Mystery Writers Conference

This year's participants will spend four event-filled days in beautiful Northern California writing, workshopping, networking, and perfecting their craft with a celebrated faculty featuring prize-winning authors including conference keynote speaker Don  Winslow (New York Times bestselling author of Savages--adapted to film by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Oliver Stone, The Dawn Patrol, and the forthcoming The Kings of Cool: A Prequel to Savages); Cara Black (Author of the Aimée Leduc Investigation series); Tarquin Hall (Author of the Vish Puri mysteries); Karin Slaughter (Internationally bestselling author of the Grant County series) and others.

View the complete faculty list >>

Discover All the Clues for a Successful Career as a Mystery or Suspense Writer!

We’re excited to announce the 19th Annual Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference. This Conference has a strong tradition of great authors and teachers. Mystery writers learn all the clues to a successful writing career. Editors, agents, and publishers share with participants what they need to know to get published. Authors offer classes on setting, dialogue, suspense and point of view. Panels of detectives, forensic experts, and other crime-fighting professionals provide invaluable information that allows writers to put realism into their work. We’re proud of the successful mystery writers who began their careers at this conference.

• David Hewson for the Random House blog "Blood on the Page"
• The Conference in Publishers Weekly
• Podcast with Elaine Petrocelli & Karen West on the Conference
• Podcast from the 2010 Conference by participant Brian Shields
• Alumna Cornelia Read interviews Faculty Member Tony Broadbent

Success Stories

"Before I learned about Book Passage’s classes and the Mystery Conference, the only creative writing I’d ever done were a couple of particularly imaginative IRS submissions at tax time. Sure, I was an avid mystery reader, but that didn’t translate to being a mystery writer anymore than being a gourmet means you know how to cook. So I decided to learn from the pros. Within a year I’d written my first novel, partnered with a well-known agent, and sold the book to Time Warner’s Mysterious Press...It’s been a great year of book tours, signings and getting to meet some terrific readers, librarians and booksellers. It also feels good to fulfill a fantasy I’ve been dreaming about for close to fifty years. I can stick to nonfiction for the IRS submissions now."
– Louise Ure, Author of Forcing Amaryllis

"The Conference bolstered my skills and helped me get published. You can’t beat the caliber or the inspiration."
– Cara Black, Author of Murder in the Latin Quarter

"I am a graduate of the Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference who has since published three mysteries through St. Martin’s Press... My first mystery, Murder Off Mike, was published as the result of winning the St. Martin’s Press Best First Traditional Mystery Contest."
– Joyce Krieg, Author of the Shauna J. Bogart Talk Radio Series Riding Gain, Slip Clue, and Murder Off Mike

Read more conference success stories at Alumni News.

What People Are Saying

"Book Passage's annual Mystery Conference is the creme de la creme of gatherings for both aspiring and accomplished authors, offering a star faculty, real life connections to agents and editors, and the joy of time spent with those who understand why writers write."
- Carolyn Hart, Author of Death Comes Silently

"The Book Passage Mystery Writers Conference is the most interesting, most challenging, and most fun event for novice writers I’ve ever attended, a unique symposium that challenges all those who take part to think about this curious craft from both a practical and aesthetic point of view."
– David Hewson, Author of The Seventh Sacrament

"After more than a decade of studying the craft of fiction writing, I was pleased that the professional consultants I met with at Book Passage felt my work was publishable. The contacts brought me one step closer to publication."
– Sharon Owen, conference participant

"I attended the Mystery Writers Conference about five years ago. I made some helpful connections that got me started on the long road of writing and publishing a mystery. My novel, Shedding Light On Murder will be released by Five Star /Gale Cengage in January 2012. I have no prior writing experience to speak of but I learned so much at the conference. I doubt that I would be embarking on this new adventure if I hadn't attended. Thank you!
– Patricia Driscoll, conference participant

"I want to thank you again for your hard work and help in facilitating my interviews at this year's Mystery Conference for my new podcast. The first edition of The Solwave is now published both at http://www.thesolwave.com and by searching "The Solwave" on the iTunes store. (It's free, of course). This edition features a discussion with my podcast partner, Michael Neff, an extended eight-and-a-half minute feature on the Mystery Writers Conference including portions of my interviews with Michael Connelly, Elizabeth George, Cara Black, Ken Mercer, Tim Maleeny, Jacqueline Winspear, Sheldon Siegel, Tony Broadbent, and Elaine Petrocelli! The podcast also has a longer interview with Katherine Neville and ends with our new feature, "Strange Food for Writer Thought" in which we use an unusual news story as a prompt for short fiction (and a humorous dramatic reading of my story about some runaway nuns). Thanks again for your help and your terrific work on putting this all together."
– Brian Shields, conference participant