Pre-order links coming soon!
The Estate Sale Mysteries, a cozy series published by Fawkes Press:
Up the Creek, an eco-mystery published by Sibylline Press, coming August 2026
Newsletter subscribers receive a free copy of The Case of the Disappearing Heirlooms, a logic puzzle based on The Estate Sale Mysteries (February 2026, Fawkes Press).
Emma Stewart and Laura Benton arrive at the site of their next estate sale only to find that overlooked heirs have hidden some of the good stuff.
Solve the logic puzzle to track down the heirlooms!
Not a subscriber? Enter your email below, and you’ll receive a free copy of The Case of the Disappearing Heirlooms!
Newsletter subscribers get an Estate Sales logic puzzle in their mailboxes. To receive the next logic puzzle, sign up at:
http://www.shelleymarsh.com/jointheclub
Here’s the solution to “The Case of the Disappearing Heirlooms”:
Solution:
Avery McDougall – Niece→ Cameo Brooch in Hall Closet
Ben Travers – Nephew→ Pocket Watch in Water Heater (Basement)
Chloe Bishop – Cousin→ First edition Novel in Attic Floorboard
Diego Hernández – Grandson→ Tea Set in Piano Bench
Elise Carter – Step granddaughter → Quilt in Potted Plant (Sunroom)
Sign up to receive updates on book releases and giveaways. You’ll be the first to know!
Subscribers receive a free copy of The Case of the Disappearing Heirlooms, a logic puzzle based on The Estate Sale Mysteries, coming February 2026.
Writing conferences offer valuable opportunities to hone your craft and build your network. They are also a major investment, so it’s important to plan strategically. Some conferences focus on writing craft, while others are more about meeting authors, pitching agents, or competing for awards. Decide what’s most important to you, your goals, and your stage of writing.
As I gather information about upcoming conferences and workshops, I will update the information here in hopes that other writers might find it helpful. Please comment below if you’d like to share additional conferences I’ve missed. Because I write primarily mystery, most of the conferences focus on that genre, but I’ve sprinkled in a few additional opportunities.
I wanted to include something for every month, so I decided to include the Sunshine State Book Festival in Gainesville, Florida. While the event’s main focus is selling and promoting books, they also offer a one-day writing workshop on January 31 for $80. The book festival on Saturday is free.
https://sunshinestatebookfestival.com/writers-workshop/
Murder in the Magic City is a one-day, in-person conference in Birmingham, AL. If you are intimidated by enormous events, this intimate conference will be more your speed. It is held in the Homewood Library and features panel discussions and presentations by guests of honor Miranda James and Diane Kelly. Registration is $40.
http://www.mmcmysteryconference.com/
Left Coast Crime will be held in Denver, Colorado in 2025. A day-long writing workshop will be held on March 12 for an additional fee. (conference $379, workshop $100) This conference focuses on networking and meeting authors, with an award ceremony as the highlight. I’ve heard it described as a “mini Bouchercon.”
https://leftcoastcrime.org/2025/
Malice Domestic is a fan-focused conference that provides a plethora of opportunities to network and meet authors. (Basic registration: $315, Comprehensive registration: $315)
https://www.malicedomestic.net/registration
Florida Mystery Writers of America will hold their 2025 conference in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 14-18, 2025. (MWA and Sisters in Crime members $400, Non-members $425)
https://sleuthfest.com/register/
Thrillerfest has multiple tracks, including Master Class, CraftFest, ThrillerFest, and QueryFest. Regular Registration for the basic ThrillerFest track is $525.
https://thrillerfest.com/conference-schedule/
This is a shameless plug for my chapter of Sisters in Crime located in Northeast Florida. This year’s event will have two speakers. Author JD Allen will lead the writing craft portion of the workshop, and Tammy Euliano will lead a seminar on writing tech platforms, including Scrivener.
Details about this workshop are forthcoming, but for now, see http://www.nefloridasistersincrime.org
Killer Nashville offers an opportunity to develop your writing craft, gain valuable research for your mystery/thriller/suspense novels, and meet authors, agents, and editors. Registration is $469. I attended Killer Nashville in 2021 and found it to be informative and fun. I will add one caveat, and that is it’s not really in Nashville. It’s in a small town just south of the city, but I guess Killer Franklin didn’t have the same ring. One of the few writing awards for unpublished manuscripts, the Claymore, is awarded along with the Silver Falchion for published works at an award ceremony on the last night of the conference.
https://www.killernashville.com/register
Bouchercon is probably the biggest mystery writers’ convention in the US. This fan-focused event offers expert panels and author talks. The Anthony Awards are the key event. Cost is $250.
https://www.bouchercon2025.com/
Florida WritersCon is for writers of all genres, not just mystery. It features writing workshops, panels, and keynote speakers. The Royal Palm Literary Awards are open to published and unpublished works. All entries receive judges’ feedback as opposed to other contests where you have to pay an additional fee for critique notes. Registration fee is TBA.
https://www.floridawriters.org/florida-writerscon
Crime Bake is presented by the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. This year’s event will feature Guests of Honor Gabino Iglesias and Lori Rayder-Day.
