On Monday, Nov. 21, 2011, a group of eighth graders at Shady Side Academy Middle School were treated to a pizza lunch with Pittsburgh author Kathryn Miller Haines, author of The Girl Is Murder.

Haines is the author of the Rosie Winter mysteries, a series for adults set in 1940s New York City. She also works at the Stephen Foster Memorial Museum and the Center for American Music in Oakland, acts in dinner theater and has written award-winning plays.

Haines’s activity in various local writing critique groups led to her friendship with Middle School English teacher Lucy Turner, who was delighted to bring the talented author to Shady Side. The Girl Is Murder, set in the same time and place as the adult mysteries, is Haines’s debut young adult novel. The book comes out in paperback in May 2012, and a sequel is due out in July.

Over lunch, Haines fielded questions about generating ideas, developing characters, using the feedback of fellow writers, revising drafts and working with editors and publishers. Students asked how to beat writer’s block and why one of Haines’s characters behaves so badly. They also shared some of their own writing habits and goals. Students in attendance were Sarah Anania, Isabella Borrero, Emily Certo, Nina Hector, Holly Jewart, Maria Jovin, Noah McDaniel, Abbie Minard, and Julia Shelby. Other attendees included Middle School Head Amy Nixon and Middle School English teachers Martha Banwell, Lizzy Kline and Turner.