Moderators
Photo by Peggy Siegal
Jennet Conant
Jennet Conant is an award-winning author who spent fifteen years working as a journalist before turning to books. She earned a BA in political philosophy from Bryn Mawr College, and a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
She began her career as a reporter at Newsweek magazine, and then moved to long-form profiles, working for many years as a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine. She has written for most of the leading monthly magazines, including Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone and The New York Times, covering everything from high-profile scandals to crime stories.
In 2002, she published the New York Times bestseller, TUXEDO PARK: A WALL STREET TYCOON AND THE SECRET PALACE OF SCIENCE THAT CHANGED THE COURSE OF WORLD WAR II.
In 2003, she published the critically acclaimed 109 EAST PALACE: ROBERT OPPENHEIMER AND THE SECRET CITY OF LOS ALAMOS, which won the Spirit of the West Literary Achievement award. Then, in 2008, she produced another bestseller, THE IRREGULARS: ROALD DAHL AND THE BRITISH SPY RING IN WARTIME WASHINGTON.
Her fourth non-fiction book, A COVERT AFFAIR, the story of Julia and Paul Child’s adventures in the OSS, which was also a New York Times bestseller.
Conant’s abiding interest in World War II was inspired by her grandfather, James B. Conant, a noted scientist and president of Harvard University, who served as one of the leaders of the Manhattan Project. Her biography of him, MAN OF THE HOUR: JAMES B. CONANT, WARRIOR SCIENTIST, was hailed by The Wall Street Journal as “An outstanding portrait of a technocrat.”
She followed up in 2020 with THE GREAT SECRET: THE CLASSIFIED WORLD WAR II DISASTER THAT LAUNCHED THE WAR ON CANCER.
Her seventh book, FIERCE AMBITION: THE LIFE AND LEGEND OF WAR CORRESPONDENT MAGGIE HIGGINS, will be published by Norton in the fall.
Conant lives in New York City and Sag Harbor with her husband, son, and two golden retrievers.
Carrie Doyle
Carrie Doyle is the bestselling author of multiple novels and screenplays that span many genres, ranging from cozy mysteries to chick lit to comedies to Young Adult.
Carrie’s latest book, SOMETHING’S GUAVA GIVE, was released on January 25, 2022. It is the second book in the Trouble in Paradise Series. Book one, IT TAKES TWO TO MANGO, was named one of the best books of 2021 by King’s River Life Magazine.
Also trending is Carrie’s book THE MURDER GAME, which was nominated by Suspense Magazine as one of the best YA mysteries of 2021.
A born and bred New Yorker, Carrie has spent most of her life in Manhattan and East Hampton, with the exception of a six-year stint in Europe (Russia; France; England) and five years in Los Angeles. A former Editor-in-Chief of the Russian edition of Marie Claire, Carrie has written dozens of articles for various magazines, including countless celebrity profiles. She is also a screenwriter, and her movie INTERN (co-written with Jill Kargman) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
Carrie currently splits her time between New York and Long Island, with her husband and two teenage sons. She is a co-founder of the Hamptons Mystery & Crime Festival, also known as Hamptons Whodunit.
Abby Endler
Abby Endler is the creator of Crime by the Book, an Instagram account and award-winning book blog dedicated to reviewing crime fiction.
By day, she is a Senior Publicist for Alfred A. Knopf, a division of Penguin Random House.
Carol Fitzgerald
Carol Fitzgerald is the president of The Book Report Network. The company’s websites – Bookreporter.com and ReadingGroupGuides.com – have become the gathering places for a large and devoted community of booklovers since 1996.
Carol is known for her in-depth author interviews. She hosts the Bookreporter Talks To video/podcast series, as well as Bookaccino Live: A Lively Talk About Books, a monthly book preview program, and the Bookaccino Live Book Group series, a book group discussion program with a featured author.
In addition, the company’s Authors on the Web division provides website design and development, newsletter design and strategy, as well as marketing consultation for authors and publishers.
To date, the company has built websites for more than 400 authors and continues to maintain more than 100 websites.
Kyle Fichtner
Kyle Fichtner is the head of the Young Adult department at East Hampton Library. He’s passionate about outreach services and making sure the library is a safe and a fun community space & center for teens.
In his spare time, Kyle can be seen reading a good mystery/horror book with a cup of coffee in his hand. He loves watching sports, going to the beach, and visiting book stores!
