NG: Twenty-five-years-ago, Sara Paretsky (creator of the character V. I. Warshawski) and Linda Barnes (creator of Carlotta Carlyle) turned me on to a new world of female sleuths. I devoured them.

Twenty years later, I decided I wanted to write crime fiction, so I joined Sisters in Crime, (an organization started by Sara Paretsky.) Being a “Sister” was exciting, and I learned a lot.

Then I realized I needed a women’s mystery writing group to give and get honest, helpful critiques. So, dear friend and fellow crime writer Erica Harth and I started our own. We advertised in the local Sister in Crime newsletter and handed out flyers at the Crime Bake mystery writer’s convention. What we ended up with has turned out to be a precious gift.

NOTE: Comments and questions welcome!

Meet Joan Sawyer aka JJ Shelley

About Joan’s sleuth

Sylvie Wolff is the wife of a brilliant software developer, living a luxurious lifestyle in a high-end Boston suburb. Her two adolescent daughters attend private school and Sylvie spends her time playing tennis at the country club and redecorating her perfect home. Then her husband disappears along with all their savings, leaving Sylvie and her girls destitute, at which time she is highly motivated to track down her husband and find out what happened to their savings.

Joan’s favorite authors

I loved hearing stories from a very young age, beginning with my older sister reading to me by flashlight when we were supposed to be asleep. Growing up, I especially loved biographies of historic characters, always fascinated by how their personalities changed the course of history. Favorite writers are Leon Uris, Susan Isaacs, Sharon Kay Penman, Josephine Tey, Agatha Christie, Tana French and Harlan Coben. I enjoy writers who develop complex and changing relationships between their characters. My favorite TV series include “The Handmaid’s Tale,” “No Offense,” “Last Tango in Halifax,” and “Normal People.”

How our writing group influences Joan’s work

I find the camaraderie, support, accountability and feedback to be essential. I rely on the group to tell me when something isn’t working or when I’ve gone over the top.

Joan’s favorite writing group memory:

Celebrating each other’s accomplishments and brainstorming to fix problems or develop plots.

A surprising fact about Joan

She had a long career as a documentary filmmaker and was nominated for an Academy Award.

Where Joan sets her stories

My stories are located in Cambridge, where I live. I’ve written several historic walking tours of the Harvard Square area about Puritans, revolutionaries and abolitionists. My favorite line of poetry is from “Haunted Houses,” a poem by Cambridge resident, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: ‘All houses wherein men have lived and died are haunted houses.” I believe in ghosts and Cambridge is full of fascinating folk, living and dead.

Meet Paula Steffen, aka P.M. Steffen

About Paula’s sleuth

Paula’s forensic psychologist, Sky Stone, works for Newton homicide. She is a multifaceted personality; born into great wealth as a Boston Brahmin yet uninterested in the trappings of “high society.” Sky is in therapy for anxiety and some other issues. When she works a murder investigation, she tends to become obsessed, and often takes life-threatening risks in her quest to find the killer.

Paula’s favorite authors

It never occurred to me to write a book until I’d finished my dissertation in experimental psychology. The thought came to me one day that it might be interesting to write a novel, so I wrote The Profiler’s Daughter. My favorite crime fiction writers are Martin Cruz Smith (the Arkardy Renko series) and Kate Atkinson (the Jackson Brodie series). Brilliant writers, both.

Paula’s take on how this writing group influences her work.

I will mention two important aspects of this writing group: Number one, it keeps me on track (i.e., it keeps me writing). Number two, my fellow writers give me invaluable feedback as readers.

Paula’s favorite writing group memory

After fourteen years in the group, there are too many wonderful memories to mention. But just belonging to this group of fellow writers is vital for my mental health, because writing is a lonely business.

A surprising fact about Paula

I’m a writer and a psychologist, but I’m also a multimedia artist. I work in collage, assemblage, and monoprint, but abstract expressionist painting is my latest obsession. Find my work at: https://www.pmsteffenart.com/

Where Paula sets her stories

Sky works for Newton homicide in Newton, MA. I chose that setting because it’s where I live. But Sky often travels during murder investigations. In The Profiler’s Daughter she spends time in Texas. In Killing Ulysses, she drives to Cape Cod to investigate a lead. In my upcoming book, titled Prague Protocol (3^rd in the Sky Stone series), Sky travels to Paris and Prague.

Meet Susan Cory

About Susan’s sleuth

Iris Reid is a 45-year-old Cambridge architect who lives with her chef boyfriend and Basset hound in a renovated apartment over his award-winning restaurant. Readers get an inside look at her profession, a world where many mysteries are encountered.

Susan’s favorite writers

My favorite writers tend to be former journalists, especially Scottish/British ones like Val McDermid, Mo Hayder and Chris Brookmyre. Their descriptions are fresh and their humor wry. Also, their plots aren’t cookie-cutter.

Susan’s take on how this writing group influences her work

We each bring unique insights from former professions to our critiques: Paula from psychology, Nancy from high-tech, Joan from screen-writing, and me from architecture. We come at our stories from different angles and these perspectives give extra dimensions to our writing.

Susan’s favorite writing group memory

I love it when someone in the group makes a plot or word suggestion that snaps together a section that I’ve been wrestling with.

A surprising fact about Susan

I earned my karate 2nd degree brown belt but had to stop before taking my black belt test. Side effects of cancer surgery prevented me from using my arms to block or punch. But I’ve given Iris the same training and use my experience to construct realistic fight scenes for her.

Where Susan sets her stories

I think readers like to experience settings that are unique. Cambridge is a vibrant, cosmopolitan city whose bookshops, cafes, and universities conjure up a European way of life. The residents are a diverse, feisty crowd who refer to their city as “The People’s Republic.”