Join Mystery Writers of America NorCal Chapter for our annual Mystery Month Author Panel. Learn about new releases from our spookiest local authors and about their writing process. Enjoy some seasonal treats and a glass of wine as we explore the mysterious world of these authors. Coordinated by Laurie Sheehan. Copies of the author's books will be available for sale and signing at the event.
Michelle Chouinard is the Edgar-Award nominated, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and San Francisco Chronicle bestselling author of The Serial-Killer Guide to San Francisco series, the Detective Jo Fournier thriller series, and the standalone psychological thriller The Vacation. She has a Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Stanford University and was one of the founding faculty members of U.C. Merced. She enjoys caffeine in all forms,
amateur genealogy, crafting, baking, and Halloween. She has three cats, a dog, and a husband who technically keeps her from being a crazy cat lady. https://www.mmchouinard.com/
Stacie Grey is an author and fan of mysteries who lives in Alameda, California, with her husband and dog. In what passes for normal life, she works in biotech research. She mostly posts to Instagram and Mastodon,
and occasionally writes a newsletter. She is currently learning to play the Murder, She Wrote theme on the harp. Stacie Grey’s alter ego, Daisy Bateman, is the author of the Lefty-nominated Marketplace Mysteries series, in which artisan marketplace owner Claudia Simcoe solves mysteries and eats things in an idyllic small town on the Northern California coast. https://staciegrey.com/
Sandra Balzo turned to mystery writing after twenty years in corporate public relations, event management and publicity in Wisconsin. She has written three mystery series for Severn House, an imprint of Canongate Books in London, including seventeen books in the Wisconsin-based Maggy Thorsen Coffeehouse Mysteries. Her newest novel, Poison and Pooches, is the first in a series set in Sandy’s adopted home of Pacific Grove, California and featuring dog-sitter Arial Kingston. Nominated for both Anthony and Macavity awards, Sandy’s novels have received starred reviews from Kirkus and Booklist, while being recommended to readers of Laurien Berenson, David Rosenfelt, Janet Evanovich and Charlaine Harris. https://sandrabalzo.com/
Robin Somers is retired faculty of the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she taught environmental writing. Her surreal job as a crime reporter for a daily rural newspaper in the Sierra Nevada inspired Eleven Stolen Horses, a Wild Horses Mystery (Sibylline Press 2024). Three Marys, the second book in her series, will be released in Spring 2026. She is also the author of Beet Fields, an eco-mystery. She is a Volunteer Ambassador for American Wild Horse Conservation and volunteers at Canham Farm Horses Rescue and Rehabilitation in Scotts Valley. She is the Program Coordinator for Sisters in Crime NorCal and a member of Western Writers of America. Her biggest regret is selling her first and only horse so far, who is now 26 and lives with a former rodeo queen in Jamestown, CA. Robin lives in Santa Cruz with her husband and Buster (their dog) and frequents the Sierra Nevada. https://www.robinsomers.com/
Jenn Hooker (she/her) is an unapologetically queer crime writer from the San Francisco Bay Area. In her day job she brings joy to her patrons as a public librarian. As writer, she hopes to thrill and chill readers with crime fiction that explores the gray areas of society. She is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, and Queer Crime Writers. https://www.thejennhooker.com/
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