Annual authors’ luncheon introduces three mystery writers who have tales to tell.

By Mary O’KEEFE

For 15 years, the La Crescenta Woman’s Club has invited authors to come to a luncheon to discuss their books thereby introducing them to the community. This year, the public is invited to the La Crescenta Woman’s Club Authors’ Luncheon on Jan. 26 beginning at 10 a.m.

Three authors – Matt Coyle, Dianne Dixon and Désirée Zamorano – have been invited to share not only their books but also the journeys that led them to writing.

“The authors are all very different people,” said Debbie Cant, chairperson for the LCWC Authors’ Luncheon. Cant was chosen to find and invite the authors for the event.

Matt Coyle lives in San Diego and is the author of the Rick Cahill crime series, which have won the Anthony Award, the Ben Franklin Silver Award, Forward Reviews Book of the Year Silver Award and San Diego Book Awards. His fifth novel, “Wrong Light,” was released in December 2018.

According to mattcoylebooks.com, he knew he wanted to be a crime writer when his father gave him “The Simple Art of Murder” by Raymond Chandler. He was 14 years old at the time. His journey, though, did not take him straight to writing. He spent years managing a restaurant, selling golf clubs for various golf companies and was a national salesman for a sports licensing company. His debut novel, “Yesterday’s Echo,” was published in 2013 and won several awards.

Dianne Dixon received the Humanitas Prize for outstanding accomplishment in writing for television, is a former professor of creative writing at Pitzer College and is the author of three novels. Her most recent and well-reviewed novel “The Other Sister” was a nominee for the 2017 Mystery Writers of America/Mary Higgins Clark Award. Her debut novel was “The Language of Secrets” and was an Amazon Top Ten New Fiction title. Her second novel is “The Book of Someday” and was named a Buzz Book.

Désirée Zamorano is a Pushcart Prize nominee and an award-wining short story writer. Her stories and essays have appeared online and in print in the LA Times, Kenyon Review and Catapult, among others. She was a contributing author for “The Obama Inheritance” anthology. Her acclaimed novel “The Amado Women” looks at the lives of four Latinas linked by birth and separated by secrets. Zamorano has taught in Pasadena Unified for 15 years and is currently the director of Occidental College’s Community Literacy Center. She also teaches linguistic and cultural diversity to pre-service teachers at California State University Long Beach.

The Jan. 26 luncheon, held at the clubhouse at 4004 La Crescenta Ave., includes presentations from the authors, book signings, a silent auction and opportunity drawing, Cant said. The luncheon requires reservations with tickets at $40 each. The deadline for reservations is Jan. 19. For more information, email lestina@charter.net or call (818) 232-1896.

The proceeds from the luncheon help support the La Crescenta Woman’s Club, a non-profit organization, in the club’s philanthropic projects and scholarships.

  Mary Okeefe