Sisters in Crime (SinC), Upper Hudson Chapter (Mavens of Mayhem) is seeking new “Sisters and Misters” to help our chapter grow. We’re seeking committee members for monthly programming and the Murderous March Writers & Readers Confab. We also seek a treasurer, which includes a surprisingly low time-commitment despite its importance, and a social media/web maven.
Enjoy the best camaraderie by participating actively.
NEXT MEETING: JUNE 15TH, Bethlehem Public Library, 10:30
Our lively chapter, one of three in NYS, includes fans and writers — women and men who enjoy meeting, learning, and engaging around the craft, business, characters and field of mystery writing. Learn more and find our meeting schedule at www.upperhudsonsinc.com. Emaileleanor.kuhns@gmail.com, chapter president, to inquire about these volunteer roles.
Please share this with your writing and book club communities.
Saturday, December 15, 2018, 11:30-12:30, Bethlehem Library
We may not end up swinging from the chandeliers, but some of our favorite characters might.
Beside a spread of festive foods, come ready to share some of the most ridiculous moments endured by your favorite fictitious characters. A booklovers’ laugh riot!!!
OUR SPEAKER HAS HAD TO CANCEL: RESCHEDULING FOR SPRING! NO MEETING THIS MONTH — SORRY.
Here for the Victims Crime Victim Specialist III, NYS Office of Victim Services, Kathy Davidson Saturday, November 17, 11:30-12:30, Bethlehem Library
Hear about the inner workings of the Office of Victim Services (OVS). After a brief overview of agency functions and structure, Kathy Davidson will answer our questions, so bring them on!
As a crime victim specialist with the office of victim services for over 20 years, Kathy has worked with countless individuals during times of hardship. Beginning at the agency as a crime victim specialist, grade one, she’s worked to advance the agency’s ability to offer compassionate services to crime victims across New York State. She directly supervised improvements to all reimbursement procedures, especially those related to reimbursement of property, making the process more accessible to elderly, underage, and disabled individuals. Today, Kathy oversees the Investigations Department, as a Crime Victim Specialist III. For over four years, she has served on the NYS Committee for Police Services for Elderly Persons, and takes great pride in her commitment to improving awareness of the struggles many elderly citizens face in today’s society.
Bury the Lead, with author, detective, historian and medical examiner Archer Mayor
NOTE THE EARLY START TIME:
October 20, 11:00-12:00, Bethlehem Library
Archer Mayor is the author of the highly acclaimed Vermont-based mystery series featuring detective Joe Gunther, which the Chicago Tribune describes as “the best police procedurals being written in America.” His 29th book, Bury the Lead, is due out in September (Minotaur/St. Martin’s Press).
Protagonist Lt. Joe Gunther works for the Brattleboro, Vermont, police department. Books about his case-solving prowess have been completed about once a year since 1988, and have been published in five languages (if you count British). They routinely gather high praise from such sources as The New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the New Yorker, often appearing on annual “ten best” lists.
Mayor’s novels are based on actual experience in the field. Closely aligned to the Gunther series are his experiences while working as a police officer and a firefighter/EMT in Vermont. In addition, he is currently still working part-time as a death investigator for the Vermont State Medical Examiner’s office. The result adds depth, detail and veracity to his characters and their tribulations.
Mortuary Science: The Ins and Outs, w/Lori Q. Purcell
September 15, 11:30-12:30, Bethlehem Library
Lori Q. Purcell was named chairperson for the Mortuary Science Department at Hudson Valley Community College in 2016. She has nearly 30 years of experience in the funeral business, began teaching as an adjunct at HVCC in 2005 and became a full-time faculty member in 2008.
Purcell began her career at the Bowen Funeral Home in Latham and continued to work in the industry with the Parker Brothers Memorial Funeral Home until 2014. A native of Newburgh, Purcell said she always knew she wanted to work in the funeral business. “I grew up between two funeral homes on either end of my street. I knew it was something I always wanted to do,” she said.
Purcell is one of a growing number of women who have entered what was once seen as a male-dominated profession. According to the National Funeral Directors Association (NFDA), 57 percent of mortuary science students in the United States are women, and that number has been steadily growing over the past several decades. In the late 1970s, according to the NFDA, only 13 percent of students in similar programs were women.
Bring your questions; our speaker’s leaving a block of time at the end for Q & A.
PRIVATE TOUR, CHERRY HILL MUSEUM: “The 1827 Cherry Hill Murder”
Saturday, August 18, 2018
TOUR BEGINS PROMPTLY AT 11:00 AM
Cherry Hill Museum, 523 S Pearl St, Albany, NY 12202 (Directions below)
OPTIONAL LUNCH AND MEETING TO FOLLOW, AT LOCAL RESTAURANT TBD
In 1827, a murder occurred at Albany’s Cherry Hill Farm, home of the Van Rensselaer family. The crime aroused tremendous interest, and the trial culminated in the last public hanging in Albany. The apparent crime of passion uncovered simmering issues of the day, including women’s roles and legal rights, social class, punishment and the law, and slavery in New York. Hear the words of those involved in the crime and decide whom you think was guilty or innocent.
