Ault, Sandi

PERSONAL:

Married Tracy A. Kerns.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Pinewood Springs, CO; DuPont, WA. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Writer, musician, composer, journalist. University of New Mexico, Taos, creative writing instructor; fire information officer and firefighter.

WRITINGS:

Wild Indigo (novel), Berkley Prime Crime (New York, NY), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

A former journalist, musician, composer, and bandleader, Sandi Ault now writes fiction and teaches writing workshops across the country. She is also a wild land firefighter and fire information officer working in Colorado and nationally on wildfires. Her household has included two wolves: Mountain, on whom the character of the wolf in her novel is based, and Tiwa. She is a woman of the West who created a fictional woman who lives in a similar environment in her debut mystery novel Wild Indigo.

Jamaica Wild is a female agent with the Bureau of Land Management whose jurisdiction includes the Tanoah Pueblo. She lives in a remote cabin with her young wolf, Mountain. Her boyfriend is forest ranger Kerry Reed. When Jamaica witnesses the death of a man killed in a buffalo stampede, she tests her relationship with the Tanoah Tribe, suspecting that the man, Jerome Santana was drugged. Although she promises Santana's mother, her mentor, that she will discover the truth, tribal customs prevents an autopsy, and the pueblo closes in honor of a sacred holiday. When tribe accuses Jamaica of having caused the stampede, Jamaica's boss is forced to suspended by her, pending an investigation.

"Ault's portrait of Pueblo life and the conflict of cultures she dramatizes are integral to her rousing debut," wrote a Kirkus Reviews contributor. Booklist reviewer Sue O'Brien commented: "An enjoyable series debut for fans of Nevada Barr and Tony Hillerman."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, December 1, 2006, Sue O'Brien, review of Wild Indigo, p. 24.

Kirkus Reviews, October 15, 2006, review of Wild Indigo, p. 1046.

Library Journal, December 1, 2006, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Wild Indigo, p. 96.

Mystery Scene, December, 2007, Mary Elizabeth Devine, review of Wild Indigo.

New York Times Book Review, January 28, 2007, Marilyn Stasio, review of Wild Indigo, p. 23.

Publishers Weekly, November 13, 2006, review of Wild Indigo, p. 36.

ONLINE

Denver Post Online,http://www.denverpost.com/ (February 8, 2007), Sybil Downing, review of Wild Indigo.

Mystery Reader,http://www.themysteryreader.com/ (May 7, 2007), Lesley Dunlap, review of Wild Indigo.

Romantic Times,http://www.romantictimes.com/ (May 7, 2007), Sheri Melnick, review of Wild Indigo.

Sandi Ault Home Page,http://www.sandiault.com (May 7, 2007).

Wow! Women on Writing,http://wow-womenonwriting.com/ (May 6, 2007), Beryl Hall Bray, interview.