ABOUT THE AUTHOR

 

Jan M. Martin gained notoriety when she was featured on the front page of the NOGALES INTERNATIONAL newspaper for winning a national contest {and $1600.00} with her comedic poem about her messy kitchen. She still is fond of writing slapstick poetry on diverse topics such as Black Friday, Mother's Day, and her kitchen timer, some of which can be seen by clicking on "Writings" in the menu above.

 

She was employed at Mariposa Community Health Center as a Nutrition Educator and Tobacco Prevention Coordinator until her retirement. She also has been teaching religious education to high school students for the past 30 years. Her extensive nutrition research led to her devising a . . . um . . . highly unusual murder weapon for HEIR OF DECEIT.

 

Jan and her husband researched in North Carolina for HEIR OF DECEIT, where they met with local people, including famous moonshiner, the late Popcorn Sutton, whom she features briefly in her book. They visited the ancient Cherokee homeland, where they learned of the Cherokee culture, and a wealth of local traditions, folklore and ghost stories. Each place and tradition—even the ghosts--used in HEIR OF DECEIT are as genuine as she could craft them. 

 

Every experience in North Carolina enriched HEIR OF DECEIT, and especially affected a major character, Tsali, the Cherokee firefighter, and his legendary ancestor by the same name.

 

Jan lives in southern Arizona with her husband, Brent. They are the parents of six children. She loves cactus flowers, saguaros, road runners and horned toads—oh, yes, and people. She enjoys cooking, teaching, and learning. She describes writing HEIR OF DECEIT as the most fun she’s ever had. Although it is (mostly) not a comedy, she hopes readers can detect its tongue-in-cheek nature.

 

Jan M. Martin has been writing since age 11 when she wrote 4-H reports for her local newspaper. She has won several national contests with her comedic poems about Eskimo Pies, fishing, weight loss, and other comedy. Some of these now appear in her short, 100-page humor book, MY WORD, THAT'S ABSURD.

 

HEIR OF DECEIT is available in print and digital on Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble.com. IMPRESSIONS OF INNOCENCE is available at both sites also, but only in print. Or you can click the "buy" buttons on this web site, which will direct you Amazon.com. MISS MOUSIE AND MRS. McGREGGOR'S CLOSET is now included inside MY WORD, THAT'S ABSURD, and is illustrated by Cristina Molina. Learn more about Miss Mousie by clicking on "Miss Mousie's Page" in the menu above.

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Jan is a member and former chapter officer of the American Night Writers Association.