The DeadLies writing collective came into being in January of 2015, in the belly of Chronicles of Crime, a mystery bookshop in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
The group was founded by the proprietor of Chronicles, who invited individuals she thought would benefit from the company and energy of other serious writers. Over time, the meeting venue and membership have changed, but since 2015, the core group has come together virtually or in-person every other week (or more frequently when the muse strikes) to write, edit, discuss, and create genre and literary fiction and poetry, short-form and long-form.
We are a diverse and vibrant group of women from all walks of life. Among us are artists, medical practitioners, entrepreneurs, and academics. We are bound together by our love of good story, good character, and a juicy turn of phrase, and by our common dislike of a tale mired in too many words—though our perspective on how many words is too many tends to differ.
We are also bound by our friendship—one that has deepened over time and through shared experience. We have come to trust each other. We know that when we share our writing, we are doing so with an engaged, insightful, and compassionate audience.
This is an integral aspect of the DeadLies collective—and a fundamental truth of the craft of writing: that something so intimately personal must be shared to develop and mature and bloom—and ultimately to achieve its true form. We feel privileged and grateful to have found in each other a safe space to create and evolve as writers and readers.
The DeadLies are:
A.T. Bennett
Jillian G. Shoichet
Laina Kappel (pseudonym)
M.G. Sondraal (pseudonym)
D.M.K. Ruby (pseudonym)
Jack Spoon (emeritus)
The DeadLies collective has another member who is with us constantly in spirit, and whose name, character, and sharp wit are frequently invoked at the discussion table. Barbara McLintock—journalist, author, keen birder and horseback rider, generous educator, and deadly storyteller—is fondly remembered and deeply missed.
About Us
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A.T. Bennett
When my mother was in labour the attending doctor got a wee bit bored with the whole process of “birth” — what with all the pushing, screaming, and general huffing. So, he put on a movie to kill time. The movie was Alien.
You know, that sci-fi-horror flick with the spidery-things bursting out of peoples chests?
I suspect that experience, so early in my developmental life, had a lasting impact on me.
To all of my future readers, consider yourself forewarned.
I have a BA in history, and am by profession a leather worker. (There is an absolutely a connection between these two opposites. No, I’m not going to tell you.)
Throughout my life I’ve been driven by a need to create. To craft. And, if I don’t indulge this vice, the ideas spill out at some inopportune moment … typically at three a.m. For the sake of my beauty sleep I must write.
So what’s in the works?
I’m currently plodding my way through a Saskatchewan murder mystery, a horror involving collected curses, and a true crime cross stitch pattern book.
(Naturally this list will be added/subtracted to depending upon the whims of my fickle, conniving, tea-addicted muses)
You can keep tabs on my various creative shenanigans on instagram @themurderpuffin
If you want to take a gander at my crafting high jinks I can be found on etsy:
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Jillian Grant Shoichet
Jillian’s work has been published in Mystery Magazine and subTERRAIN Magazine and is forthcoming in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. She has been recognized in the Writer’s Digest writing competitions, the Bridport Short Story Competition, the Exeter Story Prize, the Writers Union of Canada Short Prose Competition, and the CBC Literary Awards. Recently she placed 3rd in the 2024 Stockholm Writers Festival First 5 Pages Prize. Her interest in crime and deception began early, with the submission of a not-so-cleverly plagiarized version of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit—masterfully retitled as The Harpel—for a Grade 5 writing project.
Since then, she has focused on writing crime rather than committing it, but her love of mystery is not limited to criminal activity. Jillian’s writing examines the mysteries of human relationships and explores what makes us do the things we do—and if there’s a body or two along the way, so be it.
She is a mother, editor, historian, and gardener, all of which make her a better mystery writer.
You can find Jillian at jilliangrantshoichet.com. She is also a co-owner of Shoichet Editorial, at shoicheteditorial.com.
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Laina Kappel
How does one simmer down a life to the essence of that life? As a young girl my local tiny library on a London council estate offered escape. The Water Babies fascinated me, Fairy Tales took cruel lives and offered revenge! Alice in Wonderland was my bible, it went with me everywhere, it steadied me through rough days.
We are all forged from life, but we see that forging as a hammer, now I see it in a kinder light, it was a brush, and my painting is almost complete. So many careers later; Including working as a civilian on a nuclear submarine base. Reading always filled my head with possibilities. The underlying mechanics of writing elude me. As a mum and now a grandmother my life is still full of wonderment.
The DeadLies have allowed that wonderment to grow and fill my head and heart with stories that will flow out into the world. This is my stream to dive into and come out reborn much like those young chimney Sweeps.
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M.G. Sondraal
A voracious and eclectic reader since early childhood, I left crime fiction reading for “literature” in my adolescence and only returned to the genre exhausted from motherhood and medical practice many years later. Needing respite from unsolvable problems, I am fascinated by the puzzles, human failings, natural consequences and eventual justice provided by mysteries of all sorts. I sneaked into writing crime fiction with my introduction to the now-named DeadLies as my children grew along with my renewed passion to resuscitate my long-neglected creativity. To these women I will forever be grateful.
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D.M.K. Ruby
Growing up in a small mountain town and longing for adventure, the local library raised me on a steady diet of books that offered escape. But Agatha Christies read in public and Harlequins read in private (ah, the misogyny of the 1980’s, where girls reading romance were instantly branded as stupid), turned me into a writer interested in crimes and happily ever afters. Writing romantic suspense continues to be an escape from my day job as a physician.
The legion ways I procrastinate include 1000-piece puzzles of flowers, baking Mary Berry recipes and playing with fountain pens and inks.