Findings by Mary Anna Evans

Findings by Mary Anna Evans

"Evans always incorporates detailed research that adds depth and authenticity to her mysteries, and she beautifully conjures up the Micco County, FL, setting. This is a series that deserves more attention than it garners." --Library Journal STARRED review

Faye Longchamp is once again at Joyeuse, the family plantation in Florida she labors so lovingly to restore. She's happily doing archaeological work on a site once owned by her family. But her joy abruptly ends when thieves break into the home of her friend and mentor Douglass Everett and kill him, inexplicably ignoring his impressive display of artifacts and valuable art work. All that's missing are Faye's field notes.

Among the items the thieves left behind is the magnificent emerald that Faye had just unearthed and brought to Douglass that fateful evening. Why? Then another murder quickly furnishes a clue that only Faye is likely to interpret. It launches her on a treasure hunt connected to Marie Antoinette and to the history of the Confederacy.

The killers have shown they will stop at nothing to get the information in Faye's notes. It's only a matter of time before they come for Faye.

Mary Anna Evans holds degrees in physics and engineering, but she is most passionate about storytelling. Faye Longchamp and Larabeth McLeod, two of Mary Anna's imaginary characters, enjoy the thrilling lives of an archaeologist and a globetrotting CEO, respectively, and Mary Anna envies them a little. The Faye Longchamp mysteries--ARTIFACTS, RELICS, EFFIGIES, FINDINGS, FLOODGATES, and STRANGERS--as well as the environmental thriller WOUNDED EARTH--are among her published works. They've won awards, including a place on the Voice of Young America's (VOYA) list of Adult Mysteries with Young Adult Appeal. They've been named Noteworthy Books by Booksense and Indiebound, and they've been on the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association's (IMBA) bestselling list.

Mary Anna has won the Patrick D. Smith Award from the Florida Historical Society. Smith received the Florida Literary Award, the Benjamin Franklin Award, and a Bronze Medal from the Florida Book Awards. Her works have been nominated for the SIBA Book Award and ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year. While Mary Anna's novels are aimed at adults, they have developed a following in schools, where they are being utilized to teach subjects like social studies, arithmetic, and science.

The book's author was not surprised by the social studies connection, given that her protagonist is an archaeologist, but she says she never put math or science in her writings on purpose. (Yet her readers have never complained that her books don't follow the laws of physics.) Discovering that she had done this unintentionally has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt the dictum that authors write about themselves. They can't help themselves.

She's putting her engineering training to good use these days. Pearson will publish her book MATHEMATICAL LITERACY IN THE MIDDLE AND SECONDARY GRADES, which she co-wrote with Dr. Faith Wallace. Because math and physics describe the world, they're essential in any fiction set in it. They're also extremely useful tools for an amateur investigator to have.

PLUNDER, the next Faye Longchamp mystery, will be released in 2012. Visit http://www.maryannaevans.com for more information on Mary Anna and her art.