Celebrating 30 Years of Sisters In Crime with Award-Winning Author Rhys Bowen

Speed City hosts  internationally renowned author Rhys Bowen and celebrates 30 years of Sisters in Crime

By MB Dabney

  

The Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime has always loved murder, mystery and mayhem. That love is the heart and soul of what we do.

Best-selling author and Agatha Award Winner Rhys Bowen

Speed City is the only Indiana chapter of the national Sisters in Crime organization. Since the fall of 2007, the chapter has completed five short story mystery anthologies, with the newest, The Fine Art of Murder, hitting book shelves last October.

While the Speed City chapter is only 15 years old, Sisters in Crime this year marks its 30^th anniversary of advocating for female mystery and crime writers, and for diversity in the crime writing industry. And to celebrate, the Speed City is hosting a day of fun on February 25, with internationally renowned bestselling British author Rhys Bowen.

A winner of both the Anthony and the Agatha mystery awards, Rhys is the author of Molly Murphy mystery series and the Royal Spyness series, among other novels and short stories.

Rhys will speak to the chapter at our regularly scheduled monthly meeting at 11:30 a.m., at the Barnes and Noble bookstore on River Crossing Boulevard on the north side of Indianapolis. Following that, the chapter and the College Park Book Club are hosting a British tea for Bowen at the College Park community center on Fordham Road from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Then from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., there is a book fair again at the Barnes and Noble store, with Rhys greeting fans and signing books.

Local authors with stories in the chapter’s five mystery anthologies will also be on hand at Barnes and Nobel to sign copies of our books.

In addition to the The Fine Art of Murder, the chapter’s collection includes Racing Can Be Murder (2007), Bedlam at the Brickyard (2010), Hoosier Hoops and Hijinks (2013), and Decades of Dirt (2015).

The Speed City Chapter is

proud to have Rhys Bowen in Indianapolis to help celebrate Sisters in Crime, which has been serving as the voice for excellence and diversity in crime writing for 30 years.

Bestselling Author Rhys Bowen to Visit Indy Celebrating 30 Years of Sisters in Crime

New York Times bestselling author and Agatha Award winner Rhys Bowen will visit Indianapolis on Saturday, February 25 meeting with fans at two appearances. Her visit is sponsored by Sisters In Crime national organization and hosted local Speed City Chapter, all as part of Sisters in Crime's 30th Anniversary Celebration.

HOW TO MEET RHYS BOWEN:  Saturday, Feb. 25. Fans can meet Rhys at two events. Both events are open to the public and there is no charge.

Rhys will speak and meet with fans from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. at a Sisters in Crime 30th Birthday Tea. The event will be held at the College Park Neighborhood Clubhouse, 3050 Colby Ln, Indianapolis, IN 46268.

This will be followed by a book signing from 5 p.m. - 7 p.m. at the Barnes & Noble Bookstore, 8675 River Crossing Blvd, Indianapolis, IN 46240, next to the Keystone at the Crossing Fashion Mall. Copies of her books will be available for purchase.

Bestselling author Rhys Bowen

Rhys  is the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Royal Spyness Series, Molly MurphyMysteries, and Constable Evans. She has won the Agatha Best Novel Award and has been nominated for the Edgar Best Novel. Rhys’s titles have received rave reviews around the globe.

Rhys currently writes two mystery series, the atmospheric Molly Murphy novels, about a feisty Irish immigrant in 1900s New York City, and the funny and sexy Royal Spyness mysteries, about a penniless minor royal in 1930s Britain. Her books have made bestseller lists, garnered many awards, nominations, and starred reviews. She was born in England and married into a family with historic royal connections. She now divides her time between California and Arizona.

Rhys was born in Bath, England, of a family that was half Welsh, half English. She was educated at London University and then began her career with the BBC, where she became a drama studio manager. She had made up stories all her life. While working on a boring play she decided to write a play of her own. With the bravado of a 22-year-old, she marched into the office of the head of BBC drama and handed him the script. Two days later he summoned her and told her that they were going to produce the play. Rhys has never looked back.

The British climate forced Rhys to escape to Australia, where she worked for Australian Broadcasting before meeting her future husband, a fellow Brit who was on his way to California. So Rhys packed up again and found herself in San Francisco, where she settled and has lived ever since, raising four children.

Finding nothing like the BBC in San Francisco, Rhys turned to writing children’s books under her married name, Janet Quin-Harkin. Her first picture book was an immediate success and won several awards. More picture books followed, then her agent asked her to write a book for young adults. This was a turning point in Rhys’s career. Her first young adult novel was an instant hit. By her third she was selling half a million copies. Many more popular YA novels followed until Rhys decided she had said all she wanted to say about teenage love and angst, and she turned to her real love—mysteries.

