I’m a Texas gal. Except for an eighteen-month hiatus living in New York City after college, I lived in the Lone Star State continuously for fifty years. Since then Texas has been hit and miss—a little hit, but a heck of a lot of miss. There was a time when I thought I would happily die in Austin, Texas. But circumstances and weather—especially weather—changed that. Now I spend most of the year on Fidalgo Island in Washington State with a view of the bay and the mountains. When I get homesick, my husband and I listen to Willie Nelson. Soon we are dancing the two-step, imagining we are at our favorite honky-tonk in Tokio, Texas where the mayor is believed to be a dog. Who wouldn’t miss that?

I write the awarding-winning mystery series: the Sydney Lockhart Mystery Series set in the 1950s and the Classic Triviography Mystery Series, which includes The Sherlock Holmes Quiz Book, which was updated and released by Lyons Press. I also write the Kate Caraway Animal-Rights mystery series. On my website, you can also find my Five-Minute Writing Tips and blog post, “Growing Up Catholic in a Small Texas Town.” I also blog about publishing, marketing, birding, and quirky things that come to mind.