Ellen Withers is excited about her award-winning mystery/dual-time series, Show Me Mysteries. She set the series in her picturesque hometown of Mexico, Missouri. The first book was published in May 2023 by Scrivenings Press. It was chosen as Book of the Year, Best Mystery/Suspense, and Best Debut Novel in the Scrivenings Press Reader’s Choice Awards. I was also a dual finalist in the American Christian Fiction Writer’s (ACFW) 2024 Carol Awards for Debut Novel and mystery/Suspense/Thriller categories.
Show Me Deceit, the second book in the series, published May 2024. A third and fourth book in the mystery series is under contract.
Ellen will soon have a nonfiction book to help writers win writing contests. Magic Words: Enchant Judges & Conjure Contest Wins for Novels, Short Fiction and Nonfiction is scheduled for publication by Scrivenings Press in January 2025.
She is also proud to be one of four contributors to a novella titled A Gift for All Time, a Christmas novella collection, published in September of 2023 from Scrivenings Press.
Ellen is an award-winning fiction writer, freelance writer and retired insurance fraud investigator. Her professional writing career began in 2003, as a freelance contributor to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette. She was editor of an international magazine, SIU Today, for insurance fraud investigators for ten years. She remains on their editorial committee. Ellen has written for Life in Chenal Magazine since 2006. Her non-fiction articles have been featured in international, national, and regional magazines. She’s a contributing columnist to Writers Monthly Magazine, an online guide for professional writers, about Writing for Contests.
Her publishing credits include short stories in over twenty anthologies and two creative non-fiction stories featured on KUAR’s radio show Tales from the South. One of her short stories garnered a nomination for the prestigious Pushcart Prize in the published short story category.
She is a member of ACFW, White County Creative Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Tornado Alley, a local chapter of SIC. She served as an officer of the Pioneer Branch of the National League of American Pen Women and was a board member of the Arkansas Writers Conference for over 10 years.
Ellen credits her success in the world of writing to the generosity and kindness of established writers who shared their expertise and nurtured her writing ambitions. She is most grateful for the mentoring provided by Dusty Richards, three time Western Writers of America Spur winner and Arkansas Writers Hall of Fame Honoree.
When not writing or reading, Ellen enjoys spending time with her family, traveling the world with her adventurous friends and performing with Top of the Rock Chorus, a Sweet Adeline chorus in central Arkansas.