book series and two standalones. She is also a veteran journalist who has reported from more than a dozen countries over her long career, and is now she’s back in the newsroom serving as an interim editor at the Seattle Times. And somehow between books and the news, she finds time to produce a Substack newsletter – I am now tired even saying those words. So please welcome the very talented Gwen Florio to the Open Mic: Writers in Their Own Words.