Spring in the Cotswolds and Thief’s Mark

With spring here (finally!), I find myself remembering April visits to the English Cotswolds. I couldn’t help but be inspired to write what became Thief’s Mark. It’s an incredibly part of the world, the perfect place for us to find mysterious, enigmatic Oliver York and his farm.

“A crime thriller of rare depth and complexity.” Providence Journal

A murder in a quiet English village, long-buried secrets and a man’s search for answers about his traumatic past entangle FBI agents Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan in the latest edge-of-your-seat Sharpe & Donovan nov

Early signs of spring in Vermont and Ireland

Hi everyone!

Early spring here in Vermont means maple sugaring. I love seeing the traditional buckets to collect sap but tubing is more prevalent. Sugarhouse visits are a favorite activity this time of year, including in my hometown in western Massachusetts.

And I love, love visiting Ireland in spring. Bluebells! Lambs!

A number of my books are set this time of year. My work-in-progress Sharpe and Donovan novella is set in April. I can’t wait to get it into readers’ hands!

A memorable scene for me is when Olivia Frost and Dylan McCaffrey meet in Secrets of the Lost Summer on a not-gr… Read More

Irish Roses for Valentine’s Day :-)

Hello from cold, snowy Vermont. We won’t see roses in our garden for quite a while, but I love looking at photos of roses. These are a few of mine, taken casually in Ireland. Southwest Ireland in particular is a prominent setting in a number of my books from The Angel to the Sharpe and Donovan series, starting with Saint’s Gate. 

Enjoy, and I hope your 2026 is off to a great start wherever you are.

Red roses on a wall in Killarney National Park:

Red and yellow roses in beautiful Kenmare on the southwest Irish coast: 

… Read More

Light, fluffy scones (a recipe) for Christmas

Wild Maine blueberries (recipe included!)

I just put a quart of wild Maine blueberries in the freezer. I know I’ll love having them when it’s frosty outside! They’re a family favorite, whether for pies, muffins, cobbler, pancakes or sprinkled fresh on yogurt or cereal. We love cultivated blueberries, too, but wild berries bring back many special memories. The photo below is of my granddaughter a few years ago in a coastal Maine wild blueberry patch.

My first memory of picking wild blueberries for the first time was a child, too, on a family picnic at Quabbin Reservoir with my parents and six brothers and sisters. Quabbin an… Read More

The Elusive Finian Bracken

Irish priest and whiskey man Finian Bracken has become a reader favorite. A man with a tragic past, serving a parish in a struggling Maine fishing village, he appears as a key secondary character in every Sharpe & Donovan tale.

And he started and has remained one of my most elusive characters.

The clock was ticking on my deadline for Saint’s Gate, the first book in the series and I took a three-week writing retreat in a little hideaway cottage on the southwest Irish coast, an experience it itself. I didn’t know at the time if Saint’s Gate would be a standalone novel or the fir… Read More

SAINT’S GATE on sale in August

Saint’s Gate is on sale in eBook through August for just $1.99. It’s the first book in my Sharpe and Donovan series. Set on the southern Maine coast with a touch of Boston and Ireland, it was a fun, challenging book to write.

I wrote a chunk of Saint’s Gate in a hideaway cottage on the southwest Irish coast. Finian Bracken, a recurring character in the series, came to life on one of my long walks during that memorable three-week writing retreat.

You can read about creating the elusive Father Bracken here.

Saint’s Gate centers on Emma Sharpe and Colin Donovan, two people is… Read More

Ireland’s Black Valley

Ireland’s Black Valley is one of our favorite spots to hike on our many visits to this beautiful part of the world. When I came up with the idea for my next Sharpe and Donovan installment, I knew part of it would be set in the Black Valley. Tentatively titled Return to Declan’s Cross, it doesn’t have a pub date yet but I’m working on it. I’ll be offering a “sneak peek” in the coming weeks.

Here’s a photo I took on our first hike in the Black Valley. The cottage ruin is a well-known site on the Kerry Way, a marked hiking trail we crossed on our own route. … Read More

The Elusive Finian Bracken

Creating and now working with the characters in my Sharpe & Donovan suspense series has been fun, difficult, exciting, exasperating, creatively fulfilling and…interesting.

Yes, interesting!

Take Finian Bracken, an Irish priest and whiskey man who appears in every Sharpe & Donovan tale. Writing about him has meant I’ve learned more about whiskey, sheep in Ireland, Maine bean-hole suppers, early Irish saints and so much more.

Finian came together and started to feel real for me during a writing getaway to Ireland. One afternoon, I took long walk to a historic cemetery on the sout… Read More

Recipe: Strawberry/Berry Meringue Roulade!

It’s not yet our local strawberry season but good strawberries are available in the grocery store, and I’ve decided to prepare strawberry meringue roulade for Easter. With two young grandchildren with celiac, I’m always on the lookout for naturally gluten-free recipes. This is a favorite. See below and print out the recipe here.

We first had meringue roulade in Ardmore on the south Irish coast, a key setting for my Sharpe and Donovan series. Here I am in my orange Irish raincoat a few years ago on Ardmore’s famous, and beautiful, cliff walk.

Strawberry Mer… Read More