Steven Gaines
Steven Gaines is the bestselling author of PHILISTINES AT THE HEDGEROW: PASSION AND PROPERTY IN THE HAMPTONS and a former NPR radio host. He is the co-founder and past vice-chairman of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Steven also wrote THE SKY’S THE LIMIT: PASSION AND PROPERTY IN MANHATTAN; SIMPLY HALSTON, THE BIOGRAPHY OF THE FASHION DESIGNER, and a memoir, ONE OF THESE THINGS FIRST.
His journalism has appeared in Vanity Fair, the New York Observer, The New York Times, and New York magazine, where he was a contributing editor for 12 years.
For seven years his weekly radio interview show, Sunday Brunch Live from the American Hotel in Sag Harbor aired during the summer and fall months on a National Public Radio affiliate.
Steven has lived in Wainscott, a small hamlet on the East End of Long Island, for 40 years.
Hugh King
The local East Hampton Town Crier and Historian.
Steve Kroft
Steve Kroft is an award-winning journalist whose work has been showcased on CBS’s 60 Minutes for three decades. He has received every honor and laurel in the news profession, including a George Polk Award, five Peabody Awards and no less than a dozen Emmy Awards.
His stories count among the most memorable in the popular broadcast’s history. Before joining 60 Minutes in 1989, Mr. Kroft was a principal correspondent on the CBS News magazine West 57th, after serving as foreign correspondent for CBS News based in the London bureau.
Prior to his assignment in London, he was a correspondent in the CBS News based in Miami, Dallas, and New York.
Mr. Kroft was born August 22, 1945, in Kokomo, Ind., and graduated from Syracuse University in 1967 with a B.S. degree. He was honored by his alma mater in 1992 with the George Arents Medal, the highest honor the university gives to an alumnus.
He earned a master’s degree from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Indiana University.
Mr. Kroft served with the United States Army in Vietnam as a correspondent and photographer for Pacific Stars and Stripes.
He lives in New York City and Sag Harbor with his wife, Jennet Conant, and their two golden retrievers.
Mayor Jerry Larsen
A lifelong resident of East Hampton, Mayor Jerry Larsen has dedicated his entire career to serving the East Hampton Village community. Motivated by his childhood dream of becoming a police officer, Mayor Larsen served as a member of the East Hampton Village Police Department for 34 years, 14 of which were as Chief of Police.
He is the former president of the Suffolk County Police Association, a county-wide organization that encompasses 2,500 local departments. Beyond his policing experience, Larsen was appointed to serve as Department Head of Emergency Services for East Hampton Village and is a member of the Village’s Kiwanis Club, which hosts and promotes local service opportunities and family events.
Mayor Larsen is a past board director at the East Hampton Chamber of Commerce, and LTV Studios. He was the former President and Coach of East Hampton Little League.
Mayor Larsen and his wife Lisa own ProTec Security, a local business that provides home security systems. His experience as both a public servant and a Village business owner offers him a nuanced perspective that, coupled with the skills he acquired as Village Police Chief, puts him in a unique position to tackle the issues affecting the residents of East Hampton Village.
Mayor Larsen has six children who grew up in East Hampton and is a co-founder of the Hamptons Mystery & Crime Festival, also known as Hamptons Whodunit.
Bess Rattray
Born in Southampton Hospital and raised at Promised Land and East Hampton Village, Bess Rattray is 13th-generation Bonacker and descendent of several of East Hampton’s founding families.
She is a freelance editor and writer whose work has appeared in Vogue, Teen Vogue, Elle, British Vogue, and ArtForum, among other publications. These days, she balances two lives as both editor-in-chief of EAST, the magazine of The East Hampton Star, and as an organic farmer at Share the Harvest Farm, a nonprofit that provides vegetables to East End food pantries.
Her column of personal essays, The Shipwreck Rose, appears weekly in The Star.
A volunteer E.M.T., she also founded a nonprofit called the Anchor Society in 2021, with the mission of “fostering commerce that serves community,” to increase foot traffic and vitality along East Hampton’s Main Street and Newtown Lane.
Tessa Wegert
Tessa Wegert is the author of the popular Shana Merchant novels, which include DEATH IN THE FAMILY, THE DEAD SEASON, DEAD WIND, and THE KIND TO KILL.
Tessa grew up in Quebec and now lives with her husband and children in Coastal Connecticut, where she studies martial arts and is co-president of Sisters in Crime CT.
