The characters I love the most are slightly off-kilter. Many have a dark side. Here are some that haunt me today: Marcel’s grandmother In...

My sweet dad, a World War II veteran, has been gone three years this month. His death was not unexpected. We’d been losing him for...

About Chicago Did you know that Western Avenue is the longest street in Chicago? In the city, it runs from Howard Street to 119th, almost...

In 1874 when Serafina was sent to Paris to investigate the death of a countess, it was a good way to get around Paris, especially during...

Rosa is a very important character in the Serafina Florio mystery series. For one thing, she’s Serafina’s best friend. They’ve known each...

Here’s an excerpt from Whiskey’s Gone. It’s the third book in the Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mystery series, and it’s about a missing...

I have so much fun being Brandy. She’s a character who first appears in Missing Brandy, the second book in the Fina Fitzgibbons series....

In Death in Bagheria, Serafina and Rosa investigate the death of a baroness, a woman who, her husband insists, died of natural causes....

Dorset in the Dark is Fina’s sixth book. It begins with a crazed woman slumped over on a park bench. Later we learn she’s been drugged....

Need to whip up a delicious dessert? Here’s a family recipe awarded the badge of culinary delight by two of my characters, Serafina and...

Here’s a look at Serafina’s family life from No More Brothers, her second book. January 1867 Serafina combed fingers through her curls....

Dorset in the Dark is Fina’s sixth book. It’s a mystery, although from the opening chapter it’s evident who two of the villains are. But...

A stoop, Merriam-Webster says, is “a porch, platform, entrance stairway, or small veranda at a house door.” The townhouse pictured below...

Serafina Fiori, midwife and sleuth, was born in 1827 to parents of the merchant class in Trano Mare, a fictional village near Palermo in...

Two of my characters, Cookie and Fina go way back. Matter of fact, Fina remembers that day long ago when she was five and the world was...

Cassandra Thatchley is a main character in Dorset in the Dark, the sixth Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mystery. Like all Fina’s books, it’s a...

Serafina and Rosa are two main characters in the Serafina Florio mystery series. Their novels take place in Sicily in the nineteenth...

Meet Arthur McGirdle. He’s a character in Whiskey’s Gone, the third book in the Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mysteries. Arthur’s got...

Meet Maddie, the little girl in Whiskey’s Gone, the third book in the Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mystery series. Maddie is missing her...

Fina Fitzgibbons is the hero of the Fina Fitzgibbons Brooklyn mystery series. When the books begin, she’s a twenty-something private...