In late spring 2014, the Tourism division contacted a favorite mystery author, Ellery Adams, via Facebook to see if she would be interested in coming to Suffolk for a book signing, since she was just up the road in Richmond. She was! And better still...she suggested she might be able to round up a few of her author friends to come with her. Would Suffolk be interested? You bet! The idea of a festival was born. We went from one author to 11 in the space of three short months, as word spread among the close-knit author community, and the Suffolk Public Library and Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts came on board with great ideas and volunteers. ​The first festival was held on Saturday, November 8, 2014, at the Suffolk Center for Cultural Arts.

At the inaugural event, approximately 250 attendees enjoyed meeting their favorite authors and getting the latest "cozy mysteries" signed, along with fantastic door prizes, an entertaining moderated author panel, fresh and exciting workshops, and a delightful closing reception.

In 2014, we had 11 authors. In 2015, we doubled to 24 authors. Currently, we showcase 40 national and best-selling authors. As we continue to grow...who knows how many? The sky is the limit, and one day we would love to expand the festival to include multiple genres, possibly even across multiple days. Eagle-eyed fans will notice that in 2015, we expanded our scope to include suspense, romance and women's fiction authors. In 2016, we added horror and paranormal. Stay tuned as the festival only continues to grow!