Greetings from the Ohio Chapter!

[Sisters In Crime]

Many National SinC members are fortunate enough to participate in regional chapters. These chapters meet at different places around
the country, from Alaska to Florida, and from California to New
York. For those who aren't geographically near enough to participate
in person, there are the Internet Chapter and the Guppies. With all
of these active groups there are as many chapter personalities as
there are chapters. Some are mostly made up of writers, some mostly
readers, some a good mix. Some chapters are all women, while some
have some men, some are intergenerational, while some are made up of
people in the same age range. But they all have one thing in common
-- it's a great place to get together with other mystery lovers to
talk about books, talk about writing, and talk about our world in
general.

When I moved to Ohio in 2003 I was dismayed to realize there was not a chapter in my area -- or even in all of the state! I came from
the Delaware Valley Chapter, a vibrant group consisting of folks from
Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New Jersey, and was missing them sorely.
So I did what any other desperate SinC member would've done -- I
started a new chapter!

Don Bruns, a fellow SinC member from Lima, Ohio, agreed to work with me, and together we brought together a small group of people, which
has grown by at least three times since our first meeting in 2004.
We are one of those groups made up mostly of readers (Don and I being
the only published authors who attend regularly), and are also proud
to have on our books just as many Brothers as Sisters! Two of our
officers, the Vice President and the Treasurer, are, in fact, men!
We also represent quite a mixture of professions: lots of teachers,
a lawyer, a businessman, a coach, a retirement home employee,
television production staff, and, of course, writers! I'm sure I
missed some, but you get the gist of it -- it's a diverse group!

The first Thursday of every month we meet for supper at Lima's The Meeting Place on Market, a lovely cafe which gives us the conference
room for free. (They were quite interested when we called the first
time, wondering what on earth the name of our group meant and what
kind of people we would be!) While we eat our soup and sandwiches we
talk about books, about movies, and about any other interesting
things which come up. We then usually have a brief business meeting
and head into the main event of the evening -- the speaker.

Besides being a group of readers, our group is also well-connected. Through personal contacts we've had such speakers as judges, lawyers,
private eyes, FBI agents, and investigators from Homeland Security
(we behaved very well that night). We've also done our research and
hosted an arson investigator, a K-9 officer (and his dog!), and the
head of the county's forensic diving team. We love to have authors,
and have been fortunate to have had such visitors as Rhys Bowen, Lyn
Hamilton, Cara Black, Libby Fischer Hellmann, the Minnesota Crime
Wave, Casey Daniels, The Little Blog of Murder, and Sally Wright.

When it comes down to it, we are a group interested in just about anything, as long as we get to talk about books in the bargain. We
love mysteries, we love authors, and we love doing our part to keep
our favorite authors in print. If you're an Ohioan in need of a SinC
home, an author coming through, or just someone who'd like to visit,
we'd love to have you! Contact information for all of SinC's
regional chapters can be found on the web site at http://
www.sistersincrime.org.

We hope to see you soon!

Judy Clemens President, Ohio Chapter