Upcoming Events

    • Tuesday, July 08, 2025
    • 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM
    • Zoom
    Register


    Please join us on Tuesday, July 8th from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. PT as Delia talks about her newest book, DEATH OF AN EX.



    Small Town. Big Case.


    Queenstown, New Jersey, feels big when you need help and tiny when you want privacy. For Vandy Myrick, that’s both a blessing and a curse. Now that Vandy’s back in “Q-Town,” her services as her hometown’s only Black woman private investigator have earned her more celebrity—or notoriety—than she figured.


    Keeping busy with work helps Vandy deal with the grief of losing her daughter, stitching the seams, cementing the gaps. The memories will always remain, and they come crashing back to the surface when her ex-husband, Phil Bolden, walks back into her life. Promising everything, returning home, restoring family. Until she answers her door to the news that Phil has been murdered. And Vandy decides Phil is now her client.


    Delia Pitts worked as a journalist before earning a Ph.D. in African history from the University of Chicago. After careers as a U.S. diplomat and university administrator, she left academia to write fiction. Delia is the author of the Vandy Myrick mysteries, featuring a Black private investigator in New Jersey. The first book in the series, Trouble in Queenstown, was published by Minotaur Books in 2024. The second entry, Death of an Ex, also published by Minotaur, will be released on July 15, 2025. Delia is a member of the national board of Sisters in Crime. She is also active in Mystery Writers of America and Crime Writers of Color.


    Learn more about Delia at www.deliapitts.com

    • Saturday, August 16, 2025
    • 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
    • Zoom
    Register


    Please join us on Saturday, August 16, 2025 from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. PT as moderator Jennifer K. Morita grills award-winning authors Cheryl Head, Naomi Hirahara, and Shelley Blanton-Stroud on how they weave historical research with fiction, nail the details without weighing down their stories, and recreate a time and place for their readers.

    Historical mysteries are a popular genre mashup, blending whodunnits with glimpses into the past. They can be tricky to write, so we’ve put together a distinguished panel of authors who have been there and done that to show us how to get it right.


    Shelley Blanton-Stroud grew up in California's Central Valley, the daughter of Dust Bowl immigrants who achieved their dreams of leaving field work behind. Having retired from teaching writing at Sacramento State University, she continues consulting with writers in the energy industry. She is the author of the Jane Benjamin historical mystery series—COPY BOY, TOMBOY, and POSTER GIRL—and the standalone novel AN UNLIKELY PROSPECT, all set in 1930s and '40s Northern California. Her writing has won gold medals in the Readers' Favorite Awards and earned finalist recognition in many literary competitions. She lives in Sacramento with her husband.

    Facebook: @blantonstroudauthor 

    Instagram: @blantonstroud 

    Substack: @Shelley Blanton-Stroud

    https://linktr.ee/blantonstroud


    Cheryl A. Head writes the award-winning Charlie Mack Motown Mysteries, set in Detroit and recently a clue on the game show, Jeopardy!

    TIME'S UNDOING, her 2023 historical fiction novel, unravels the mystery around the police murder of a young Black man in Birmingham, Alabama’s Jim Crow era. Based on her family’s personal tragedy, TIME'S UNDOING was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, as well as the Agatha, Strand Critics, Macavity, Anthony, and Hurston Wright Legacy Awards.

    Head’s 2013 Long Way Home: A World War II Novel, set in 1943, tells of the experiences of Black male and female soldiers who served on the U.S. home front during the War. The novel was a double finalist for the Next Generation Indie Books Awards.

    Head’s books are included in the Special Collections of the State of Michigan Library. She is Co-Chair of the 2027 Bouchercon World Mystery Convention, which will be held in Washington, DC.

