The 2023 - 2024
Executive Committee
Leah Price
President
Leah Price has served in a wide variety of roles during her working career—from baker, to FBI program manager, to newspaper columnist. Writing as Leah St. James, she draws on these experiences to fuel her stories of good and evil, mystery and suspense, and the redeeming power of love.
A member of Sisters in Crime, Central Virginia Chapter, and the Alliance of Independent Authors, Leah is a native of the Central Jersey Shore but recently retired to the Richmond area with her husband.
Heather Weidner
Vice President and Program Chair
Through the years, Heather Weidner has been a cop’s kid, technical writer, editor, college professor, software tester, and IT manager. She writes the Jules Keene Mysteries, the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, and the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries.
Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, and Murder by the Glass, and her novellas appear in The Mutt Mysteries series.
Originally from Virginia Beach, Heather has been a mystery fan since Scooby-Doo and Nancy Drew. She lives in Central Virginia with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.
K. L. Murphy
Secretary
K.L. Murphy is the author of Her Sister’s Death (Dec. 2022) as well as the Detective Cancini Mystery Series: A Guilty Mind, Stay of Execution, and The Last Sin. Her short stories are featured in Deadly Southern Charm and Murder by the Glass. A member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and James River Writers, she makes her home in Richmond, Virginia. When she’s not writing, she loves to vacation at the beach, read, entertain friends, walk her amazing dogs, and catch up on everything else she ignored.
Support Committees
Anthology Co-editor
Josh Pachter
Josh Pachter is the editor of two dozen anthologies and single-author collections, including the Anthony Award finalists The Beat of Black Wings: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Joni Mitchell and Paranoia Blues: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Paul Simon. More than a hundred of his own short crime stories have appeared in EQMM, AHMM, and elsewhere. His first novel, Dutch Threat, will be published by Genius Books in November 2023, and his first chapter book for younger readers, First Week Free at the Roomy Toilet, will be published by Level Best Books in February 2024. In 2020, he received the Short Mystery Fiction Society’s Golden Derringer Award for Lifetime Achievement.
Anthology Co-editor
K. L. Murphy
K.L. Murphy is the author of Her Sister’s Death as well as the Detective Cancini Mystery Series: A Guilty Mind, Stay of Execution, and The Last Sin. Her short stories are featured in Deadly Southern Charm and Murder by the Glass. A freelance writer and editor, she is also a member of Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters in Crime, and James River Writers. When she’s not writing, she loves to vacation at the beach, read, entertain friends, walk her amazing dogs, and catch up on everything else she ignored.
Social Media - Facebook, Virtual Meetings
Heather Weidner
Heather Weidner writes the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, the Pearly Girls Mysteries, and the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries. Her short stories and novellas have appeared in a variety of anthologies (including the three for our chapter).
She has been a member of Sisters in Crime – Central Virginia since she saw an ad in the paper for a new writers’ group in Richmond. The team, under the leadership of Nancy Newins and Meredith Cole, decided to form a chapter and applied to National.
Through the years, Heather has served the chapter as Secretary, Vice President, President, Anthology Chair, Programming Chair, Web Maven, and Chair of the Social Media Team. She lives in Midlothian with her husband and a pair of Jack Russell terriers.
Social Media - Instagram
Maggie King
Maggie King is the author of the Hazel Rose Book Group mysteries. Her short stories appear in the Virginia is for Mysteries series, 50 Shades of Cabernet, Deadly Southern Charm, Death by Cupcake, and Murder by the Glass.
Maggie is a member of James River Writers, International Thriller Writers, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and is a founding member of Sisters in Crime Central Virginia, where she manages the chapter’s Instagram account. In addition, she serves Sisters in Crime on the national level as a member of the Social Media team. She is a contributing author for the Writers in Residence blog.
Maggie graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. degree in Business Administration, and has worked as a software developer, customer service supervisor, and retail sales manager. She lives in Richmond, Virginia with her husband, Glen, and cats, Morris and Olive. Website
Webmasters
Heather Weidner
Author of the Delanie Fitzgerald Mysteries, the Jules Keene Glamping Mysteries, and the Mermaid Bay Christmas Shoppe Mysteries
HeatherWeidner.com
Leah Price
As Leah St. James, Leah writes stories of mystery and romance, good and evil, and the power of love.
LeahStJames.com