JULY FILM FEST:
“The Mystery of Agatha Christie with David Suchet” (2014, 56 min)
Saturday, July 21, 2018,
Meeting: 10:30 AM; Film: 11:30-12:30
Bethlehem Public Library, 451 Delaware Ave, Delmar, NY 12054
Cool off with Maven pals at our July film-fest, this year featuring a wonderful documentary starring the embodiment of Chrisite’s Hercule Poirot, David Suchet. Program and popcorn are free and open to the public. Bring friends or make it a date!
David Suchet, TV’s Poirot, embarks “on a journey to learn more about the woman who created Poirot and whose books remain outsold only by Shakespeare and the Bible. . .He explores the close links between Christie’s extraordinary life and her work and discovers what it was about the woman from a small seaside town that allowed her to become the best-selling murder mystery writer in history.”
Rhonda Rosenheck will moderate a discussion focusing on readers’ and fans’ responses to mystery and crime literature. Questions will probe such topics as why we’re fans of the genres we love, what grabs us through a series, what turns us off from a character, and why we disdain some styles yet are drawn to others. Writers will be asked to participate as readers, and to listen deeply as sister readers open up about their real feelings.
We’re adjusting monthly meeting times as follows, to allow for more engagement with each other and with each program’s content.
10:30-11:15 – Chapter meeting 11:15-11:30 – Overflow content and coffee break 11:30-12:30 – Featured Program (Always open to the public)
Special programs and field trips will be announced well in advance. Snow and other emergency cancellations will be posted on the website. It always pays to check the website before driving over: www.upperhudsoninc.com.
Murderous March participant feedback told us that there was too little time for each of the day’s events. We realized that we were rushing the monthly programs, too. So thank you, Confab commenters!
Coming up on May 19th: Researcher extraordinaire Michael Catoggio will offer us “Cleopatra’s Nose: Adventures in Research” starting at 11:30 am.Those of you at Murderous March will remember Michael as our panel’s delightful moderator and one of three workshop teachers. Michael felt that he had too much content for an hour, so Mavens President Frankie Bailey offered to solve his problem. Et voilà, we get to learn with Michael again! I suspect that this presentation will be sprinkled with engaging anecdotes. Don’t miss out.
Monthly program presentations are free and open to the public.
Writers’ Supports
Mystery writing group is starting up again. It will be led by Carol Pouliot (co-led by Frankie Bailey) on meeting-day Saturdays, immediately following the monthly program. Watch for description and dates/times from Carol.
Mavens of Mayhem and East Greenbush Community Library are offering six free writing sessions this summer. These are non-critical opportunities for writers of any level to write in any genre, in supportive company. Rhonda Rosenheck (published poet and humorist; unpublished short story writer) will host the structured sessions: 15 minutes of settling in; 90 minutes of quiet writing; 30 minutes of appreciative sharing. Free and open to the public. Bring your own snack and drink. Pre-registration is strongly suggested to ensure a place.www.eastgrenbushlibrary.org (Registration may not be available until May.)
Mavens of Mayhem, Sisters In Crime Monthly Meeting Saturday, 21 April 2018 10:30 am Business Meeting, 11 am Public Program Community Room Bethlehem Public Library 451 Delaware Avenue, Delmar
Featured Speaker: Robert Knightly My Perspective on Police Shootings
Mr. Knightly joined the New York City Police Department in 1967. For most of the next 20 years he patrolled the streets of Brooklyn and Manhattan as patrol officer and sergeant, except for stints as speech writer, Police Academy Instructor and lawyer within the Department. He was a Patrolman during the time of the Knapp Commission investigation into police corruption and after, in the Department’s Post-Knapp revival. He knew the reformer Frank Serpico and the notorious ‘Prince of the City’, Robert Leuci. He was on the streets of Bushwick, Brooklyn on July 13, 1977, when the lights went out all over the city triggering a night and a day of looting, recounted in “The Bronx Is Burning”.
In 1989, Mr. Knightly joined the New York City Legal Aid Society, Criminal Defense Division, as a trial lawyer. For the next 18 years, he worked in the Manhattan and Queens County Criminal Courts. Born and raised in New York City, he relocated to Albany, New York in 2007. He now practices in the Criminal and Family Courts of Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and Saratoga Counties…and writes fiction. robertknightly.blogspot.com
Sisters in Crime (SinC), Upper Hudson Chapter (Mavens of Mayhem) is seeking new “Sisters and Misters” to help our chapter grow. We’re seeking committee members for monthly programming and the Murderous March Writers & Readers Confab. We also seek a treasurer, which includes a surprisingly low time-commitment despite its importance, and a social media/web maven.
Bethlehem Public Library: June 16
Monthly Program News