True Confession: I am an anthropologist! My passion and career have centered on the study and teaching about culture. Although my husband and I have traveled to many exciting places, my heart is in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, where my husband and I lived while I conducted my doctoral research.

My other passion is reading. I was the kid who always had a book with me. Although I read all genres, mysteries have always been my favorite, not the bloody crime scene/car chase kind, but the kind where the character and plot shape the mystery.  Today, my favorite writers include Elizabeth George, Louise Penney, Tara French, and Ann Cleeves.

In my thirty years in academia, I have attended more conferences than I can count, and, although I have never had the urge to murder anyone, the competitive atmosphere always seemed, in my mystery-lover's mind, a ripe environment for murderous thoughts. Likewise, my nine years as a department chair required the necessity to wear multiple, often contradictory, hats which were constantly threatening to collapse onto my head.

When I retired Professor Emeritus from the anthropology department at Grand Valley State University, I knew that I wanted to write mystery novels. Human Sacrifice is my first, introducing Dr. Claire Aguila and her colleagues, Doctors Madge Carmichael and George Banks, and Mexican detective, Roberto Salinas.  

Human Sacrifice is the intersection of my three passions: Mexico, mystery novels, and Anthropology.  I hope that my readers see the location as a character, learn about the rich history of Yucatan, and share my love for Merida, the rural villages, and the Mayan people who have taught me so much about their lives and struggles.

My newest mystery novel, Culture Shock, brings Claire, Madge, and Detective Salinas to a Florida retirement community, The Havens where we also meet Claire’s daughter and family. Here, murder highlights tensions between wealthy retirees and the Hispanic workers who make their lifestyle possible.

My non-fiction ethnographies are: Katun: A Twenty-Year Journey with the Maya; and Chippewa Lake: A Community in Search of an Identity