Guest of Honor

Lisa Unger is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of twenty-one novels. With books published in thirty-three languages and millions of copies sold worldwide, she is regarded as a master of suspense.

Unger’s critically acclaimed novels have been featured on “Best Book” lists from the Today Show, Good Morning America, Entertainment Weekly, People, Amazon, Goodreads, L.A. Times, The Boston Globe, Sun Sentinel, Tampa Bay Times and many others. She has been nominated for, or won, numerous awards including the Strand Critics, Audie, Hammett, Macavity, ITW Thriller, and Goodreads Choice. In 2019, she received two Edgar Award nominations, an honor held by only a few authors, including Agatha Christie. Her short fiction has been anthologized in The Best American Mystery and Suspense, and her non-fiction has appeared in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, and Travel+Leisure. 

Forensic Guest of Honor

Dr. Katherine Ramsland teaches forensic psychology and behavioral criminology in the graduate program at DeSales University, where she is Professor Emerita. She has appeared as an expert on more than 200 crime documentaries and was an executive producer on Murder House Flip and A&E’s Confession of a Serial killer: BTK. The author of more than 1,500 articles and 72 books, including The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, I Scream Man, and How to Catch a Killer, she is known for her expertise on extreme offenders. She has also published a fiction series based on a female forensic psychologist, Annie Hunter, who consults on death investigations.

Faculty

Isabella Maldonado wore a gun and badge in real life before turning to crime writing. A graduate of the FBI National Academy in Quantico and the first Latina to attain the rank of captain in the Fairfax County Police Department just outside DC, she retired as the Commander of Special Investigations and Forensics. During more than two decades on the force, her assignments included hostage negotiator, department spokesperson, and precinct commander. She uses her law enforcement background to bring a realistic edge to her writing, which includes the bestselling FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera series (soon to be a Netflix feature film starring Jennifer Lopez), the award-winning Detective Veranda Cruz series, the FBI Agent Daniela Vega series, and the Sanchez and Heron series with Jeffery Deaver. Her books have been translated into 22 languages.

Faculty

Michael Koryta is a New York Times-bestselling author whose work has been translated into more than 20 languages and has won or been nominated for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Edgar® Award, Shamus Award, Barry Award, Quill Award, International Thriller Writers Award, and the Golden Dagger. They’ve been selected as “best books of the year” by numerous publications. Michael also writes as Scott Carson.

Agent

From Paula Munier: The only thing I love more than books are the writers who write them. I’ve had the privilege of working with talented wordsmiths of every stripe—from reporters, nonfiction authors, content creators, and memoirists to novelists, screenwriters, graphic novelists, cartoonists, comic book writers, short story writers, and poets.

Writers are my tribe. I began as a journalist, and over the years I’ve penned countless new stories, articles, essays, collateral, and blogs, as well as authored/co-authored more than a dozen books, most recently Fixing Freddie, 5-Minute Mindfulness, and A Miscellany of Murder. Along the way, I’ve added editor, acquisitions specialist, digital content manager, and publishing executive to my repertoire—the common denominator being my commitment to writers and writing, no matter what my title. From Gannett, Greenspun, and Prima Games to Disney, Quayside, and F+W Media, I’ve fought the good fight for good writing and good writers. And I’ve loved every minute of it.

But now, as an agent, I have the opportunity to support talented writers in the most direct manner possible, helping my clients do good work, land great publishing deals, and build successful writing careers. So if you’re a writer as obsessed with words and stories as I am, and you’re in it for the long haul, consider working with me. My specialties include mystery/thriller, SF/fantasy, romance, YA, memoir, humor, pop culture, health & wellness, cooking, self-help, pop psych, New Age, inspirational, technology, science, and writing.

Agent

Jake Lovell joined SDLA in 2023. He earned his MA in Literature and Writing Studies from CSU San Marcos in 2021. He is also a veteran, having joined the Army in 2008. During his time he was promoted to Sergeant and served on two deployments overseas. Born and raised in Southern California, Jake proudly comes from a mixed cultural background and is second generation Chicano on his mother’s side.

He is actively looking for adult fiction and non-fiction. He is interested in upmarket fiction, with an emphasis on: Gothic, horror, thrillers, westerns, military, and speculative fiction (supernatural, paranormal, UFOs, etc…; think Jordan Peele or 10 Cloverfield Lane). When it comes to fiction, he loves dark stories that cause readers to question turning off the lights before bed. Dark stories permeate through all cultures, backgrounds, and histories, and he wants to hear them. His tastes lean more in the vein of The Hunger by Alma Katsu, The Only Good Indians by Stephen Graham Jones, Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, and works by Paul Tremblay, Mona Awad, and Colson Whitehead. In general, he’s especially drawn to character driven stories written in distinct and diverse voices.

SleuthFest Editor in Residence

Neil S. Nyren is the former executive vice president, associate publisher, and editor in chief of G.P. Putnam’s Sons, and the winner of the 2017 Ellery Queen Award from Mystery Writers of America.