I live in coastal North Florida, and when I want to boost the atmosphere in one of my scenes, I take a walk.
While writing my novel set in a nature preserve threatened by big development, I often wrote outside or on location. I set up my laptop on a picnic table at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve and let my surroundings flow directly into the story.
Sometimes, I’ll take a notebook and pen to the beach and do my writing from a beach chair.
Even staying home and writing on the patio, I often see waterfowl landing in the pond behind my house.
We have many tropical birds here, including Roseate Spoonbills (pictured), egrets, herons, and storks. The sight of these never ceases to amaze me, as I grew up in the Mid-Atlantic region and moved to Florida as an adult. I haven’t lost my sense of wonder for my surroundings. They always inspire me.
Shelley Marsh writes contemporary fiction and mystery with lots of humor and a dash of romance. Her work is designed to entertain and transport readers to lush Florida settings.
Shelley lives in coastal North Florida with her spouse and two sons. When she’s not snooping in other people’s houses at estate sales, she’s scavenging the beaches near her coastal home for shark teeth and sea glass. Before becoming a novelist, Shelley served as a staff writer for Void, a North Florida lifestyle magazine, for five years, as well as a contributing writer for The Florida Times-Union, Shorelines, and the Ponte Vedra Recorder.
I’ve been meeting with a small group of writer friends for four years now. Actually, we refer to each other as “writer fam.” There are so many benefits to forming relationships with other writers, and the best (in my opinion) is the emotional support they can provide. Other writers understand the process of writing and submitting your work in a way that non-writer friends cannot. My writer fam is so supportive, always cheering me on and urging me to persevere when things get challenging.
The members of my writing friends group are also my critique partners. We exchange work, then meet in person to discuss it bi-weekly. Maintaining this schedule encourages us to keep churning out pages.
Critique partners can provide insight into big picture things like character arc as well as details like punctuation and grammar. Ideally, they offer the kind of non-biased feedback that you can’t get from a friend or relative. However, my writer friends have become more biased over the years and are now more likely to give feedback like “I love this!”
I met the members of my critique group when I attended a writing class. The class was a continuing education course offered by a local university. This is a great way to connect with other writers who are serious about improving their craft.
There are also critique group matching services available online. Look for writing organizations that are specific to your genre. I write mystery and women’s fiction, so I am a member of Sisters in Crime and the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Both of these offer routes to find critique groups. Non-genre specific options include Manuscript Academy, Jerico Writers, and Savvy Authors
Many aspiring writers want to know whether or not they can use song lyrics in their manuscripts.
I think it’s because using lyrics is like taking a shortcut. The song conveys a feeling the writer wishes to convey. They want readers to pick up on that feeling and feel it themselves.
The short answer is NO. Unless the song is in the public domain, which takes much longer to happen than you’d think, you need to get permission to use song lyrics. Obtaining permission is usually prohibitively expensive.*
I’ve come up with a work-around for this problem. When I want my characters to sing or listen to music, I think about what I’m trying to convey through the mention of this music, and I choose a song that conveys the message IN THE TITLE, not just the lyrics.
You might be surprised to hear that, for the most part, titles can’t be copyrighted. EVEN BOOK TITLES. A quick search on Amazon reveals that there are multiple books with the same title as other books–even bestsellers. For example, there are multiple books titled “The Beach House.”
You can mention the song title in your novel. Choose a song that conveys the feeling or sentiment you want to get across in the title. This may require giving up on your first choice if the song title doesn’t establish mood. However, if the song is well-known by the general public, you may consider that your reader will get the feeling you want just by mentioning the song. The reader may see the title and immediately “hear” the song in their head if it’s popular enough.
Instead of “taking the shortcut” by using a song to impart feelings, try conveying this feeling in other ways.
I’ve only seen bestselling novelists include lyrics, and that’s because they sell so many books, they or their publishers have the means to purchase the rights to do so. One example I can think of, off the top of my head, is Elin Hilderbrand and her book “28 Summers.” She uses music for the purpose of establishing setting/timeline at the beginning of each chapter.
The Chicago Manual of Style recommends using quotation marks for song titles and italics for larger works such as albums or plays.
I’m not a lawyer. This is just my personal advice based on internet research. Seek professional advice to make sure you don’t get sued, and we’ll both be happy.
