The College of Felony and Intrigue (COFFIN) offers two tracks of monthly online workshops: Killer Instincts is taught by writing craft experts, and Murder One is taught by experts in the various fields pertinent to the writing of mystery, thriller, and suspense novels (police, intelligence, forensics, first responders, military, etc.) Two-week classes are $15 for KOD members, $20 for RWA members, and $30 for non-members. Four-week classes are $20 for KOD members, $25 for RWA members, and $35 for non-members. Zoom Workshops are $10 for all attendees. Ask an Expert (AAE) zooms are free to KOD Members with coupon code. Not only is this educational wing of the chapter one of the first of its kind in the country; it is one of the most thorough and one of the most respected.
To receive your member discount, Please use the link shared with RWA members or KOD members on the corresponding RWA Circles.
There are no refunds for the classes.
In the unforeseen event that a workshop has to be rescheduled or canceled or a duplicate registration is received, the attendee will be able to choose another workshop from the current COFFIN Murder One or Killer Instincts schedule of equal value. The substitute workshop must be requested within six months of the initially paid-for workshop.
Deadline to sign up for any 2 or 4 week class is the 10th of the month of that class. Zoom Workshop sign ups will close the day before the workshop by 12:00 CST. Late Registration is at the discretion of Admin.
Please contact our COFFIN chair at: KODCOFFIN144@gmail.com for help regarding registration or links to classes.
If you are having trouble with payment, please contact kod144treasurer@gmail.com.
UPDATE:
While we work on the website issue, you will find non-member payment links included on this page.
KOD Members can find the KOD links shared in the newsletter and posted on KOD’s Circle.
RWA members will find the link shared on the RWA Circles.
All questions regarding how to register for a class should be sent to kod144treasurer@gmail.com
Do you have a workshop you’d like to present? Please fill out our Workshop Proposal form and someone will contact you.
Please note:
- All Zoom class participants will be sent the class link the day before the presentation from the email KODCoffin144@gmail.com. Please whitelist this email.
- All forum classes will be sent an invitation to the forum the day before class begins. Search your inbox for an Invitation from a groups.io email address.
Junes 4 week workshop “You are the Detective” With Wesley Harris
Register here: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/24B8T44F7XCPC
Workshop Title: You Are the Detective
June 1-30, 2026 (Groups.io)
Instructor: Wesley Harris
Workshop blurb: Solve an actual murder while improving your crime fiction writing skills
Class Description: In this course you will learn believability and realism when using crime and criminal procedures in your fiction is so important. We will discuss how to write police actions and criminal procedures plausibly and realistically, crafting a story that includes a strong case that will withstand legal scrutiny. Catching the bad guy is only part of the battle-you must also build a case that can be won at trial. Improper interrogations, illegal searches and seizures, and other missteps can result in the courts freeing your suspect.
The scenario is based on an actual murder case with all its twists and turns, a handful of suspects, several crime scenes, and determined cops intent on catching a killer. With each scene, Harris will point out the legal procedures necessary to build a winning case. Along the way, you will play detective yourself as you attempt to identify the culprit. To hone your writing skills, you will complete brief writing exercises on turning the formal “legalese” of steril police reports into compelling fiction. Will the villain be the obvious suspect or someone totally unexpected? Join the class and find out.
Instructor Bio: In addition to a law enforcement career spanning over 40 years, Wesley Harris has written professionally for over three decades, authoring several books and many articles on police procedure and American history. His work has appeared in national magazines like POLICE, Law Officer, Law & Order, Wilde West, and America’s Civil War. He serves on the criminal justice faculty of the University of Phoenix. In addition to providing consulting and editing services to writers, Harris is an experienced online instructor. His police career included many death investigations and successful murder prosecutions.
REFUNDS SUBJECT TO TERMS OF CONDITIONS ON WWW.RWAKISSOFDEATH.ORG/COFFIN
July
The Source Whisperer https://www.paypal.
Date: July 11 9AM CT
Instructor: Lisa Rabey
Worship Description: In the age of misinformation, determining fact from fiction is becoming increasingly difficult. The Source Whisperer: Research Beyond AI will give you the skills and knowledge to go beyond search engine and AI results. You’ll discover different online resources, divide fact from fiction, determine currency and credibility and more. Your readers will thank you.
