Mary Deal's Biography

A native of Walnut Grove, in California's Sacramento River Delta, Mary Deal has lived in England, the Caribbean, and now resides in Kapaa, Kauai, Hawaii. River Bones is her first thriller, and takes place in her childhood hometown area. This book was a winner in the Eric Hoffer Book Awards. It was also a Finalist in the National Indie Excellence Book Awards. Mary's second thriller, Down to the Needle, has garnered incredible 5-Star reviews.

Mary writes in several genres. She spent four years researching 3,500 years of Egyptian dynasties to find the proper period in which to weave her threads of fantasy for a suspense novel. During the research period, she completed and published The Tropics: Child of a Storm - Caught in a Rip - Hurricane Secret. It was an adventure trilogy set in the Caribbean and Hawaiian Islands, and fictionalized from some of her near-death escapades at sea. That novel went out of print and has been republished as Legacy of the Tropics, all dramatically enhanced and expanded. Also during that four-year research period, she wrote her first mystery/thriller.

Another four years of writing, rewriting, and polishing produced The Ka, a paranormal Egyptian suspense. Then finally, giving the completed Ka manuscript a rest, she wrote a second thriller.

River Bones is set in the Sacramento River Delta.

Down to the Needle is set in a fictitious west coast locale similar to Cabot Cove in Murder She Wrote. She has published the 1st sequel to River Bones, titled The Howling Cliffs. It is set in both the Vietnam jungle and in Hawaii.

She has also published a reference book titled, Write it Right - Tips for Authors. Then, most recently she published a collection of zany short stories and flash titled, Off Center in the Attic - Over the Top Stories.

Mary is a Pushcart Prize nominee, Associate and Contributing Editor for Mississippi Crow magazine, and some-time columnist for The Garden Island newspaper.

Learn more about Mary and read short stories and novel excerpts on her Web site: writeanygenre.com.

She is also an oil painter and photographer and maintains an online gallery: marydealfineart.com.