2021 Keynote

Fresh out of college and newly relocated to NYC after growing up in the Midwest, Kelley Ragland started as an editorial assistant at St. Martin’s Press in 1993, became an editor in 1998, and took part in the creation of the St. Martin’s Publishing Group’s crime and suspense imprint, Minotaur Books, in 1999. She became Editorial Director of Minotaur in 2009, Vice President and Associate Publisher in 2015. She received the MWA’s Ellery Queen Award in 2020. Over her twenty-seven years at SMPG, she has worked with such authors as Jeffrey Archer, Kelley Armstrong, Linda Barnes, Steve Berry, Allison Brennan, Chelsea Cain, Andrew Gross, Charlaine Harris, Louise Penny, David Rosenfelt, Dana Stabenow, Olen Steinhauer, and many others.

For her keynote talk at the 2021 Maine Crime Wave, Ragland will part the curtain and discuss 10 Things You've Always Wanted to Ask a Crime Fiction Publisher. Each person who registers for the Maine Crime Wave will have a chance to submit questions and ideas, and Ragland will respond to some of those in her talk. This will be a rare chance to hear insights from inside the world of crime and suspense publishing.

Ragland will be introduced by beloved Maine crime writer and Minotaur author Julia Spencer-Fleming, the New York Times bestselling author of One Was a Soldier, and an Agatha, Anthony, Dilys, Barry, Macavity, and Gumshoe Award winner. She studied acting and history at Ithaca College and received her J.D. at the University of Maine School of Law. Her books have been shortlisted for the Edgar, Nero Wolfe, and Romantic Times RC awards. Julia lives in a 190-year-old farmhouse in southern Maine, and her latest book is Hid from Our Eyes, the ninth installment in the Clare Fergusson/Russ Van Alstyne mystery series.