And pick up your very own copy of our AWARD-NOMINATED anthology, SoWest: Danger Awaits!, filled with 25 delicious snack-sized mystery and crime stories!

www.amazon.com/SoWest-Siste...

Short Mystery Fiction Society & the Derringer Awards
shortmystery.blogspot.com/2026/02/derr...

Desert Sleuths
desertsleuths.com

And one story from the SoWest: Danger Awaits! Anthology has been nominated for the Derringer Award for Best Short Story (up to 4k words).

"Hard Times" by Meg Dobson

Congrats & best of luck, Desert Sleuths!

And...
"A Killer Job" by Roberta Gibson
"Echoes of the Past" by Anna Dalhaimer Bartkowski
"In Plain Sight" by Lisa Harkrader
"The Dark Side of Bright Angel" by Karen Odden

@robertagibson.bsky.social @annabartkowski.bsky.social @lisaharkrader.bsky.social @karenodden.bsky.social

Eight stories from the SoWest: Danger Awaits! Anthology have also been nominated for the Derringer Award for Best Long Story (4k-8k words).

"Ariana" by Jay Kinney
"Come Hell or High Water" by Claire A Murray
"Herman Pines and Archie" by Bill Butler
"The Bride Wore Blood" by Wendy Harrison
...

If one of your 2026 goals is to produce compelling audiobooks, join us for craft, community, and a great chat! Register at DesertSleuths.com.

Karen Krause is an audiobook narrator with dozens of books under her belt. She has been acting and studying theatre for most of her life. Her aptitude for dialect/accents and character voices make her a great fit for fiction as well as bios/memoirs.

www.karenkrause.com

Adapt your writing so it's effective for listeners, too. From ways to check for "audio-ability" to making prose more performance friendly, Karen Krause will share tips and techniques that engage your listeners. She will also provide links for you to dive deeper into the art of writing for audio.

Congrats!!

Congrats!!

Congrats!!

You, too, can pick up your very own copy of this AWARD-NOMINATED(!) anthology, filled with 25 delicious snack-sized mystery and crime stories!

www.amazon.com/SoWest-Siste...

Huge thanks to those who read and nominated our anthology! And thank you to everyone who helped create this book behind the scenes. We appreciate you greatly!

A big shout out to the other five finalists, especially Crimeucopia: The Not So Frail Detective Agency and Gone Fishin': Crime Takes a Holiday, which both contain stories written by Desert Sleuths members. Our anthology is in great company. Kudos to all!