Press Kit

My Artist's Statement

Storytelling is part of who we are as humans, and history, which has always been my first love, is the story of humanity, in all its warts and glory. It’s the greatest and vilest (and everything in between) story ever told. 

Altho’ I trained as a historian, I choose to write fiction because fiction can get “up close and personal”, making it easier and more enjoyable to learn about people, places, ideas in that foreign country called the past. 

I write historical mystery because of my need for justice. I remain faithful to the historical sources, which means my stories grow organically from the primary sources. We should have an understanding of where we’ve been, so we might have an idea of where we are going. 

 In my work, I grapple with the following: 

• Crime because the causes speak to the society from which crime springs and the effects always leave scars;
• Class, gender, race, ethnicity, and creed play nuanced and intertwined roles in society; they help determine who does/does not get heard;
• Slavery and indentured servitude existed in the past, exist today, and unfortunately, shall probably exist in the future;
• The costs of empire outweigh any benefits, but empire building is a human constant;
• Technology is only as good as the people creating and using it.

 I work through the questions of What is humanity? What is civilization? Is there any such thing as civilization?