About

President

Eileen Doyle writes mysteries set in the art world, with a particular interest in stories of hijinks such as thefts, counterfeiting, and other swindles. Before she ill-advisedly quit her day job to write full-time, she earned a Ph.D. in art history, taught courses in modern and contemporary art, and held various and sundry positions in visual arts organizations in New York City and Connecticut. She has published non-fiction articles on contemporary art. When Eileen isn’t writing, she can usually be found coaxing her lovable, but lazy, goldendoodle Ginger out for a walk or digging herself out from the mountains of laundry produced by her three children.

Vice-President & Facebook Manager

Sharon Dukett is the award-winning author of the environmental thriller The Shutdown List and No Rules: A Memoir.

She worked in information technology as a consultant, programmer and project manager in the private sector, and as a deputy director for the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch. Running technology projects taught her about the infinite possibilities of how plans can go awry, and the creativity needed to rescue them: a useful insight for writing thrillers.

Sharon is also a member of International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association.

Sharon lives in central Connecticut with her husband, near her children and grandchildren. She is currently working on another thriller.

Treasurer

Gerri Lewis is an award-winning feature writer, former stringer and columnist who began her career getting her fingers smudged on newsprint at the Ridgefield Press and its syndicated newspapers. Later she turned to magazines and was a contributing writer for Morris Media Group, Inc with regularly appearing cover features in Ridgefield Magazine. With over 1600 published features, news stories and obituaries under her belt, Gerri continues to write for 068 Magazine, focusing on Connecticut towns with the 068 zip code. Her debut Deadly Deadlines Mystery, The Last Word, was released by Crooked Lane Books in 2024.

Secretary

Louise Talotta’s career background is in Human Resources and operations management for two CT insurance companies. A UCONN grad, she also has a Business Mastery Certification from UCONN and CPC accreditation from the International Coaching Academy for life and business coaching. She is a contributing author in Coaching for Powerful Change, published in 2015 and past winner of a fiction award for a boating humor story, Toddler on Board published by Offshore Magazine.

An avid reader of cozy mysteries, she has just completed her first mystery, The Blue Fate Special, where hidden secrets come to the surface to solve the thirty-year disappearance of a local high school girl.

Louise, a native of Avon, lives with her husband Bruno, and is happily surrounded with her son and his family and nieces and nephews in near-by towns. When she isn’t writing, she is cooking and entertaining family and friends or setting up an easel painting landscapes throughout Connecticut.

Membership Secretary

Ang Pompano’s stories have appeared in many anthologies, including the Anthony Award-winning Mystery Most Edible. His novel When It’s Time for Leaving was nominated for an Agatha Best First Novel Award. Diet of Death is his latest novel. A founder of Crime Spell Books, Ang co-edited Bloodroot: Best New England Crime Stories. A member of MWA, he’s been on the New England Crime Bake committee for sixteen years. A long-time SinCNE board member, he is now on the board of the Connecticut chapter. Ang lives in Guilford with his wife Annette and their two rescue dogs.

Library Liaison

Carole B. Shmurak is Professor Emerita at Central Connecticut State University and the author of 11 books. Under her own name, she writes the Susan Lombardi Academic Mystery Series. As Carroll Thomas, she is the co-author of the Matty Trescott Young Adult Historical Novels, one of which (Ring Out Wild Bells) was an Agatha nominee for best young adult mystery. Carole also leads monthly mystery groups at the Simsbury, Wallingford and Southington libraries.