About
Nancy A. Hughes, a Penn State communications graduate, followed her dream from business writing to a life of crime fiction. An award-winning author, she has published seven suspense novels since 2016—The Dying Hour and its sequel, The Innocent Hour; and her Trust Series: A Matter of Trust, Redeeming Trust, Vanished, and Buried Trust. Headline Books, which published By Rook or By Crook in 2024, is a finalist in the London and LA Book Festivals.
Nancy is a long-time volunteer at the Lebanon VA Hospital. A devoted shade gardener, she shares her “big green cathedral” with her husband in south central PA. She is a member of the MWA, ITW, SinC, and Pennwriters.
Featured Work
By Rook or By Crook
The future is limitless for advertising professional, January Lamont, 26, and her CPA husband, Barrett 27, until they’re unknowingly sucked into two different crimes—an accounting scam at his firm and black-market international thieves who traffic in stolen antiquities. Fleeing Manhattan with meager possessions, they hide and re-event themselves in rural Pennsylvania.
The thieves, who believe the Lamonts have absconded with their priceless stolen treasure, track them relentlessly as collateral damage. The Lamonts narrowly escape several attempts as they rebuild their lives, investing their time and talent in good work and better causes than their former materialistic existence.
Putting her own problems aside, January helps a brave twelve-year-old, determined to outlive a deadly genetic disease and launch her own knit-ware company. All the child needs is an alpaca, a host barn and looms. And January’s on it! Until her old and her new life collide and her marriage nearly implodes.
Other Works
Awards and Recognition
- Mystery novel "By Rook or By Crook" was a finalist in: The Next Generation Indi Book Awards, Killer Nashville Claymore Award, and the London and LA Book Festivals. "The Innocent Hour" was a 5-star Readers Favorite.
