Marcia Talley
Marcia Talley is the Agatha and Anthony award-winning author of eighteen Hannah Ives mysteries, including DONE GONE and TANGLED ROOTS.
She is editor/author of NAKED CAME THE PHOENIX, a star-studded, tongue-in-cheek collaborative serial novel about murder in a fashionable health spa. A second collaboration, I’D KILL FOR THAT, is set in an upscale gated community.
Her short stories appear in more than a dozen collections including "With Love, Marjorie Ann" and "Safety First," both Agatha award nominees, and the multi-award-winning “Too Many Cooks,” a humorous retelling of Shakespeare’s Macbeth from the viewpoint of the three witches, from MUCH ADO ABOUT MURDER, edited by Anne Perry. Her story “Driven to Distraction” won the Agatha Award, was nominated for an Anthony, and selected for reprint in two major collections including The Deadly Bride and 21 of the World’s Best Crime and Mystery Stories. Another story, “Can You Hear Me Now,” appeared in Two of the Deadliest: New Tales of Lust, Greed and Murder from Outstanding Women of Mystery, edited by Elizabeth George.
Marcia is a past national President of Sisters in Crime, Inc., serves on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America and is a member of the Authors’ Guild. Marcia and her husband, Barry, divide their time between Annapolis, Maryland and a quaint Loyalist cottage on Elbow Cay in the Bahamas.
Daughter of Ashes
Is a tragic discovery from the past triggering a number of shocking present-day events?
When Hannah loses out on the cottage of her dreams because of an unscrupulous real estate agent, she and her husband, Paul, buy a fixer-upper instead. But contractors restoring the chimney soon make a tragic discovery: the mummified body of an infant.
Hannah, already researching the history of her home in the county archives, is searching for clues to the dead infant’s identity when more shocking events occur. Suddenly, her access to the courthouse is denied and the records she has been examining are slated for destruction. Someone with money, influence or both is trying to make sure incriminating information stays buried. Can Hannah solve the crimes before the evidence and over one hundred years of county history go up in smoke?
Disco Dead
It may seem creepy, but Hannah Ives enjoys her expeditions to the local cemetery to help people find their deceased relatives. Usually a quiet affair, Hannah is surprised when she encounters Isabel 'Izzy' Randall laying flowers on the grave of Amy Madison, a college senior who was killed in 1978. Last seen in a popular Annapolis disco bar, Amy's murder remains unsolved.
Hannah's interest in the case leads her to join Silent Sleuths, a small, passionate group of 'citizen detectives' dedicated to trying to solve cases like Amy's, and their research soon suggests that Amy may have been the first of several victims targeted by a serial killer. As DNA from the scene of the murder throws up surprising results, their investigation takes them down unexpected avenues. Is Amy's killer still alive, or has an untimely death taken them beyond justice?