For years, I let my dream of writing gather dust on the shelf. I convinced myself that I wasn’t smart enough, not talented enough—that writing was for someone braver, someone better. I worked as a news director, a piano teacher, and even in accounts receivable. (Quite a stretch for someone who struggles with math!) But deep down, the stories kept whispering. After decades spent on the open plains of Nebraska, my family took a wild leap and moved to the lush, rain-kissed Pacific Northwest. The dramatic shift in scenery—and life—unleashed a creative wave I couldn’t hold back. Some days it’s a roaring river, other days a meandering stream, but it flows all the same.
Eventually, I gave in and wrote my first book, fully convinced it would also be my last.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
What did I learn? Apart from the realization that someone who read Stephen King books in math class is not a good fit for accounts receivable? I learned that you don’t need to be confident in order to do what you love. You just need to take the first step. Love yourself enough to give your dream the spotlight it deserves.
Today, I’m a full-time author, devoted nature lover, chocolate enthusiast, and ever-curious student of life. Here are the series I’ve created:
✨ Pepperville Stories spans four decades in the wonderfully oddball town of Pepperville, Iowa. It’s a series full of heart, quirks, and small-town charm!
🔍 Piney Falls Mysteries drops you into the deceptively quaint town of Piney Falls, Oregon—where secrets run deep, and danger often wears a friendly smile. Lanie Anders never planned to stay, but when mystery calls, she and her ragtag chosen family rise to the occasion. Together, they peel back the layers of small-town charm to expose long-buried truths. And yes—Cosmo’s scones are worth the trip… but the real treat is the twist you didn’t see coming.
📜 The Emory Bing Mysteries are quick, cozy reads with a fun twist: Emory and her cousin must chase down a secret family recipe from a slew of eccentric relatives to unlock their inheritance. Each tale ends with a reader-submitted recipe you’ll want to try!
🪄 Charming Mysteries follows Gemini Reed, a newly retired legal secretary who’s traded legal briefs for gardening gloves. Until her husband, Leo, becomes ill, and his only option for treatment is in Charming, Oregon. Gemini is thrust into the center of a major scandal. Beneath its postcard-perfect surface lies a tangle of secrets, scandals, and unsolved crimes just waiting to be discovered.
Gemini never set out to be a sleuth, but when mysteries practically land on her front porch (sometimes literally), she can’t help but dive in. Armed with insatiable curiosity, a sharp mind, and a refusal to be underestimated, she teams up with her best friend, Feather Jones—a paranormal expert and hairdresser with a deep-seated resentment of anything “perky.”
Together, this unlikely duo unravels the truth behind the most baffling cases in Charming, while dodging danger, local gossip, and the occasional ghost. With each mystery, Gemini discovers that her retirement might just be the beginning of her most thrilling chapter yet.
🍯 Honeypie Mysteries The Honeypie Mysteries unfold in the sugar-dusted coastal town of Misty Cove, Washington—a place where the fog is thick, the ghosts are talkative, and the mysteries never take a day off. When Honeypie Sweetwater inherits her family’s beloved diner, she thinks she’s getting a fresh start. What she gets instead is a haunted walk-in cooler, a sassy spirit with unfinished business, and a front-row seat to the town’s darkest secrets. With her whip-smart best friend, Gwen, by her side and a pie recipe that could bring the dead back to life (literally), Honeypie dishes out justice one mystery—and one slice of honey pie—at a time.
Wherever you begin, there’s a cozy mystery waiting to sweep you away. Come for the crime, stay for the characters.
They are all available here:
Thank you for joining me on this journey!
Joann
“The reason that fiction is more interesting than any other form of literature, to those who really like to study people, is that in fiction the author can really tell the truth without humiliating himself.”
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