Instructor Bio: Lisa Rabey is a mercenary librarian, writer, researcher and instructor to name a few job titles. She watches trashy TV, reads heaving bosom books, and is working her way through Paul Hollywood’s cookbooks. Nerd Girl Industries is Lisa’s side-hustle where she emperors people to manage their digital presence via workshops, tools, and personalized instruction. You can find out more about NGI at https://nerdgirl.net and Lisa at https://lisarabey.com.
How The Job Shapes Police Characters https://www.paypal.
Date: July 25 9AM CT
Level: Introductory
Instructor: Amaury Murgado, M.A.
Workshop Blurb: Amaury Murgado is a police veteran that will share his insights on how the good and bad of the job will help shape police characters.
Workshop Description: Amaury Murgado is a police veteran that will share his insights on how the job helps shape police characters. Everything affects your police character, from the realities of everyday life to the politics of working for a paramilitary organization. He will cover topics that include PTSD, negative coping skills, emotional armor, and hypervigilance and how they can be interwoven into a character’s story. By the end of the lecture, we will be reminded that police officers are no more or less human than the rest of us. A writer need only look in the mirror to find elements for their police related story.
Instructor’s Bio: Amaury Murgado is a veteran law enforcement leader and Army Special Operations professional with nearly three decades of experience in public safety and military service. As a longtime columnist and contributing editor for Police Magazine, he has written extensively on leadership, officer development, and real-world operational challenges. He speaks and consults on leadership, resilience, preparedness, and authentic crime and law enforcement representation.
August 8 9AM CT ZOOM
Level: All levels
Instructor: Cynthia Owens
Workshop Blurb: This class will focus on using dialogue to define your fictionals.
Workshop Description: If you’re looking to learn how to write snappy dialogue, He Said, She Said is not the place for you. This class is about making your characters unique through dialogue. Here are the topics that will be covered: what is dialogue and what should it do?, your fictional’s background, using accents, eye dialect, dialogue tags vs. action tags, breaking narration and using it to enhance your dialogue, using body language as dialogue. A workbook with resources, worksheets, and checklists will be included.
Instructor’s Bio: A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, Cynthia enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to my first love, romantic fiction. Her stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three. She is the author of The Claddagh Series, historical romances set in Ireland and beyond, and The Wild Geese Series, in which five Irish heroes return from the American Civil War to find love and adventure. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America, Hearts Through History Romance Writers, and the Quebec Writers Federation. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, she still lives there with her own Celtic hero.
Ask An Expert: Pharmacy/Creating Realistic Drug Scenes and Character Backstories https://www.paypal.
September 19 9AM CT ZOOM
Instructor: Miffie Seideman
Workshop Blurb: Get insight and tips for creating realistically perilous drug scenes and deep character backstories, while avoiding the common mistakes that can harm your
credibility with readers.
Workshop Description:
In this Ask An Expert Q&A Miffie will answer your questions to help you create more believable peril involving drugs, turning real facts into page turners, while avoiding the common pitfalls when writing these kinds of scenes. She will cover topics from the key elements to consider when penning a perilous drug scene to the resources available, along with examples of well-done page turners. She will also help you create more 3-dimensional characters through a dark, drug-related background or a current daily drug habit!
Instructor Bio: Miffie Seideman was a newborn ICU pharmacist for over 25 years, lectured on medication errors and drug safety, led medication safety teams, and guest lectured on vaccine safety at a local university. She assisted in the development of a disaster response team for the ICU. The Grim Reader (a pharmacist’s guide to putting your character in peril) was published Jan 2024 by Red Lightening Books. She’s also an avid triathlete, and has competed at anything from short sprints to Ironman distance races. It’s on long-training rides that she works on her new fiction fantasy.
