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Panel Discussion: Red Herrings: The Twist in the Tale
Join us on October 18 for a free panel discussion on the art of misdirection. Deception, a web of lies, and the chase for clues are the core of a compelling mystery. How do you use red herrings to heighten tension and suspense to keep readers turning pages? What challenges do red herrings pose as a tool to propel the story? This panel discussion with three mystery authors is open to MWA members and the public.
October 18
1 p.m.-3 p.m.
Lee Memorial Public Library
500 Crescent Avenue Allendale, NJ
Moderator:
Carol Binkowski writes mysteries under the pen name Caryl Janis, most recently including To Sketch a Killer and Research Can Be Murder — both urban cozies set in New York. A member of MWA, SinC, and Liberty States Fiction Writers, she has participated on panels at mystery conferences including Bouchercon, Malice Domestic, and ThrillerFest. Carol is also a musician and author of nonfiction books about music and history.
Panelists:
Tom Coffey grew up on Staten Island. His first novel, The Serpent Club, was published in 1999 by Pocket Books and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. His second novel, Miami Twilight, came out two years later. In 2008, Toby Press printed Blood Alley, which also earned a starred review from PW. In 2015 the independent Oak Tree Press published Bright Morning Star. In 2023, Coffey signed a three-book deal with Level Best Books. Public Morals, which gained four- and five-star reviews on Amazon and Goodreads, was the first novel in The Devine Trilogy, which is named after the family at its center. The series examines the arc of law enforcement in New York from the 1980s to the present. The second book in the series, Special Victim, was published in 2024, and also earned strong reviews across multiple platforms. Coffey is finishing the last book in the trilogy, Stop and Frisk, and it will come out in 2026. Coffey graduated from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and attended film school at the University of Southern California. After a long career in journalism that included stints at The Miami Herald, the Los Angeles Herald Examiner and New York Newsday, he retired in 2023 from The New York Times. He lives in Lower Manhattan with his wife and daughter.
Peggy Ehrhart is a former English professor with a doctorate in medieval literature. Her Maxx Maxwell mysteries, Sweet Man Is Gone (2008) and Got No Friend Anyhow (2011), were published by Five Star/Gale/Cengage and feature a blues-singer sleuth. Peggy is currently writing the Knit & Nibble mysteries for Kensington Books. Her amateur sleuth, Pamela Paterson, is the founder and mainstay of the Arborville, New Jersey, knitting club, nicknamed Knit and Nibble. Knit & Nibble #12, Last Wool and Testament, was released in May 2025; An Eggy Way to Die will appear in Kensington’s 2026 Easter novella anthology, Easter Egg Murder.
Charles Salzberg is a former magazine journalist and nonfiction book writer, author of From Set Shot to Slam Dunk, an oral history of the NBA, and Soupy Sez: My Zany Life and Times with Soupy Sales. His first novel, Swann’s Last Song, was nominated for a Shamus Award (he lost). Second Story Man, winner of the Beverly Hills Book Award, was nominated for a Shamus (he lost), aas was Canary in the Coal Mine (lost again). Devil in the Hole was named one of the best crime novels of 2013 by Suspense magazine. He’s been a visiting professor of Magazine and the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and taught writing at Sarah Lawrence, Hunter, the Writers Voice, and the New York Writers Workshop, where he is a founding ember. His latest novel is Man on the Run.