Hotel California : An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories

Don Bruns is an ad executive and a USA Today bestselling author. As a former road musician, he performed with Ricky Nelson, the Four Seasons, Ray Charles, and others. Bruns has authored seventeen published novels and his New Orleans trilogy has been optioned for a television series. He makes his home in Southern Florida.

When John Gilstrap’s first novel, Nathan’s Run, hit the market in 1996, it set the literary world on fire. Publication rights sold in twenty-three countries, the movie rights were scooped up at auction by Warner Brothers, and John changed professions. A safety engineer by training and education, he specialized in explosives and hazardous materials, and also served fifteen years in the fire and rescue service, rising to the rank of lieutenant. That “first” book was really his fourth, and that one call from an agent (after logging twenty-seven rejections) changed the trajectory of his life. Twenty books and seven movie projects later, it’s been a good run, and it’s still running. Outside of his writing life, John is a renowned safety expert with extensive knowledge of explosives, hazardous materials, and fire behavior. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

HEATHER GRAHAM, New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, has written over two hundred novels and novellas in numerous genres and has been published in approximately twenty-five languages. She has been honored with awards from booksellers and writers’ organizations for excellence in her work, is a proud recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers, and was awarded the prestigious Thriller Master in 2016. She is also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Romance Writers of America. Heather’s books have been featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People, and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight, and local television. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

Reed Farrel Coleman, called a hard-boiled poet by NPR’s Maureen Corrigan, is the New York Times bestselling author of thirty-one novels including six in Robert B. Parker’s Jesse Stone series. His new novel, Sleepless City, will be released by Blackstone Publishing later this year. He is a four-time recipient of the Shamus Award and a four-time Edgar Award nominee in three different categories. He has also won the Audie, Scribe, Macavity, Barry, and Anthony awards. Reed lives with his wife on Long Island.

Jennifer Graeser Dornbush, as a daughter of a medical examiner whose office was in her home, investigated her first fatality, an airplane crash, when she was ten years old. Since that first case she has had decades of on-site experience in death investigation and 360 hours of forensic training through the Forensic Science Academy. Jennifer now uses these experiences to pen crime fiction for film and TV. Her female-driven crime drama, The Coroner’s Daughter, is being developed for TV. Her half-hour forensic comedy, Home Bodies, received a Humanitas New Voices Award. Wanting to share her love of forensics with other storytellers, she scribed Forensic Speak: How to Write Realistic Crime Dramas, published by Michael Wiese Productions, hailed as a north star to creating authentic crime dramas.

Amanda Flower is a USA Today bestselling and Agatha Award–winning mystery author. Her debut mystery, Maid of Murder, was an Agatha Award nominee for Best First Novel and her children’s mysteries, Andi Unexpected and Andi Under Pressure, were Agatha Award nominees for Best Children’s/YA Novel. Andi Unstoppable won the Agatha Award for Best Children’s/YA Novel 2015. Amanda is a former librarian living in northeast Ohio.

Andrew Child was born in Birmingham, England, in May 1968. He went to school in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, and later attended the University of Sheffield where he studied English literature and drama. After graduation Andrew set up and ran a small independent theater company which showcased a range of original material to local, regional, and national audiences. Following a critically successful but financially challenging appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Andrew moved into the telecommunications industry as a “temporary” solution to a short-term cash crisis. Fifteen years later, after carrying out a variety of roles including several which were covered by the UK’s Official Secrets Act, Andrew became the victim/beneficiary of a widespread redundancy program. Freed once again from the straight jacket of corporate life, he took the opportunity to answer the question, what if?

Rick Bleiweiss has been a successful musician, songwriter, music producer, and record company executive. He has worked as a social activist and journalist and is currently a publishing executive. His novel Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives was selected as an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense, as well as being chosen as one of the year’s Best New Debut Mystery Novels by Publishers Weekly. Rick lives in Ashland, Oregon, and is at work on his next Pignon Scorbion novel. Follow him and Scorbion at RickBleiweiss.com.

Rick Bleiweiss started his career in music as a rock performer, producer of over fifty records, songwriter, and record company senior executive, and worked with Clive Davis, Melissa Etheridge, the Backstreet Boys, Kiss, U2, Whitney Houston, the BeeGees, and other industry legends.   

Since 2006 as a publishing company executive, he has acquired works by bestselling and award-winning authors including James Clavell, Gabriel García Márquez, Rex Pickett, Catherine Coulter, and Nicholas Sansbury Smith, among others.  

In his latest creative endeavor, Rick has crafted the Pignon Scorbion historical mystery series—blending his love of the past with the twisty deliciousness of a whodunit. 

 Follow Rick and Scorbion at www.RickBleiweiss.com 

Joe Hempel, best known for his rich narrations, has entertained listeners with over one hundred audiobooks in genres ranging from horror and mystery to science fiction, romance, and personal development.

Sophie Amoss is a voice talent and Earphones Award–winning narrator.

James Patrick Cronin began his audiobook career at twelve years of age opposite Christopher Lloyd in The Pagemaster. An Earphones Award–winning narrator, he has recorded over one hundred audiobooks across an extensive range of genres. A classically trained stage actor with an MFA from the University of Louisville and a degree in philosophy, he has spent his years since college performing as an actor and a comedian on stages all over the world. He has performed everything from the classics to original material in Ireland, Scotland, Serbia, and Israel, as well as all across the United States.

January LaVoy, winner of numerous awards for narration, was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine in 2019. She is an American actress best known for her character Noelle Ortiz on the ABC daytime drama One Life to Live. In addition to working extensively in narration and television, including roles on Law & Order and All My Children, she has worked on and off Broadway as well as in regional theater.

Richard Ferrone recorded over 150 audiobooks including thrillers, romances, science fiction, and inspirational novels. He won the prestigious Audie Award and was a finalist for four Audie Awards, including for Best Solo Male Narrator. He was named an AudioFile "Voice of the Last Century" and a "Rising and Shining Star."  He earned many AudioFile Earphones Awards, including being named the 2011 Best Voice in Mystery and Suspense as well as the 2009 Best Voice in Science Fiction and Fantasy. A science fiction fan, he narrated Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars trilogy. He also narrated works by James Patterson, Walter Mosley, John Sandford, Eric Van Lustbader, and Stuart Woods.

Joe Barrett, an actor and Audie Award and Earphones Award–winning narrator, has appeared both on and off Broadway as well as in hundreds of radio and television commercials.

Scott Brick, an acclaimed voice artist, screenwriter, and actor, has performed on film, television, and radio. He attended UCLA and spent ten years in a traveling Shakespeare company. Passionate about the spoken word, he has narrated a wide variety of audiobooks. winning won more than fifty AudioFile Earphones Awards and several of the prestigious Audie Awards. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and the Voice of Choice for 2016 by Booklist magazine.

Hillary Huber, a Los Angeles–based voice talent with hundreds of commercials and promos under her belt, was bitten by the audiobook bug in 2005. She now records books on a regular basis and has been nominated for several Audie Awards and won numerous Earphones Awards.