The sort of books she loves to read are those with a great sense of time and place. So she considered where to set a series of her own and chose the mountains of North Wales, where she had spent many happy childhood vacations, and used her grandfather’s name as her nom de plume. Constable Evan Evans was the hero of these novels that took place in a tiny fictitious village in Snowdonia. The series was well received from the start. The second book, Evan Help Us, was nominated for a Barry Award. Evan’s Gate achieved the ultimate success when it was nominated for the Edgar best novel—the highest prize in mysterydom.

But it was a chance visit to Ellis Island that made Rhys start thinking in a new direction. The spunky and not always wise Molly Murphy came into her head, fleeing from Ireland and finding herself implicated in a murder on Ellis Island in the first book, Murphy’s Law. This book won the Agatha Best Novel award, plus three others. Every subsequent book in the series has received awards, nominations and glowing reviews. Book 11, Hush Now, Don’t You Cry, was a New York Times bestseller. Book 16, Time of Fog and Fire, was published in March 2016, and Book 17, The Ghost of Christmas Past, will be a Christmas book in 2017.

Never one to rest on her laurels, Rhys reacted to the gloom and doom of real life by creating a second heroine—this one aimed to amuse. She is Lady Georgiana, 34th in line to the British throne but utterly penniless and struggling to make her own way in the cruel world of the Great Depression. Her Royal Spyness was a bestseller, nominated for many awards, and instantly endeared readers to her heroine. The following books have all received award nominations. The 2011 book, Naughty in Nice, started off with a starred review from Publishers Weekly and was then nominated for an Agatha, Bruce Alexander and RT Reviews award. The audio version was also nominated for an Audie. In April 2012 it won the Agatha Award for best historical mystery. Queen of Hearts (2014) won the Agatha Award. Malice at the Palace (2015) was nominated for the Agatha and won the Left Coast Crime historical award.

In 2016 Rhys was honored with a career achievement award by the RT Convention.

As well as novels, Rhys has written many short stories, including an Anthony winner. She is an ex-chapter president of Mystery Writers of America. When not writing she loves to travel, sing, hike, paint, play her Celtic harp, and spoil her grandchildren.

*Bio from RhysBowen.com website

BOOK REVIEW: In Time and Fog and Fire by Award-Winning Author Rhys Bowen

A Time of Fog and Fire by Rhys Bowen

Reviewed by S. Ashley Couts

       A published writer once told me the best way to engage an audience is to create a great character, put her in a situation and keep throwing rocks at her. That is exactly what occurs in  Rhys Bowen’s  In Time of Fog and Fire.  Molly Murphy Sullivan, a turn of the century former detective, wife and young mother living in New York city is barraged with obstacles. Following intuition and a cryptic message sent in her husband’s letter she bundles her toddler, tucks a few necessities into a carpet bag, folds her frocks into a steamer trunk then heads into the unknown. Will she even find her husband who is on a secret mission for President Roosevelt?

       To tell the truth before reading this book, I was not a fan of historical fiction I prefer contemporary works by the likes of Sue Grafton or Janet Evanovich. But Bowen hooked me right off the bat with two liberated female characters. These two women living together, wearing manly clothing, bravely defying the norm-- Suffragists marching for cause are portrayed as gentle, kind, literate and great, good. She weaves in a visit with Mark Twain, takes us to the Opera where Caruso is appearing and winds us through China town eventually dropping us into the horror of out of control fires.

        Molly is brave and yet, a bit naïve I suppose having littler knowledge of the world beyond New York or her home across the sea. Plunked into the middle of a disaster, she must scramble to survive. As a writer, I admired the way Bowen wound plot and characters through real life historic events name dropping along the way thus revealing not only attention to detail but careful research. I was spurred to head for my computer and text books to look up the San Francisco earth quake—a disaster that left her characters bereft of resources. And while the subject was lush-- the opera, New York City at the turn of the century--the Golden Gates by the sea, the harbors with ships coming and going from the orient, the soldiers with their brass she did not go overboard with description simply etching it deftly into the story so, I could almost feel the snow, the pain, the salt and the moist curl of the fog as well as the loss.

In the end, I am not sure if I’d fallen in love with historical fiction. But, I definitely want to know more. I need to find out if Molly can solve the next crime now that she’s just found she’s pregnant again. She how she hooked me.   

*New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen will join the Speed City Sisters in Crime on February 25.  She will speak and meet fans at a Tea from 2 p.m - 4 p.m. at the College Park Neighborhood Clubhouse, then hold a book signing at Barnes and Noble next to Keystone at the Crossing from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. The public is welcome.

REVIEW: 12 Clues of Christmas by Rhys Bowen

The Twelve Clues of Christmas By Rhys Bowen

Reviewed by B.K.Hart

The Twelve Clues of Christmas by New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen is a very cleverly done mystery and delightful addition to the “Her Royal Spyness” series.  It is an entertaining mix of mystery and humor.

