A bit of history
The American Crime Writers League was formed in the late 1980s by Ed Gorman, left, and Robert Randisi, who wanted a private forum for exchanging ideas, complaining about almost everything, and trying to understand this decidedly wacky business. Robert Randisi is also the founder of The Private Eye Writers of America.
Here's your chance to find out what some of the major names in mystery fiction - from those who write about cozy cats to those who walk the mean streets - have in the bookstores today. You can discover new authors who are not yet household names but intend to be.
Please note: We are professional writers who have more than enough ideas for books on our own. Much as we know you'd like to share your compelling story, we can't accept requests to write your crime book idea for you or with you.
ACWL Officers
Joan Hess (past president)
President:
Jan Grape
Vice President: Bill
Crider
(passed away February 12,
2018)
Secretary/Treasurer: Shirley
Kennett
ACWL yahoogroups list: Taffy
Cannon
Membership: Shirley Kennett
Newsletter: Jan Grape
Questions? Email inform@acwl.org.
ACWL Anthologies
Outstanding collections of tales of murder, mystery, suspense, and true crime by bestselling, award-winning authors of the American Crime Writers League. Mystery buffs will find something tantalizing for every taste. Contributors include winners of and nominees for Agatha, Anthony, Bram Stoker, Derringer, Edgar, Golden Dagger, Left Coast Crime, Macavity, Shamus, and Lifetime Achievement Awards. Edited by ACWL members R. Barri Flowers and Jan Grape.
North Mississippi's
idyllic rolling hills and deep forests
hide a history steeped in blood.
America's first serial killers,
the Harpe brothers, brutally murdered
as many as fifty people at the end of
the 1700s before finally meeting their
end on the Natchez Trace. During
Reconstruction, politician William
Clark Falkner, great-grandfather of
the author William Faulkner, was shot
in the streets of Ripley by a former
business partner after being elected
to the state legislature. In the
1960s, Samuel Bowers and the
Mississippi Klan tried to start a
national race war by orchestrating the
Freedom Summer murders and the Ole
Miss Riot.
Kristina Stancil details the shadowy
side of North Mississippi.
She has a master's degree in
English from Tiffin University.
Originally from Louisiana, she now
lives in the North Mississippi area.
Stancil is a regular contributor to
Serial Killer Magazine and
Halloween Haunts. She has
previously contributed to the Houma
Courier (Houma, LA) and was
interviewed as a Horror Writers Association's Fresh
Blood Author of the Month. She has
been accepted to the Loyola University
New Orleans graduate program in
Criminology.
Kristina Stancil is a freelance writer and a novelist currently serving
as the Horror Writers
Association's Curriculum Chair,
Horror Writers Association Gulf Coast
Chapter Chair, and President of
Thrillerz 13's horror club
"Serial Thrillerz." Stancil
is the managing editor of Blood Reign
Lit Magazine.
Visit her on
Facebook or LinkedIn.
Mark Twain once said,
"Every man is a moon and has
a side which he turns toward
nobody; you have to slip around
behind if you want to see
it." ("The Refuge of
Derelicts" 1905).
This insight into human nature
proves to be the driving force
behind Detective Sam Chitto's
pursuit of justice in The
Horned Owl.
Two Choctaw tribal council members
pull Chitto into an unauthorized
investigation to prove a teenage
boy is innocent of murder and
sexual mutilation. Using graphic
novels the boy produced,
prosecutors enlist the aid of a
forensic psychiatrist to prove the
boy committed a fantasy murder.
Also suspect is the reason the boy
gave for being seen near the body
after the murder, i.e., the
Choctaw deity Ishkitini, the
Horned Owl, forewarned him in the
night that someone would die
violently.
One case investigation becomes two
as Chitto realizes the murder
occurred near where his father was
killed a decade before. Seizing
the opportunity to solve his
father's murder, Chitto
investigates both the new murder
and the old. Chitto's efforts
to discover the moon side of
various characters drives the
action in both investigations.
"Another sharp mystery in a
continually improving
series." -- Kirkus Review
From
award-winning criminologist R.
Barri Flowers and the
bestselling author of Dead
at the Saddleworth Moor,
Prostitution in the Digital
Age, and The Sex Slave
Murders, comes the
gripping historical true crime
book, The Dreadful Acts of
Jack the Ripper and Other True
Tales of Serial Murder and
Prostitutes.
The renowned Ripperologist taps into his expertise on serial murderers and sex trade workers in offering an in-depth look at four noteworthy cases in which the two worlds collide frighteningly.
Jack the Ripper, the infamous and unidentified Victorian serial killer of at least five prostitutes in the dangerous section of London, known as Whitechapel, in 1888. The Ripper, who slashed and horribly mutilated his sex worker victims, set the tone for diabolical, vicious, serial slayers to follow for all time.
