Steven Fechter
Steven Fechter is a novelist, playwright, and screenwriter. His first published novel, titled The Big Breeze (Encyclopocalypse Publications), part baseball novel, part noir thriller, will be released in February 2026. He recently finished a new novel titled Kid Katz, P.I. As a playwright and screenwriter, he co-wrote the screenplay for the award-winning film The Woodsman (based on his play) starring Kevin Bacon. His plays have been staged throughout North America and Europe. In 2022 his play, The Memory Exam, premiered at 59E59 Theatres in New York where it had a sold-out run. The New York Times called it a “dystopian thriller.” Fechter and his wife are residents of Beacon, NY.
Julia Dahl
Julia Dahl was born and raised in Fresno, California. In 1994, she stumbled onto the staff of her high school newspaper and has been chasing stories ever since.
Her first novel, Invisible City, is the story of a New York City tabloid reporter investigating the murder of an Hasidic woman from Borough Park. Invisible City was a finalist for the Mystery Writers of America’s Edgar Award for Best First Novel and was named one of the Boston Globe’s Best Books of 2014. Invisible City also won the Barry, the Shamus, and the Macavity Awards for Best First Novel, and has been translated into eight languages.
The sequel, Run You Down, was published in June 2015, and Conviction, the third book in the Rebekah Roberts series, was published in 2017. New York Magazine called Conviction “a murder mystery for our tumultuous times,” and it was named one of the best books of 2017 by the Boston Globe and LitHub.
Her fourth novel, a stand-alone called The Missing Hours, was published in September 2021. The New York Times called it “a great reckoning with the moment we find ourselves in,” and the book was the September 2021 Oxygen Book Club pick.
Her fifth novel, a stand-alone called I Dreamed of Falling, received starred reviews from Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal, which named it their Mystery Pick of the Month. The book was also selected as the Strand Bookstore’s 2024 October Mystery Pick and one of the Florida Sun-Sentinel’s Best Books of 2024.