CrimeCONN 2025: Crime & Punishment: Looking at the Law from Every Angle
Saturday, May 17 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Main Library, DiMattia Building
The Friends of Ferguson Library, in partnership with Mystery Writers of America – New York Chapter, present CrimeCONN 2025, Connecticut’s own one-day mystery lovers' conference.
The theme this year is Crime & Punishment, where crime writers and experts look at the law from every angle. You'll hear from lawyers turned crime writers and formerly incarcerated writers. You'll also learn how a murder trial really works from a judge, a prosecutor, a defense attorney and a homicide cop. We'll discuss the blurred lines between crime writing, non-fiction and general fiction, the guilty pleasures of the revenge novel, and the lives of private, professional, real and imagined detectives.
Books will be available for sale and signing.
CrimeCONN will be presented as a hybrid event.
In-Person Event includes coffee, continental breakfast and lunch.
Tickets
In-Person Event
Through April 17 - Early Bird Registration
$50 per person
After April 17
$60 per person
MWA members, Friends members, seniors and students
$45 per person
Virtual Event
Available via Zoom webinar from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
$25 per person
Zoom login will be provided in advance of the program.
Schedule of Events
(Schedule subject to change)
8:30 a.m. – Doors Open
9 a.m. – Welcome/Introductory Remarks
A discussion of the blurred lines between crime writing, non-fiction and general fiction.
Moderator:
Chandra Prasad is the author of young adult novels Mercury Boys and Damselfly.
Panelists:
Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of Careful What You Wish For and Never Tell a Lie. Writing & Selling Your Mystery Novel (now in a "Revised and Expanded" edition) was an Edgar and Anthony award finalist. The crime fiction book reviewer for the Boston Globe for a dozen years, she won the Ellen Nehr Award for mystery reviewing.
Penny Goetjen is a national multi-award-winning author of mysteries, crime fiction, and suspense novels including Deadly Ripples and The Woman Underwater.
Juliet Grames is the national and international bestselling author of The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna and The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia.
Lawyers turned crime writers tell us how they got there.
Moderator:
Mally Becker, two-time Agatha Award-nominated author of the Revolutionary War Mysteries, which include The Turncoat's Widow, The Counterfeit Wife, and The Paris Mistress.
Panelists:
Jodé Millman is the multi-award-winning author of the true-crime inspired Queen City Crimes series.
Allison Montclair (a pseudonym for Alan Gordon) is the author of the Sparks and Bainbridge Mysteries, starting with The Right Sort of Man, the ALA Reading List Council's "Best Mystery of 2019," and most recently, An Excellent Thing in a Woman.
Wendy Walker is the internationally bestselling author of multiple psychological thrillers, including What Remains and Blade, coming in January of 2026.
A judge, prosecutor, defense attorney and homicide cop take us through how it really works.
Moderator:
Michelle Clark, Medicolegal Death Investigator for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner’s in Connecticut.
Panelists:
Christy Girard
Joseph Lopez is the Inspector General for the City of Hartford, charged with investigating citizen complaints of police misconduct. He is a former criminal defense attorney with 28 years of experience with the Division of Public Defender Services.
Ming Liu Parson
Gary White
Writers Workshop with Hallie Ephron
Hallie Ephron is the New York Times bestselling author of Careful What You Wish For and Never Tell a Lie. Writing & Selling Your Mystery Novel (now in a "Revised and Expanded" edition) was an Edgar and Anthony award finalist. The crime fiction book reviewer for the Boston Globe for a dozen years, she won the Ellen Nehr Award for mystery reviewing.
How incarcerated writers find their voice and faith in redemption.
Moderator:
Charles Salzberg is a former journalist and is the author of the Henry Swann mystery series and over 20 non-fiction books.
Panelists:
Jessica Hall is a social worker and activist who has served vulnerable populations in New York City for over 30 years. She also founded and piloted Prison Writes, a therapeutic literacy development program.
Tim O'Mara is the author of five Raymond Donne novels, three Aggie novellas, and many short stories.
Mario F. Wright is a poet, youth advocate, urban scholar, children’s book author, and justice-impacted professional who published his two-part poetry anthology Poetic Freedom 1 & 2 after his return from prison in 2022.
The guilty pleasures of the revenge novel.
Moderator:
Chris Knopf is the author of 18 mystery/thriller novels. His most recent book is Blood Bank.
Panelists:
V.S. Kemanis is a lawyer and an award-winning author of legal suspense novels, including Power Blind. Her latest novel, Indelicate Deception is a multigenerational family story.
Jonathan Stone has published 10 novels, including the e-bestsellers Moving Day and The Teller, as well as his recent serio-comic novel, The Prison Minyan.
Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 25 books, including The Girl from Greenwich Street, Band of Sisters, the RITA Award-winning Pink Carnation series, and five novels co-written with Beatriz Williams and Karen White.
Navigating the world of private, professional, real and imagined detectives.
Moderator:
Reed Farrel Coleman is the New York Times bestselling author of 30- plus novels including six in the Jesse Stone series for the estate of Robert B. Parker.
Panelists:
Alex Segura is the bestselling and award-winning author of Secret Identity and the YA Spider-Verse adventure, Araña/Spider-Man 2099: Dark Tomorrow.
Art Wiseberger
Lauren Willig is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of 25 books, including The Girl from Greenwich Street, Band of Sisters, the RITA Award-winning Pink Carnation series, and five novels co-written with Beatriz Williams and Karen White.
John Valeri is a book critic, author and the host of the web series, Central Booking.