Aileen Wuornos was an American prostitute, who doubled as a serial killer in murdering seven johns in Florida between 1989 and 1990. She claimed they tried to or succeeded in raping her during the course of prostituting herself. In the process, Wuornos ended up being apropos for this book as a sex worker and serial predator.
Kendall Francois was an African American serial killer, dubbed the "Poughkeepsie Killer," who strangled to death eight streetwalker prostitutes in Poughkeepsie, New York, between 1996 and 1998. Francois used his own residence as a horrifying house of homicides and burial ground.
The Edmonton Serial Killer represented one or more mostly unidentified serial killers who targeted and murdered dozens of prostitutes in the city of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada, between the mid-1970s and the early 2000s, and possibly beyond that. The sex trade worker victims were often picked up in the city's red-light district stroll, murdered, and dumped in various killing fields in rural areas around Edmonton.
The book will also chronicle the infamous and colorful 19th century New Orleans prostitute and serial killer, Mary Jane Jackson, and modern-day American serial killers of prostitutes, Walter Ellis, nicknamed the "North Side Strangler," and Vincent Johnson, dubbed the "Brooklyn Strangler."
Included is a bonus true crime short on Douglas Clark and Carol Bundy, a serial killer couple who targeted prostitutes on the Sunset Strip in West Hollywood, California; as well as excerpts from two fascinating historical true tales of child murder, serial murder, and jealous rage.
For fans of true crime tales and literary criminology, this gripping volume written by someone with the verisimilitude that the subject matter merits will surely hold your attention from start to finish.
Praise for True Crime Books by R. Barri Flowers
"Selected as one of Suspense Magazine's Best of 2011 books." - John Raab, CEO/Publisher on The Sex Slave Murders
"A gripping account of the murders committed by husband-and-wife serial killers Gerald and Charlene Gallego." - Gary C. King, true crime author on The Sex Slave Murders
"A model of exposition not to be missed by anyone interested in the annals of American criminal behavior." - Jim Ingraham, Ph.D., professor emeritus of American Studies at Bryant University on The Pickaxe Killers
"R. Barri Flowers always relates an engrossing story." - Robert Scott, true crime author on The Sex Slave Murders
"Striking, well-written tales sparkle in this ocean of murder." - Diane Fanning, true crime author on Masters of True Crime
"Exhaustively researched, each storyteller brings their own unique prose to these pages, creating what will soon become a true crime classic." - Kevin M. Sullivan, true crime author on Masters of True Crime
"This book should be a mandatory purchase and read for any true-crime buff." - Steven A. Egger, PhD, associate professor on Masters of True Crime
"Incredible cases, psychopathic killers, unwitting victims, along with the very best writers, make for an exciting, no-holds-barred, soon-to-be true-crime classic." - Dan Zupansky, host of True Murder on Masters of True Crime
"An indispensable sourcebook for anyone interested in American homicide, from law-enforcement professionals to armchair criminologists." - Harold Schechter, true crime historian on The Dynamics of Murder "
Vivid case studies of murder to complement this well researched criminology text." - Scott Bonn, Ph.D., criminology professor on The Dynamics of Murder
About the Author
R. Barri Flowers is a well-respected, award winning criminologist and bestselling author of more than one hundred books, including enthralling true crime and criminology books, as well as gripping mystery, suspense, and thriller fiction, and young adult mysteries.
True crime titles include The Sex Slave Murders, Murder During the Chicago World's Fair, Murder of the Banker's Daughter, Murder of the Doctor's Wife, Murder at the Pencil Factory, Killers of the Lonely Hearts, Dead at the Saddleworth Moor, The Pickaxe Killers, and The "Gold Special" Train Robbery.
Criminology titles include Prostitution in the Digital Age, Runaway Kids and Teenage Prostitution, Sex Crimes, The Dynamics of Murder, Murders in the United States, Street Kids, and College Crime.
Mystery and thriller titles include Before He Kills Again, Dark Streets of Whitechapel, Dead in Pukalani, Dead in Kihei, Deadly Defense, Fractured Trust, Killer in The Woods, Murder in Maui, Murder in Honolulu, Murdered in the Man Cave, Murder of the Hula Dancers, Murder on Kaanapali Beach, Persuasive Evidence, Seduced to Kill in Kauai, State's Evidence, and Justice Served.
R. Barri Flowers, along with Jan Grape, edited the two ACWL mystery anthologies, Murder Past, Murder Present and Murder Here, Murder There.
The author received the prestigious Wall of Fame Award from his alma mater Michigan State University's renowned School of Criminal Justice. As a much sought after expert on true crime, R. Barri Flowers has appeared on the Biography Channel, Investigation Discovery, and Oxygen television series.
Follow R. Barri Flowers on Twitter @RBarriFlowers, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Goodreads, and LibraryThing. Learn more about the author and upcoming projects in Wikipedia and www.rbarriflowers.com.