I'm something of a slow learner. For years, I ignored my dream of writing murder mysteries. Then I found out that ignoring your dream not only gets you nowhere, it can get you into trouble with your body and with your entire being.Once I started writing, though, I started healing. The story of Biscuit McKee, middle-aged librarian, and Marmalade, the orange and white library cat, eventually became my first novel ORANGE AS MARMALADE, but my characters wouldn't let me stop. Seven books into the series (Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet, and Gray), they're still going strong. GRAY AS ASHES, released in October 2014, deals, of course, with arson.I also write the ScotShop Mysteries (Berkley Prime Crime) about a modern-day Vermont shopkeeper and her 14th-century Scottish ghost. The first book, A WEE MURDER IN MY SHOP, was released last March. The next one will be out in January 2016.My books are "traditional" mysteries, with plenty of humor, intriguing characters, and always a good puzzle.I'm a firm advocate for the understanding and gentle treatment of animals. I donate a portion of all my book sales to the Humane Society and the Gorilla Foundation. I belong to Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, the National League of American Pen Women, and the Atlanta Writers Club.I was, for a time, a beginning beekeeper, and I blogged daily (for 600 days) about what I learned from the bees. That blog is at http://www.beeskneesbeekeeping.blogspot.com