About

Janis Thornton is an Indiana author of history, mystery, and true crime. Her latest book is the "The 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes in Indiana," which covers all three lines of storms that tore through Indiana on the night of April 11, 1965, complete with 120 first-hand, personal stories told by the people who experienced them. She has also written two true-crime books — “No Place Like Murder,” released in the fall of 2020, is a collection of 20 true crime stories that rocked Indiana between 1869 and 1950; and the 2018 release, “Too Good a Girl,” which documents the unsolved 1965 murder of her high school classmate.

Thornton’s latest novel, released in 2020, is “Love, Lies, and Azure Eyes,” a suspenseful, paranormal romantic mystery about possibilities for second chances, righting old wrongs, and finding love that lasts forever. Her other works include two cozy mysteries in the “Elmwood Confidential” series — “Dead Air and Double Dare,” released in June 2017, and “Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies,” published in 2014. Thornton also is the author of three Central Indiana history books — “Images of America: Tipton County,” “Images of America: Frankfort,” and “Images of America: Elwood.” And, she is a contributor to “Undeniably Indiana,” a bicentennial project from Indiana University Press.

She is a member of The Author’s Guild, Women Fiction Writers Association, the national mystery writer’s organization, Sisters in Crime, and its Indianapolis chapter, Speed City Sisters in Crime, the Indiana Writers Center, and the Tipton County Historical Society. She can be reached through her website: www.janis-thornton.com.

Featured Work

The 1965 Palm Sunday Tornadoes in Indiana

2022
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Palm Sunday 1965 started as the nicest day of the year, the kind of weather that encouraged Hoosiers to get out in the sun, fire up the grill, hit the golf course, or roll down their car windows and take a leisurely drive. That evening, however, throughout northern and central Indiana, the sky turned an ominous black, and storms moved in, quickly manifesting as Indiana's worst tornado outbreak. Within three hours, twisters, some a half-mile wide, ripped through seventeen counties, devastating communities and leaving death and destruction in their wake. When the tornadoes were finished with Indiana, 137 people were dead, hundreds were injured, and thousands more were forever changed.

Other Works

  • No Place Like Murder

    2020