About the Authors

 

Blanche Day Manos is the author of the Darcy and Flora series about a mother and daughter sleuth team: The Cemetery Club, Grave Shift, Best Left Buried, and Grave Heritage. She also writes the Ned McNeil mysteries, following courageous heroine Nettie Elizabeth (Ned) McNeil through breath-taking scenes in Moonlight Can Be Murder and By the Fright of the Silvery Moon.

Blanche has been writing mysteries since she was big enough to hold a pencil. In addition to her cozy novels, she has been published in children’s magazines, educational magazines, and Christian periodicals. She welcomes visitors to her daily blog site.

Her “Mysteries with an extra shiver” are cozies, but not the kind you might want to read at night when you are alone or need a good night’s sleep. Each book actually has many shivers, cover to cover.

A native Oklahoman and retired teacher, Blanche now lives in bustling and energetic Northwest Arkansas. Her mysteries are set in the small towns she knows so well.

 

Fun Facts in No Particular Order:

* Grows herbs—the best kind of aromatherapy

* Played the piano for several different churches

* Is energized by lively daytime thunderstorms

* Is relaxed by thunderstorms that visit at night

* Has so many books, she’d be rich if each book were a dollar bill

* Forgets about time when painting or writing

* Has roots binding her to Ireland, the Cherokee people, and the Old South

* Is a pushover for kittens and puppies

* Bakes cakes from scratch just for fun

* Always begins each day with good, strong, hot coffee

* Derives a great deal of peace and strength from prayer

* Visited Ireland and fell in love with the Emerald Isle

 

Barbara Burgess is a retired trial court administrator who says she found many good story ideas in the courtroom. One of those ideas evolved into her first suspense novel, Lethal Justice, published in 2010. She also co-authored The Cemetery Club, a mystery novel based on Cherokee history. Her father was half Cherokee and she says much of her family history involves Cherokee legend and beliefs similar to those found in Grave Shift. She has also written short fiction for Woman’s World and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine and freelanced for several Arkansas newspapers.