O.C. Writers

by Pat H. Broeske

With Halloween beckoning, Orange County Sisters in Crime has a fitting guest speaker in Connie di Marco, author of the “The Madness of Mercury,” the first in her Zodiac mystery series. She’ll be on hand at this Sunday’s meeting, on October 23.

Connie di Marco

Connie Di Marco, Author of The Madness of Mercury

Inspired by the years she spent living in San Francisco, when Jim Jones and his People’s Temple were considered local do-gooders (the tragedy at Guyana had yet to happen), di Marco’s San Francisco-based story involves a religious cult, and the dangers facing an amateur sleuth, who is an astrologer. The book was published this summer by Mystery Ink. It’s enjoyed critical thumbs-up: Kirkus Reviews said the debut title “sets the stage for a promising series.”

The author already has a following, for books with a decidedly different recipe: as Connie Archer, di Marco writes the Soup Lover’s mysteries.

Location

Connie is scheduled to speak at 3 p.m., following a 2 p.m. Reader’s Forum about unconventional crime-solving tools – including astrology, psychic powers and paranormal abilities.

O.C. Sisters in Crime meets in the Community Room of the Irvine Ranch Water District, at 15500 Sand Canyon Ave., Irvine. The room is on the northeast side of the parking lot. (Disclaimer: Irvine Ranch Water District neither supports nor endorses the cause nor activities of organizations which use the District’s meeting rooms that are made available as a public service.)

The public is cordially invited. This month’s meeting promises Halloween candy!

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Pat H. Broeske is a veteran freelance writer-author-and sometimes producer of reality-based television. A part-time faculty member at the Saddleback College Emeritus Institute, where she teaches Non-Fiction Writing and Film as Literature, she is on the board of O.C. Sisters in Crime.