To date, I have had five books published, with one more in press for June 2012 (see page 2, Books). The first four have been mysteries: The Pittsley County Chronicles is a trilogy comprised of Juckets, Swamp Yankees, and Bog Men, set in a rural area of southeastern Massachusetts, in the present; the fourth mystery, Winterkill, is set in New Hampshire and Vermont in the 1930s. The fifth book, Strummin' the Banjo Moon, is a mainstream novel, and my sixth book, SLEUTH-blog, is the nonfiction account of my real-time investigation of a cold-case murder in 1969 in Fall River, MA.
Thus, with one exception, my books thus far have all been mysteries of one sort or another.
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Considering that I never expected to become a mystery writer (nor do I tend to read mysteries), it seems odd to me that this is how things turned out.
My writing life began as a playwright in Boston, and I was fortunate to receive good reviews and some awards. Although I’ve been writing novels lately, I haven't abandoned the theatre—and am, even now, kicking around an idea for a new full-length play. Although none of the produced plays are mysteries, my new filmscript, is a mystery/thriller based on my first novel, Juckets (see page 3, Scripts). The photo (left) was taken near our house and has the eerie feeling of the story.
After graduating New York University with a Bachelor's Degree in English and Harvard University with a Master's Degree in Psychology—which does not qualify one for much—most of my working career has been in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard School of Public Health. There, I've been involved in running research projects, in "human resource management," and my last position was Managing Editor of an international journal of cancer epidemiology. Beyond Harvard, I did a few stints in both the private (consulting company) and public (state hospital) sectors, and a couple of early years doing research at the Iowa Psychopathic Hospital (now that was really interesting).
I now spend my professional time writing as well as working with Authors Without Borders (see page 4, AWB). Most of my personal time is spent with my husband, John, and with our 16-year old dog, Plymmie, whom he rescued when the volcano erupted on the island of Montserrat in the mid-90s (you can Google it). In addition to socializing with friends, we also "friend" a large tribe of wild turkeys in our yard, and feed the fifth generation of red-shouldered hawks that come to our deck. We're fortunate to live in a rural area that has lots of woods, swamp, and creatures great and small (unfortunately, that also includes ticks).
My upcoming plans are to get to work on that play—but there's also a book nagging at me. There's never enough time . . .
