I was born on a cold and snowy March day in Escanaba, Michigan, mere miles from the setting for my Gertie Johnson mystery series. Growing up with the Swedes and Finns who settled in the area gave me a unique perspective on their strange and mysterious ways. Who knew that one day I would be sharing them with you?

Anyway, after the born-and-raised part, I ended up at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee working on a degree, one of my lifetime and seemingly unreachable goals.

Did I mention that I’m a late bloomer?

Late bloomer is loosely defined as someone who eventually attains full maturity and competence. In other words, I finally became good at things that other people had already become good at long before I figured it out. For example, I didn’t manage to attain a college degree until shortly after my forty-fifth birthday. Yes, it took me over twenty-five years of on-again, off-again attempts to finally collect that diploma.

Why so long? Indecision. I changed my major as many times as I celebrated birthdays. Math, engineering, architecture, education. Nothing felt right. But finally, I found my way into the English department and into the creative writing program, and I haven’t looked back since.

Returning to the late bloomer thing.

I married in my thirties and had my last child when I was thirty-eight years old. I think it’s a little-known fact that if you have late-bloomer tendencies, they appear early in life and stay with you forever.

So far I’ve had a great time, surrounded by family, friends, felines, and canines. An avid animal lover, I once had twelve sled dogs living in my back yard and raced a team of six eager Alaskan Huskies through a circuit of sprint races that spanned northern Michigan and Wisconsin. Gertie’s wild ride in Murder Passes the Buck is nothing compared to some of my early experiences. In fact, the first year I lost my team within minutes of leaving the starting chute every single time.

Somewhere in all this trying to catch up to everyone else, I spent fourteen glorious months in Scottsdale, Arizona, soaking up the sun, eating green chile stew, sipping Margaritas, and climbing Camelback Mountain. Hence, the setting for my Gretchen Birch doll collecting mystery series.

I have to admit it was a long winding road to publication, but the journey has been well worth it. After several of my short stories appeared in literary magazines, I made the jump to longer fiction. Although Murder Passes the Buck was my first full-length novel, the manuscript spent years and years in rewrites before it was ready for full-frontal viewing.

Like anything else worth doing, it took practice and perseverance.

My break came when I entered the manuscript in the Authorlink International First Novelist Contest and it won, not only the mystery category, but also Best of Show! That led to my wonderful agent and an offer from Berkley to write the doll series.

Sometimes life, like a fine red wine, really does improve with age!