In recent years, I’ve been channeling my artist energy into my Sonny Littlefield Mystery Series. Set in rural Maine, the unfolding drama of my character’s ups and downs lets me weave my experiences as an adventurer and a photographer into stories that feel so gripping and real that I’m wrung out by the end of the day.
My earliest memories are of exploring the woods, following bird calls, and launching expeditions along the stream near my family’s house. During my teens, I taught nature classes at a bird sanctuary and volunteered on an archaeological dig that sparked a passion for reconstructing glimpses of the past from traces of daily life left behind in lost and buried ruins. Not surprisingly, historical elements keep surfacing in my Sonny Littlefield mysteries, including the delight of adding Isabella Bird, a real-life explorer, to the concept of my most recent novel, Dead South.
Long before I started writing mystery novels, I had a passion for photography and a fascination with nature, so creating a strong female protagonist with the same artistic inclinations was a natural fit. With years of experience as a graphic designer, I create my own cover designs, and I’m grateful to have cultivated other pursuits I can turn to when I need to give my mind a rest. I’ve been a seamstress since my earliest days, so once printing services like Spoonflower became available, I started creating my own fabrics. On the left is a photo of a toy I created using my Driftwood Helix design, printed on Spoonflower fleece. Also on the left are two examples of the sculptures I create from stone, wood, glass, wire, and other materials.
Stone carving is a daunting process that deserves its own page, if I can ever get around to recounting my experience learning the art of sculpting in Carrara, Italy. Often, it’s possible to follow the lines of a particular piece of marble or alabaster. I like the idea that the stone has the final say in the design — it ends abruptly and breaks unexpectedly, adding a note of unpredictability to the finished form.
Whatever I learn in one art form deepens my understanding of another. Whether I’m shooting photos or writing a mystery scene, I draw on my own experiences. Every area of interest has required intensive study, the heartache of making mistakes, and a dogged determination to keep at it until a project feels true and “right.”