When people ask what first drew me to writing, I usually say, “It’s always been there.” As a child, I filled notebooks with stories, poems, and dreams—writing was how I made sense of the world. But when did it become more than a habit? That shift happened when I realized I wasn’t just drawn to storytelling—I was captivated by the lives and places of the past.
My love of history has always centered on people—especially women. I’ve spent countless hours reading biographies of real women who made their mark on the world: actresses, performers, and trailblazers whose motivations ran deeper than their reputations. I wanted to know their truths—their ambitions, contradictions, sacrifices, and secrets.
That same curiosity was fed by literature. Fictional heroines like Scarlett O’Hara and Scout Finch may have lived only on the page, but they left lasting impressions. In Gone with the Wind, Scarlett O’Hara taught me that ambition and survival could coexist inside one unforgettable character. Scout Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird showed me that courage and moral clarity often come from those society underestimates. And later, I was drawn to the heroines of Gothic and Romantic fiction—women who didn’t fit the mold, who questioned their world, and who used wit, empathy, and quiet rebellion to endure.
At the same time, I was falling in love with the theater. As a teen, I volunteered backstage at a local community playhouse. In college, I directed and produced a one-act play. After graduation, I returned to community theater as a stage director. I loved the transformation—how story, setting, and character merged into something magical. That passion followed me into fiction.
I’ve also always been fascinated by historic buildings—majestic theaters, grand old hotels, and even the odd abandoned shack along the roadside. I often set my mysteries in these places because they hold secrets of the past. Annie Oakley’s theater was the open-air stage of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but even there, in massive outdoor stadiums, the tales and legends followed—from town to town, country to country.
When Fact Becomes Fiction
Each of my series begins with curiosity inspired by history—sometimes it’s a person, sometimes a place, sometimes speculation about the truth of an event. From there, fact and imagination blend.
Most know Annie Oakley as the bubbly, sharpshooting marvel of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show, but she was so much more. She was intensely private, devoutly principled, and deeply intelligent. She carved out a powerful presence in a world that rarely welcomed strong, reserved women. And the Wild West Show itself? It was performance and propaganda—equal parts truth and theater. What better place to hide a crime?
In my Annie Oakley Mystery series, I imagined Annie not just as a performer, but as an amateur sleuth—quietly uncovering truths as she toured the world.
The Strater Hotel & The Ghosts of the Past
For the Pryce of Murder series, inspiration came not from a person, but a town.
