Sisters in Crime
Connecticut thriller and mystery authors find community
When it comes to crafting the perfect crime, the members of the Connecticut chapter of Sisters in Crime (SinC-CT) know all about what it takes to pen a thriller and get it into the hands of readers.
The Connecticut chapter, which will celebrate its second anniversary on March 14, was spearheaded by two Nutmeggers. Darien’s Tessa Wegert is a veteran author with five books under her belt, while Stamford’s Elise Hart Kipness made her literary debut in the fall.
Sisters in Crime is a national organization devoted to connecting thriller and mystery authors and providing authors with networking opportunities and support within the publishing industry.
According to the organization’s website, it was founded in 1986 to “represent and advocate” for women crime writers.
At the time, the thriller genre was a more male-dominated space and the organization’s goal was to help women find a foothold in that space, thus the name Sisters in Crime.
Today, the organization is open to anyone within the crime writing industry, regardless of gender, including authors, agents, publishers, book sellers, librarians and book reviewers.
In addition to providing networking opportunities the group hosts talks with other authors within the genre, industry insiders as well as law enforcement and coroners to provide writers with tips and facts to make their fictional crimes more accurate.
Together Hart Kipness and Wegert formed SinC-CT after the national organization noticed a need for a more localized group for Connecticut members in late 2021. Prior to forming the SinC-CT chapter, if members wanted to be part of a more local group they could join the New England or the New York/Tri-state chapters which Wegert said primarily held meetings in Boston and New York City.
According to Wegert and Hart Kipness, SinC-CT has garnered more than 75 members since it formed in 2022. Its membership includes authors like Luanne Rice, Wendy Walker and Lynn Constantine (one half of the best-selling author duo Liv Constantine).
Wegert said that she and Hart Kipness were eager to volunteer to form the Connecticut chapter.
Prior to volunteering to be co-presidents, Wegert and Hart Kipness didn’t know each other, but when they realized how geographically close they were, the duo met up for coffee and got to work building the chapter.
Pulling together the chapter took a significant amount of work as the two women had to find additional volunteers to fill out board positions, design the website and file all the paperwork that comes with creating a chapter as well as handle the state’s tax paperwork.
But why do all the work, if members could already access the organizations national resources? For Wegert and Hart Kipness it was about providing a sense of community for Connecticut’s crime writers. Both authors noted that writing is a solitary career path and at times it can be a lonely profession.
“There was really a need for the formation of the chapter and I don’t think we realized it until we started it, until it really started to blossom,” Hart Kipness said.
“Publishing is this kind of walled garden in a way and this is an opportunity for people to get a behind-the-scenes look at what goes on that they may not have the chance to get if they don’t have someone they personally know who has been published,” Wegert added.
In addition to creating a sense of community for Connecticut’s thriller, crime and mystery writers, the chapter also works to provide an informal mentorship for its members and gives authors the chance to meet with other local authors in-person. They have held events at bookstores and libraries across the state to connect local authors with local readers.
Hart Kipness was quick to praise Wegert, as she credits her co-president as being a mentor to her while she moved through the process of releasing her debut book, “Lights Out.” It was published in November, but before that, the author said she wasn’t quite sure what to do with her finished manuscript until Wegert advised her to attend Westport’s PitchFest, which led Hart Kipness to finding an agent.
“As a debut author there are a thousand little questions that without her help I wouldn’t have known what to do,” she said.”It’s amazing how supportive the thriller writing community is.” She added that she hopes to help mentor other members in the same way Wegert and others in the group have helped her.
Wegert, who published “Devils at the Door” in December as the fifth book in her Shana Merchant series, joined Sisters in Crime national before she published her first book. She said that the organization helped her find writer friends in addition to helping her network and learn tips about book marketing.
“For me it really has been an opportunity to really get to know others who are going through the exact same experience I’m going through, if not in terms of the writing journey, then at least knowing that they are in this world and they too have faced some of the same kinds of challenges and struggles and stresses,” Wegert said. “It’s been wonderful to really find this super enthusiastic community of writers who are really committed to their craft but are looking to just connect with others.”