Carl Vonderau: President
Carl Vonderau is the author of MURDERABILIA, a thriller that takes place in the upper crust world of private banking. The novel won the Lefty Best Debut Novel at Left Coast Crime 2020. Like the protagonist, William McNary, he has been a private banker and was raised in a Christian Science family. On the other hand, his father was never a serial killer whose photos launched the “murderabilia” market. Nor did Carl’s family use Christian Science to heal his childhood illnesses—well, not most of them, anyway. Actually Carl grew up boringly normal with two caring parents and his sister in a suburb of Cleveland. Then he went off to college in California and things started to get more interesting. He ended up studying economics at Stanford and music at San Jose State University before he embarked on a career in banking. That career enabled him to live and work in Latin America, Canada, and North Africa and to do business in Spanish, French and Portuguese. See his website at www.carlvonderau.com
Curtis Ippolito: Vice President
Curtis Ippolito is an Anthony Award and Derringer-nominated author. His first novel is BURYING THE NEWSPAPER MAN, set in San Diego. His short fiction has been published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine, Vautrin Magazine, Shotgun Honey, Bristol Noir, Mystery Tribune, and more. He is a former newspaper reporter, health care marketing specialist and writer, and currently works as a development writer at the Salk Institute in La Jolla. When he’s not writing or reading, you can find him taking hikes, exploring San Diego native plants, or hanging out at the ocean.
Janet Wolf: Treasurer
Kathleen Krevat: Director at Large
Kathy Krevat is the author of the GOURMET CAT MYSTERY series featuring cat food chef Colbie Summers and her demanding cat Trouble. She also writes the bestselling CHOCOLATE COVERED MYSTERY series under the name Kathy Aarons. Her short story “One Flu Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” was selected for the Crossing Bordersanthology published by Down & Out Books in March 2020.
Kathy lives in San Diego with her husband of twenty-nineyears. When she’s not writing, she’s volunteering with youth arts organizations and performing stand-up comedy – now via Zoom.
Follow Kathy on Facebook or Twitter or visit her at: www.kathykrevat.com.
Barrie Summy: Secretary
Barrie Summy grew up in Canada on a steady diet of books and tobogganing. She tries to read a book a week and always breaks for tea and cookies at three o’clock. Her book The Disappearance of Emily H was featured on 3 episodes of AppleTV’s GHOSTWRITER show. She also write a YA/Middle Grade series called the I So Don’t Do… mysteries.
Kim Keeline: Director at Large
Kim Keeline is a former academic turned writer, hard at work at finalizing her first novel, Deadman’s Switch, set in a fictional train museum in Southern California, which won a Conference Choice Award in 2016 at the SDSU Writers Conference. Her short story “The Crossing” was third place in the San Diego Public Library 2019 Short Story contest and was published in Crossing Borders, the Sisters in Crime anthology. It was also a finalist for the Derringer Best Short Story 2021 award from the Short Mystery Fiction Society. A second short story was published in the October 2020 Bouchercon Anthology, California Schemin’. Kim is a freelance Book PR and Graphic Design person for other authors, in addition to teaching Scrivener and giving lectures on a variety of writing, literature, and history topics (see info on her work at her portfolio). She is also a volunteer steam locomotive engineer at the Poway-Midland Railroad. She was the co-chair of the organizing committee for Left Coast Crime 2020 in San Diego and co-chair for Bouchercon 2023..
Nicole Larson: Director at Large (programming committee)
Nicole Sours Larson is an award-winning freelance journalist, community activist and Coast Guard-licensed captain who is rewriting her first mystery. A past president of the San Diego Press Club, she writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune, San Diego Home & Garden, Sea Magazine and pens the Dock Lines with Captain Nicole column for the boating newspaper The Log. Her eclectic background includes running Virginia plantations and a Frank Lloyd Wright house for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, working on numerous political and issues campaigns, lobbying on Capitol Hill, earning a grand diplôme from Cordon Bleu Paris and organizing wine tastings in London, Washington, DC, and San Diego. She lives with her husband and two fabulous felines on the beach, where she enjoys contemplating mysteries.
———-
Original Launch Board (2016-2018):
- Kathy Krevat, President
- Lisa Brackmann, VP
- Kim Keeline, Secretary
- Valerie Hanson, Treasurer
- Nicole Larson, Programming
- Corey Lynn Fayman, Membership
Volunteer of the Year Award:
Kim Keeline 2017
Kathleen Krevat 2018
Valerie Hanson and Nicole Larson 2019
Sheri Brady, 2020