Mystery Review Crew Founders
Introducing
The Founding Members
Founding Member: Kari Bovée
When she’s not on a horse riding along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovée is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined in her historical cozy mystery novels.
Bovée writes the award-winning Annie Oakley mystery series and the Grace Michelle mystery series. In 2020 she was honored with First Place in category for the Chanticleer International Clue Awards for her book Folly at the Fair. In 2019 she was awarded the NM/AZ Book Awards Hillerman Award for her novel Girl with a Gun. The novel also received First Place in the 2019 NM/AZ Book Awards in the Mystery/Crime category, and won First in Category in the International Chanticleer Murder & Mayhem Awards. It was also a finalist in the 2019 Next Generation Indie Awards. Her novel Grace in the Wings won First in Category for the 2019 International Chanticleer Chatelaine Awards. Peccadillo at the Palace won Grand Prize in the 2019 Goethe Awards, and was a finalist in the 2019 Best Book Awards Historical Fiction category.
Bovée has worked as a technical writer for a Fortune 500 Company, has written non-fiction for magazines and newsletters, and has worked in the education field as a teacher and educational consultant.
Founding Member: Anita Dickason
Award-winning author Anita Dickason is a twenty-two-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department. She served as a patrol officer, undercover narcotics detective, advanced accident investigator, SWAT tactical officer, and the team’s first female sniper.
Her first book, JFK Assassination Eyewitness: Rush to Conspiracy, detailed the results of her reconstruction of the 1966 fatality crash that killed Lee Bowers Jr., a famous witness to the Kennedy assassination.
Inspired by the project, Dickason turned her attention to writing fiction. Her debut novel, Sentinels of the Night, introduced an elite FBI team, Trackers, followed by Going Gone!, Au79 and Operation Navajo. In addition to the Tracker novels, Dickason has also published, Not Dead and her latest release, Deadly Business.
Described as escapist thrillers, Dickason’s law enforcement experiences are the root of her plots, characters, and action scenes. A unique feature in each book is The Story Behind the Fiction, where she shares the inspiration and facts behind the plot.
Dickason’s works have received multiple awards, including Book Viral Millennium Book Awards, Readers’ Favorite Book Awards, Literary Titan Book Awards, and Independent Author Network Book Awards.
Founding Member: Lauren Carr
Lauren Carr is the international best-selling author of the Mac Faraday, Lovers in Crime, Thorny Rose, Chris Matheson Cold Case Mysteries, and Nikki Bryant Cozy Mysteries—over twenty-five titles across five fast-paced mystery series filled with twists and turns!
Book reviewers and readers alike rave about how Lauren Carr seamlessly crosses genres to include mystery, suspense, crime fiction, police procedurals, romance, and humor.
The owner of Acorn Book Services, Lauren is also a publishing manager, consultant, and virtual book tour coordinator for independent authors.
Lauren is a popular speaker who has made appearances at schools, youth groups, and on author panels at conventions.
She lives with her husband, and two spoiled rotten German shepherds on a mountain in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Founding Member: C. S. McDonald
For twenty-six years C.S. McDonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance. Classically trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and many others, she became a professional dancer and choreographer. In 2011 she retired from her dance career to write. Under her real name, Cindy McDonald, she writes murder-suspense and romantic suspense novels. In 2014 she added the pen name, C.S. McDonald, to write children’s books for her grandchildren. In 2016 she added the Fiona Quinn Mysteries. Presently, the Fiona Quinn Mysteries has ten books with more planned.
Cindy’s newest venture is The Owl’s Nest Mysteries. Once again, she has set her cozy mystery in Pittsburgh. The Owl’s Next Mysteries has a little grit, a little time travel, a little romance, and a whole lot of cozy!
Cindy resides on her Thoroughbred farm known as Fly by Night Stables near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bill, and her poorly behaved Cocker Spaniel, Allister.
Founding Member: Shelley Blanton-Stroud
Shelley grew up in California’s Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who made good on their ambition to get out of the field. She recently retired from teaching writing at Sacramento State University and still consults with writers in the energy industry. She co-directs Stories on Stage Sacramento, where actors perform the stories of established and emerging authors, and serves on the advisory board of 916 Ink, an arts-based creative writing nonprofit for children. Copy Boy is her first Jane Benjamin Novel. Tomboy (She Writes Press 2022) will be her second. She and her husband live in Sacramento with an aging beagle and many photos of their out-of-state sons.
https://shelleyblantonstroud.com/
Founding Member: JC Gatlin
JC Gatlin resides in Tampa, Florida and has written five mystery and suspense novels. H_NGM_N: Murder is the Word, published by Millford House Press in 2019, won the prestigious Florida Royal Palm Literary Awrd for Best Mystery or Crime Novel. His next mystery, Darkness Hides, was published by Millford House Press in 2021, and is a Finalist for Best Mystery on BestThrillers.com. JC is also a Board Member on the Florida Writers Foundation, a charity organization that provides grant money to schools and libraries for literacy programs.