    Facebook: @cheryl.head.104

    Instagram: cheadwrites

    Website:  cherylhead.com


    Naomi Hirahara is an Edgar Award-winning author of multiple traditional mystery series and noir short stories. Her Mas Arai mysteries feature an Altadena gardener and Hiroshima survivor who solves crimes. Her first historical mystery, CLARK AND DIVISION, which won a Mary Higgins Clark Award, follows a Japanese American family’s move to Chicago in 1944 after being released from a California wartime detention center. A former journalist with The Rafu Shimpo newspaper, Naomi has also written numerous non-fiction history books and curated exhibitions. Her follow-up to CLARK AND DIVISION, EVERGREEN, was released in August 2023 and was on the USA Today bestseller list for two weeks. Her next historical mystery, CROWN CITY, which is set in 1903 Pasadena, will be released by Soho Crime on February 17, 2026.

    Facebook: @NaomiHiraharaBooks

    Website: naomihirahara.com



    Former newspaper reporter Jennifer K. Morita believes a good story is like good mochi - slightly sweet with a nice chew.

    Her debut mystery, GHOSTS OF  WAIKĪKĪ, won the 2025 Left Coast Crime Lefty Award for Best Debut Mystery and was an Agatha, Anthony and Macavity award finalist. It’s about an out-of-work journalist who reluctantly becomes the ghost writer for a controversial developer. When she stumbles into murder – and her ex – she discovers coming home to paradise can be murder.

    Jennifer is a writer for University Communications at Sacramento State. She lives in Sacramento with her husband and two teenage daughters. When she isn’t plotting murder mysteries or pushing Girl Scout cookies, she enjoys reading, experimenting with recipes, Zumba, and Hot Hula.

    You can reach Jennifer at www.jenniferkmorita.com.

    Facebook:@authorjenniferkmorita

    Instagram: @jenniferkmorita

    Bsky: @jenniferkmorita.bsky.social‬


    • Saturday, October 25, 2025
    • 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
    • Rancho Cordova City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Dr, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
    • 102
    Register

    Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025

    Our fabulous in-person workshop will feature keynote speaker Catriona McPherson, along with:

    • Best-selling authors Simon Wood and Michelle Chouinard. 

    • Developmental editor and award-winning, multi-genre author Eileen Rendahl.
    • Literary agent and former marketing agency CEO Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary Agency.
    • A U.S. Army veteran and firearms expert, a former sheriff deputy/missing persons investigator and an emergency medicine physicianall discussing how to write realistic scenes.
    • YOUNG WRITERS' TRACK: Bryan Patrick Avery, on how to get started on your mystery; and Dale Berry, comic book artist and graphic novelist.
    • More speakers to come!

    Lunch and snacks are included, and Face in a Book, an El Dorado Hills independent bookstore, will host an on-site bookstore at City Hall.


    Register now for the early bird price of:

    Capitol Crimes Members $65
    Non-members $80

    Young Writers (ages 12-20) $20

    • Saturday, October 25, 2025
    • 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM
    • Rancho Cordova City Hall, 2729 Prospect Park Dr, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670
    • 20
    Register

    Saturday, Oct. 25, 2025

    Our fabulous in-person workshop will feature keynote speaker Catriona McPherson, along with:

    • YOUNG WRITERS' TRACK: Bryan Patrick Avery, on how to get started on your mystery; Dale Berry, comic book artist and graphic novelist; and 916Ink instructor Dorothy Rice.

    Lunch will be provided, and you'll eat with the adult authors and publishing professionals.
    • Speakers in the adult sessions will include best-selling authors Simon Wood and Michelle Chouinard. 

    • Developmental editor and award-winning, multi-genre author Eileen Rendahl.
    • Literary agent and former marketing agency CEO Laurie McLean of Fuse Literary Agency.
    • A U.S. Army veteran and firearms expert, a former sheriff deputy/missing persons investigator and an emergency medicine physicianall discussing how to write realistic scenes.
    • More adult and youth speakers to come!

    Face in a Book, an El Dorado Hills independent bookstore, will host an on-site bookstore at City Hall.

    Register now for the early bird price of:

    Capitol Crimes Members $65
    Non-members $80

    Young Writers (ages 12-20) $20

Find Us

Email us at capitolcrimes@gmail.com



Mission Statement

We are the Sacramento, California chapter of Sisters in Crime. We promote the ongoing advancement, recognition and professional development of women crime writers.

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