Level: Beginner to Published but looking for new elements to stir in
Instructor: Beth Daniels
Workshop Blurb: Interested in working something new into your storytelling bag of tricks? Something that isn’t new in the least but old and not forgotten. It’s something that was very popular on the bookshelves…and then in the movies…and that’s the Noir Mystery. Think gumshoes scratching for a living on the mean streets and alleyways, fedora pulled low, collar of well-worn raincoat pulled up, a cigarette dangling from the corner of their mouth…or give them a different grittier look and tricks beyond the heater in their pocket or shoulder holster. Set the tale in a vintage period, in the current era or in a futuristic one. Whatever you do, spin what you’ve been writing into a new mystery niche! Bring your muse along to take notes. It’s a whole new and grittier world you’re building by stirring in dashes of noir.
Instructor’s Bio: Beth Daniels loves mystery. Mystery of nearly every kind. So, when she brought the first chapters of her urban fantasy PI mystery novel to a critique group several years ago, and one of the men said, “I like the noir touches in this,” it was as if…well, angels wouldn’t be involved, but as long as readers harkened to the siren call of noir, it was okey dokey with her. In December 2025, the sixth volume in that noir touched fantasy mystery series (which she writes as J.B. Dane) was released bringing the number of her published novels to 40. She’s also written romantic suspense as Beth Henderson and several novellas and short stories under various pseudonyms. For her noir touched urban fantasy series, find her at on Facebook at JBDane Mystery and Fantasy http://bit.ly/2GJtejL
Level: Introductory
Instructor: Amaury Murgado, M.A.
Workshop Blurb: Amaury Murgado is a police veteran that will share insider information on how a burglary investigation can be used as a model for all other investigations.
Workshop Description: Seasoned law enforcement professionals understand the necessity of a thorough investigation and accompanying report. The fastest way to achieve both is to understand the mechanics of a burglary investigation. The steps taken serve as a model for every other criminal investigation. Applying this model to any element of your story that requires investigative detail, will make the task easier for you and believable to the reader. Petit theft or murder, it all works the same.
Instructor’s Bio: Amaury Murgado is a veteran law enforcement leader and Army Special Operations professional with nearly three decades of experience in public safety and military service. As a longtime columnist and contributing editor for Police Magazine, he has written extensively on leadership, officer development, and real-world operational challenges. He speaks and consults on leadership, resilience, preparedness, and authentic crime and law enforcement representation.
November
Start With A Bang! Writing A Great Inciting Incident https://www.paypal.com/
November 2-13, 2026
Level: All Levels
Instructor: Cynthia Owens
Workshop Description: Start With a Bang! Write a Great Inciting Incident, is a two-week workshop that will show writers how to start their stories with an exciting inciting incident and make their readers want to read on to the last page.
Here is the class schedule: Welcome and Introduction, Lesson One – What is the Inciting Incident, Lesson Two – How to Write the Inciting Incident, Lesson Three – When Should You Write the Inciting Incident, Lesson Four – Tips for a Great Inciting Incident, Wrap-Up and Questions
Instructor’s Bio: A former journalist and lifelong Celtophile, Cynthia enjoyed a previous career as a reporter/editor for a small chain of community newspapers before returning to her first love, romantic fiction. Her stories usually include an Irish setting, hero or heroine, and sometimes all three. She is the author of The Claddagh Series, historical romances set in Ireland and beyond, and The Wild Geese Series, in which five Irish heroes return from the American Civil War to find love and adventure. She’s a member of the Romance Writers of America, Hearts Through History Romance Writers, and the Quebec Writers Federation. A lifelong resident of Montreal, Canada, she still lives there with her own Celtic hero.
Kiss of Death 2026 Conference Events Information
Date: July 14th, 2026
Location: Albuquerque NM
Time: 10am-4pm (Workshop) 6:30-7:45pm (DBC) 8-9pm (Daphne du Maurier Awards Ceremony)
KOD Member links with membership discounts are posted to our Circle. Prices. below are for general registration.
Workshop Description ($80-95+$30 lunch ticket for guest):
Come Join Kiss of Death, As we investigate an interactive death scene, learn how procedures for the Medical Examiners Investigation and Law Enforcement Investigations differ, and more with M.R. Rutter Lunch will be included, Guests may join you for lunch for a small fee.
Registration open to KOD members only through June 10, 2026. if space permits a general registration link will be posted then, or you can ask to be added to a waitlist by emailing Krysta at Admin@rwakissofdeath.org