This is the sixth book in “Her Royal Spyness Series” by Rhys Bowen.  Lady Georgiana Rannoch, Her Royal Spyness, gets caught up in a Christmas mystery when the folks in the quaint village of Tiddleton-under-Lovey get caught up in the Lovey curse and begin dropping like flies.

It’s Great Britain in the 1930’s (the novel includes a guest appearance by the late great, Noel Coward).  The story is sprinkled with a bit of Muncie, Indiana flavor with the inclusion of Americans who pay to stay at the manor for the Christmas holiday.

I found myself laughing aloud at some of the antics, from the groping unwanted hands under the dinner table, to the unraveling of her best gowns, and snoring maids found in the Lady’s bed. At times, the humor made me feel like I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what was actually going on in the story.

This is a must read for anyone who loves cozy mysteries.

*New York Times bestselling author Rhys Bowen will join the Speed City Sisters in Crime on February 25.  She will speak and meet fans at a Tea from 2 p.m - 4 p.m. at the College Park Neighborhood Clubhouse, then hold a book signing at Barnes and Noble next to Keystone at the Crossing from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. 

PRESS RELEASE: Speed City Sisters in Crime Hosts Bestselling Mystery Author Rhys Bowen

For Immediate Release

February 8, 2017

FROM: Michael Dabney, Speed City Sisters in Crime chapter president

Speed City Sisters in Crime Chapter Celebrates 30th Birthday with Internationally Renowned Author, Rhys Bowen

Tea and Book Signing on Feb. 25

Indianapolis—The Speed City chapter of Sisters in Crime welcomes renowned mystery writer Rhys Bowen on Saturday, Feb. 25, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the national organization.

Bowen is the featured speaker at a celebration tea from 2-4 p.m. at the College Park Clubhouse, 9001 Fordham St., Indianapolis, IN 46268. From there, she will attend a special book signing and fair from 5-7 p.m. at Barnes and Noble River Crossing, 8675 River Crossing Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46240. A portion of the book fair proceeds will go the Speed City Sisters in Crime chapter for local programs and activities.

“We are thrilled to have a writer of Rhys Bowen’s stature to join our group of local writers as we celebrate 30 years of great mystery writing,” said Michael Dabney, president of Speed City Sisters in Crime.

Ms. Bowen is an award-winning author of three mystery series, including the Molly Murphy novels about an Irish immigrant in early 1900s New York City and her Royal Spyness books about a penniless minor royal in 1930s Britain. Her books have topped the New York Times best seller lists and she has won one of the top awards for mystery writers, the Agatha Best Novel Award.

Her newest stand-alone novel, In Farleigh Field, will be released March 1.

Ms. Bowen, who was born in England, married into a family with royal connections. She now divides her time between California and Arizona.

“Whether she is writing about turn-of the century New York or Depression-era Britain, her novels never fail to entertain,” Dabney said. “It’s our privilege to welcome her to Indianapolis for this very special event.”

Details of the Feb. 25 celebrations can be found at www.speedcitysistersincrime.org.

Event highlights:

Who: Rhys Bowen, award winning mystery writer

What:

Tea and book signing to celebrate 30 years of Sisters in Crime, an organization to recognize and promote great mystery writing by female authors

Where and when:

2-4 p.m. — Celebration tea at College Park Clubhouse, 9001 Fordham St., Indianapolis, IN 46268

5-7 p.m. — Book signing with Rhys Bowen at Barnes and Noble River Crossing, 8675 River Crossing Blvd., Indianapolis, IN 46240

The Speed City Indiana Sisters in Crime is the local chapter of the national Sisters in Crime organization. Sisters in Crime is an organization dedicated to promoting the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers. It has 3,600 members in 50 chapters worldwide, offering networking advice and support to mystery authors. For more information on the national Sisters in Crime, go to www.sistersincrime.org

SAVE THE DATE -- SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25: Meet Best Selling Mystery Author Rhys Bowen

Speed City Sisters In Crime will host New York Times best-selling mystery author Rhys Bowen for
two events on Saturday, February 25.  Both events are open to the public. 

Rhys Bowen is the New York Times Bestselling Author of the Royal Spyness Series, Molly Murphy Mysteries, and Constable Evans. She has won the Agatha Best Novel Award and has been nominated for the Edgar Best Novel. 

Rhys is scheduled to speak at a Tea co-hosted by the Speed City Chapter of Sisters in Crime and the College Park Book Club. The Tea is scheduled from 2-4 p.m. at the College Park Neighborhood Clubhouse.

A book signing and book fair will follow from 5-7 p.m. at the Barnes and Noble near Keystone at the Crossing.

Rhys appearance in Indianapolis is made possible by the Speed City Sisters in Crime national organization and the Speed City Chapter, which meets in Indianapolis. Details are still being worked out. But mark your calendar now and plan to attend.