Ang Pompano & Shawn Reilly Simmons interviews Agatha Nominees

Ang Pompano CAS ’95 has been writing mystery for more than 20 years. When It’s Time for Leaving, his debut novel, was launched at the Wesleyan R.J. Julia Bookstore in October. It was nominated for a Best First Novel Agatha Award.

WHEN IT'S TIME FOR LEAVING Agatha Nomination for Best 1st Novel. Al DeSantis is ready to get out of Connecticut. Suffering a recent breakup and a gnarly car crash which invokes in him a phobia of bridges, Al sets his sights on Los Angeles, only to have his plans foiled by his estranged father, Big Al, who is passing on the Blue Palmetto Detective Agency in Savannah, Ga., to his son. Begrudgingly, Al finds himself in the South and wrapped up in investigating a dead body found on the agency dock—a murder case that quickly becomes anything but straightforward.

Shawn Reilly Simmons is the author of The Red Carpet Catering Mysteries featuring Penelope Sutherland, an on-set movie caterer, and of several short stories appearing in various anthologies including "Burnt Orange" in Passport to Murder: the 2017 Bouchercon Anthology (Down & Out Books), and "The Prodigy" in Mystery Tour, the Crime Writers' Association Anthology (Orenda Books).

"The Last Word" which appears in Malice Domestic: Mystery Most Edible, was nominated for a 2019 Agatha Award for Best Short Story.

Shawn was born in Indiana, grew up in Florida, and began her professional career in New York City as a sales executive after graduating from the University of Maryland with a BA in English. Since then Shawn has worked as a book store manager, fiction editor, convention organizer, wine rep, and movie set caterer. She serves on the Board of Malice Domestic, and is an editor at Level Best Books.

Shawn is a member of Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Crime Writers' Association in the U.K.

Cooking behind the scenes on movie sets perfectly combined two of her great loves, movies and food, and provides the inspiration for the Red Carpet Catering series.