Sisters in Crime
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This year Sisters in Crime (SinC) is celebrating its twentieth anniversary. In 1986, a group of women mystery writers led by Sara Paretsky saw the inequity women faced in a field traditionally dominated by men. They formed SinC “to combat discrimination against women in the mystery field, educate publishers and the general public as to inequities in the treatment of female authors, raise the level of awareness of their contributions to the field, and promote the professional advancement of women who write mysteries.”
You need not be female to join SinC. Many members are indeed men. The organization welcomes mystery writers (as well as readers, publishers, agents, booksellers, and librarians who love mysteries) of any gender, and offers benefits including a quarterly newsletter; guidebooks on publishing and promotion; a review clipping service; review monitoring, which tracks the percentage of reviews female authors garner in newspapers and other review sources; and an annual volume of members’ Books in Print.
One of the best benefits, though, is the chance to participate in local chapters. SinC has chapters all over the United States and in Australia, ?Canada, ?Germany/Austria/Switzerland, as well as two online chapters: the Internet chapter and the Guppies, primarily for unpublished or newly published mystery writers.
I belong to the Greater Kansas City SinC Chapter, called Partners in Crime, which meets once a month at a local Borders. The meeting always features a speaker, sometimes a mystery writer such as Jill Churchill or Nancy Pickard, more often someone working in the criminal justice system, such as the county prosecutor, a federal marshall involved in the witness protection program, a crime scene investigator, or a private detective.
This month’s speaker was a county counselor who deals with Kansas Open Records Laws. Many public records, such as crime statistics maps, criminal rap sheets, court dockets, and summaries of court cases, are available online. While it may take a bit of surfing to determine which government agency, or even which level of government—federal, state, county, or city—holds the records you need, open records on the internet can be a research treasure trove for mystery writers. Some records, such as detailed trial documents or land records, are usually not available online, but a visit to the appropriate courthouse can turn up those documents as well.
Every speaker offers interesting and useful information. And every meeting I attend makes me glad I’m a Sister in Crime.
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