Headliner: Hank Phillippi Ryan 

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As an on-air investigative reporter for Boston's WHDH-TV, Hank Phillippi Ryan has wired herself with hidden cameras, confronted corrupt politicians, chased down criminals, gone undercover and in disguise. She’s handled stories as varied as the Atlanta missing and murdered children to the Boston Marathon bombing. Ryan has changed laws and changed lives with her investigative reporting—gotten people sent to prison, helped reclaim family’s homes out of unfair foreclosure, and recovered millions of dollars in refunds and restitution for consumers.  At least five new laws have been passed as a result of Ryan’s journalism. She has won 37 Emmys for this reporting and as she says, every one of those Emmys represents a devastating secret that someone was trying to prevent her from telling. Ryan brings that exclusive inside look into the criminal mind and the stories that captivated us all—now turned to fiction, she creates realistic page-turning suspense.

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Ryan is the nationally bestselling author of 14 thrillers and also an award-winner in her second profession—with five Agathas, five Anthonys, two Macavitys, the Daphne, and for THE OTHER WOMAN, the coveted Mary Higgins Clark Award.  

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Critics call her “a master of suspense” and “a superb and gifted storyteller” and she is the only author to have won the Agatha in four different categories: Best First, Best Novel, Best Short Story and Best Non-Fiction. Ryan’s 2019 release, THE MURDER LIST is a USA Today Bestseller, won the Anthony Award for Best Novel of the Year, and was an Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award nominee. Her 2020 release, THE FIRST TO LIE, also a USA Today Bestseller, was nominated for the Mary Higgins Clark Award and the Anthony Award, and Publishers Weekly called it “Stellar” in a starred review. The USA Today Bestseller HER PERFECT LIFE, published in 2021, received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly (“A superlative thriller”) and Kirkus, was an Agatha Award nominee for Best Novel. 2023’s THE HOUSE GUEST was called “binge-worthy” by Library Journal in a starred review.

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Ryan is past president of National Sisters in Crime, and a sought-after teacher and speaker. She now hosts Crime Time on A Mighty Blaze, is a founder and co-host of The Back Room, and is co-host of First Chapter Fun.  She lives in Boston with her husband, a renowned civil rights and criminal defense attorney.

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Visit Ryan online at HankPhillippiRyan.com, on Twitter @HankPRyan, on Instagram @hankpryan and on Facebook at HankPhillippiRyanAuthor. ​

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Conference Topic: Conquering the Muddle in the Middle

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Guest Speaker: Mel Odom ​

Mel Odom is a father, a husband, a teacher, a friend, and a writer. He struggles to keep that balance but holds tightly to the belief that he’s doing all he can be doing, and doing what he should be doing.

Mel writes in a number of fields, always with the hope of telling an interesting tale that will incite a reader to think, to examine their own place in the world, and to offer a little nudge in the direction of dreams, faith, and personal growth despite the odds. He believes we were all put here for a purpose. Hopefully, several purposes.

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Conference Topic: How Writers Can Use AI - Ethically​

 

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Tornado Alley Author: Best-selling personal finance author Peggy Doviak started reading mysteries when she was a child. Now, she is an experienced financial planner who changed careers when a stockbroker exploited her mother. Peggy is thrilled to be realizing her dream of writing a cozy mystery series featuring a savvy financial planner who solves financial crimes and murders. Her award-winning personal finance books, 52 Weeks to Prosperity (2018, The RoadRunner Press) and 52 Weeks to Well-Being (2023, Centerboard Press), break financial concepts into digestible bites. Her first and best-selling cozy mystery, You Can’t Cheat Death, was released by The Wild Rose
Press on September 16, 2024. Peggy’s social media and newsletter links are on her website, peggydoviak.com, and her podcast, “Ask Peggy About Your Money,” is available wherever you listen. Peggy lives in Oklahoma and is owned by two cats and two horses.

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Conference Topic: What Writers Should Know about Taxes & Recordkeeping.

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Writers Panel and Discussion:

The Artist versus the Professional- A Balancing Act

 

Guest Moderator: Alicia Dean aka Ally Robertson

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Alicia Dean aka Ally Robertson has been an editor with The Wild Rose Press since they opened in 2006. She is also a writing coach, freelance editor, and author, with more than twenty-five published titles. She’s partial to all things dark and creepy…the scarier the better. She loves Elvis Presley, the MLB, and the NFL. She lives in Edmond, Oklahoma where she divides her time between friends & family, editing, writing, reading, and watching her favorite television shows--which she calls 'research' so it doesn't seem as though she’s wasting time.

 

Find Alicia Here: 

https://linktr.ee/AliciaDean1835  

 

 

Mary Coley:

 

Mary Coley, an Oklahoma native, is the author of nine mysteries, a non-fiction children’s book and numerous short stories. She is a 20-year member of the Oklahoma Writers Federation, Inc., and is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Women Writing the West, and Sisters in Crime/Tornado Alley chapter. She won the Oklahoma Book Award for Fiction in 2022 for Blood on the Mother Road. Coley received the Tony Hillerman Award from New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards in 2018 for her mystery, Blood on the Cimarron. She is currently at work on her tenth mystery, set in New Mexico. She and her husband Daryl live in Edmond.

Professional links:
https://www.marycoley.com (website)
www.facebook.com/MaryColeyAuthor (Facebook link)
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Mary-Coley/author/B001JS03C2
(amazon link)
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3004195.Mary_Coley (goodreads
link)

 

 

Mark Edward Jones:

 

Mark Edward Jones is an award-winning mystery, paranormal, and sci-fi author who began writing after a career in higher education finance. A native Oklahoman, he and his wife will soon celebrate their 43rd anniversary. They have three children and a grandson.

Publications include the Detective Henry Ike Pierce series, Peculiar Activities, Shadowed Souls, and the upcoming Glass. He has published four Friday the 13th paranormal suspense stories, with A Dormer Christmas coming in December and She Watches set for April 2025. He is working on his first sci-fi novel, Tempus Mors, for release in 2026. His flash fiction pieces have appeared in national and international publications.

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Find Mark Here: 

https://linktr.ee/mejbooksllc

 

Dianne McCartney:

 

Dianne McCartney is an award-winning writer, speaker and contest judge from Bartlett, Tennessee. She and her husband, Mitch, live near their daughter, Colleen. Her novels are mainstream and romantic suspense published by The Wild Rose Press.
Her latest release is Whisper in the Dark. She has a treasure chest full of writing awards from contests in Oklahoma and Texas and is a long-standing member of the Oklahoma Writers Federation. She is also a member of Tornado Alley Sisters-In-Crime, The Oklahoma Romance Writers Guild and Rose Rock Writers.

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Find Dianne Here:

https://twitter.com/authorDMcC

https://www.facebook.com/dianne.mccartney.3914/

 https://www.instagram.com/diannemccartney1200

https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianne-mccartney-36a493161/