About Suzanne
I grew up in Greensburg, Indiana, where my interests generally revolved around the outdoors or animals. I attended Purdue University, worked part time at the local zoo, then became a laboratory technician at the University after graduation. Since that latter job did not involve either the outdoors or animals, I migrated to Kansas and received a masters degree in wildlife ecology. From there I worked for Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks in their Pratt museum, then as a research assistant on the Konza Prairie at Kansas State University. I also taught as a Biology instructor at Kansas State University.
Later, after my husband and I moved, I earned a Master’s in Education in order to pursue a teaching career and taught middle and high school science. When I began writing, I targeted the children's magazine market and then branched into the adult market. I have also been a part-time temporary instructor of biology at Pittsburg State, teaching a non-major biology class.
I am a member of the Mystery Writer's of America, Sisters in Crime (SInC), the "Border Crimes" Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and the Missouri Writer’s Guild. I am a charter member of the southeast Kansas Chapter of Women in the Outdoors.
The Jade del Cameron Mystery Series: Why Africa?
I have been an armchair explorer ever since I first picked up a book of missionary tales. I grew up with Elsa the lioness in "Born Free" and read the semi-autobiographical stories of African bush pilot Beryl Markham and explorers and cinematographers Osa and Martin Johnson. I graduated into museum collector Roy Chapman Andrews whose exploits became the basis for Indiana Jones, Amazon explorer Col. Fawcett, African coffee farmer Isak Dinesen, and finally Peter Capstick, a modern big game hunter.
Unfortunately, like Jimmy Stewart in "It's A Wonderful Life", an actual explorer's life eluded me, so I studied wildlife biology in college and took part time jobs as a zookeeper. It was the closest to getting into the wild that I could get in the mid-west. Most people read fiction to live vicariously in another world. I'm creating that world for myself and for all those other armchair detectives, explorers, and adventurers.
Finding Me
I run a blog called "In Jade's Eyes" where I place a lot of the interesting information I find as I research Jades' time period. I also use Twitter to share more of the day-to-day writing-related journey I am on.
Here are some interviews:
- with Baron Ron Herron (9/17/2009, KZSB, AM 1290, Santa Barbara (CA) News-Press Radio). You can listen here.
- with Barbara Peters (The Poisoned Pen). Read here.
- with Spooky Siren of the Sirens of Suspense (February 25, 2010). Read here.
Links
Some Writing Links (links open in a new window)
- Missouri Writers Guild [http://www.missouriwritersguild.org/]
- Mystery Writers of America [http://www.mysterywriters.org]
- Ozark Creative Writer's League [http://www.ozarkcreativewriters.org/]
- Sisters in Crime [http://www.sistersincrime.org/]
- The Pulpwood Queens [http://www.pulpwoodqueen.com/]
Outdoor Links (links open in a new window)
- Women in the Outdoors [http://www.womenintheoutdoors.org/wito/]
- Safari Club International [http://www.safariclub.org/]
- Elefence [http://www.elefence.com/]
Innocent Diversions During Writer's Block (links open in a new window)
- All Star Puzzles [http://www.allstarpuzzles.com/]
- The Jig Zone [http://www.jigzone.com/]
