August 2021 Notable Author: Marcia Talley

“When I wrote my first book, I had no idea I was writing a series.” – Marcia Talley

Marcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of eighteen Hannah Ives mysteries, including DONE GONE and TANGLED ROOTS.

She was born in Cleveland, Ohio, but, as a Marine Officer’s child, spent the first eighteen years of her life bouncing about the planet—from Ohio to California, China, New York, Virginia, Kansas and Taiwan.  She received her BA from Oberlin College where she met her future husband, Barry, in a campus dining hall. After graduation, the couple moved to Baltimore, where Marcia taught 6th grade and Barry earned his doctorate in music. In 1971, they settled in scenic, historic Annapolis when Barry was appointed Director of Musical Activities at the Naval Academy. Marcia accepted a job at St. John’s College (the famous Great Books school) and earned her M.L.S. from the University of Maryland in 1981.

Her first book, Sing It To Her Bones, introduces her sleuth, Hannah Ives.  She’s wearing a wig and her heart on her sleeve after a frightening bout with breast cancer and so vacations in a small Chesapeake Bay town.  However, instead of finding relaxation, Hannah finds the body of a long dead girl. At the end of that novel, we learn that Hannah has a grown daughter and is expecting her first grandchild. That was twenty-two years and also 18 books ago. Through the next seventeen novels, Hannah gradually ages, emerging from successful breast cancer treatment and in the true spirit of carpe diem, gets on with her life. In each novel, Hannah has a different “sidekick”: her artist sister-in-law, Connie; Nadine Gray, a retired best-selling mystery writer; her neighbor on pristine Hawksbill Cay, septuagenarian Molly Weston. Talley says, “If I knew all those years ago that I was writing a series, I would have made Hannah much younger!”

She is editor/author of NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX, a star-studded, tongue-in-cheek collaborative serial novel about murder in a fashionable health spa.

Her story “Driven to Distraction” won the Agatha Award for Best Short Story was nominated for an Anthony. She received the Agatha Award two more times. Marcia is a past national President of Sisters in Crime, Inc., serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and is a member of the Authors’ Guild. She has two grown daughters and six grandchildren.

Genre: Mystery

Focuses on the efforts of a detective, private investigator, or amateur sleuth to solve the mysterious circumstances of a problem or crime, usually a mysterious death.  The plot often centers on the deductive ability, prowess, confidence, or diligence of the detective as they attempt to unravel the crime or situation.

Sample Reading List: The Hannah Ives mystery series - Sing It To Her Bones, Unbreathed Memories, Occasion of Revenge; Too Many Cooks, Much Ado About Murder; “Safety First,” Blood on Their Hands 

Writer's Prompt - Fun With Words

Maryland Writers’ Association (MWA) invites you to have fun writing mystery like Marcia. With just 100 words, pick a mystery and put a sleuth to work solving it.

Submit your Fun With Words response to: https://marylandwriters.org/Notable_Maryland_Authors  by the 22nd of the month and receive an MWA Fun With Words submission certificate. Selected responses will be published with next month’s article as well as posted on the MWA website.

Submit Your FUN WITH WORDS Prompt

The MWA is a 33-year-old state-wide association (501c3) dedicated to encouraging and mentoring Maryland writers, poets, playwrights, and authors.  Go to:  www.MarylandWriters.org for more info.