I’m a product of great people from the northeastern coal region of Pennsylvania. And I lived in lots of places while growing up in a U.S. Army family. I come from mostly blue-collar people and am proud of it. But after a B.A. from the University of Maryland, I landed a job as a civil rights investigator of race and gender discrimination. That work in the legal field led me to the University of Detroit Law School and then private law practice for thirty years. During my work as a lawyer, I got to help clients from all walks of life and I learned a lot about human strength, frailty… and hypocrisy.

Our ways of coping with social diversity have always fascinated me. Two of the most interesting areas involve race relations and religion. In my debut novel I drew on my interest and life experiences to weave a historical novel set in Salem during the witch hunts of 1692. Tituba, the tragic and nearly forgotten enslaved African woman, and Rev. Samuel Parris her Puritan owner are surrounded by other people, high and low affected by the witch hunting craziness. With the device of magical powers, I reshaped the well-known story in a new, provocative and I hope entertaining way.