{"id":14022,"date":"2026-01-13T14:24:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T21:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/two-killers-and-a-sweetheart-to-host-author-panel-at-cortez-library\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T03:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T03:42:43","slug":"two-killers-and-a-sweetheart-to-host-author-panel-at-cortez-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/two-killers-and-a-sweetheart-to-host-author-panel-at-cortez-library\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Two killers and a sweetheart\u2019 to host author panel at Cortez Library"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Cortez
Cortez Public Library<\/span>Stephanie Alderton\/The Journal<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

The Cortez Public Library will host a free author panel featuring three nationally recognized writers from Southwest Colorado on Tuesday, Jan. 27, from 5 to 6 p.m., including one from Cortez and one from Mancos.<\/p>\n

The event features Mancos thriller author Mark Stevens, Durango murder mystery writer Scott Graham and Cortez romantic comedy author Bethany Turner. The trio will discuss succeeding in fiction writing and share behind-the-scenes publishing stories. Attendees can ask questions and talk with the authors about the industry.<\/p>\n

Stevens<\/a> is the author of the Flynn Martin thriller series, including \u201cNo Lie Lasts Forever,\u201d published in June 2025; \u201cTwo Truths and a Lie,\u201d scheduled for April 2026; and \u201cThe Fireballer\u201d (2023). He also writes the Allison Coil mystery series, with \u201cTrapline\u201d winning the Colorado Book Award for best mystery.<\/p>\n

His short stories have appeared in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Mystery Tribune and Denver Noir, which earned the Colorado Book Award for best anthology in 2023.<\/p>\n

Stevens was also a co-editor of \u201cFour Corners Voices,\u201d an anthology that won the Colorado Book Award for Best Anthology in 2025.<\/p>\n

Graham<\/a> writes the National Park Mystery series, a critically acclaimed nine-book series following archaeologist Chuck Bender and his family through intrigue in Western national parks while exploring environmental and social justice issues. Beyond mysteries, Graham has written five nonfiction books, including \u201cExtreme Kids,\u201d winner of the National Outdoor Book Award.<\/p>\n

Turner<\/a>, a Cortez resident, has published 11 romance novels. \u201cBrynn and Sebastian Hate Each Other\u201d won the 2024 Colorado Book Award and was selected as an Amazon Editors\u2019 Pick for best romance. Its follow-up, \u201cCole and Laila Are Just Friends,\u201d was a 2025 Colorado Book Award finalist and won the Colorado Authors League award for best romance. Her Adelaide Springs series concluded in summer 2025 with \u201cWes and Addie Had Their Chance.\u201d Turner writes pop culture-infused romantic comedies.<\/p>\n

The free event is open to readers, writers and those curious about writing and publishing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

authors from Southwest Colorado will share insights on writing and publishing <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14023,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[21,28,638,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-14022","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-cortez","tag-headlines","tag-library-and-museum","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14022"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14022\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77102,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14022\/revisions\/77102"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14022"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=14022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}