Evans, Mary Anna

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EVANS, Mary Anna

PERSONAL:

Female. Married; children: three. Education: Degrees in physics and chemical engineering.

ADDRESSES:

Home—8321 SW 23rd Place, Gainesville, FL 32607. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

Mystery writer. Has also worked as an environmental consultant, university administrator, community college instructor, and a roustabout on an offshore natural gas platform.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Patrick D. Smith Florida Literature Award, Florida Historical Society, 2004, and finalist for Benjamin Franklin Award for mystery and suspense, both for Artifacts. 2004

WRITINGS:

Artifacts, Poisoned Pen Press (Scottsdale, AZ), 2003.

WORK IN PROGRESS:

Relics, a sequel to Artifacts.

SIDELIGHTS:

After a number of jobs and a budding career as an environmental consultant, Mary Anna Evans decided to spend more time at home with her three children and put her talents and interests to use in writing a novel. The result was Artifacts, a mystery set around an old Floridian plantation house named Joyeuse. Once owned by a freed slave named Cally, the home is now in the possession of her great-great granddaughter Faye Longchamp, an archeology student. When Faye finds herself unable to pay the higher property taxes, she decides to dig for artifacts on the property and sell them on the black market. What she finds instead is the skull of a murdered woman, which she decides not to report for fear that this will expose her own illegal activities. Alternatively, Faye decides to investigate on her own. Faye soon finds herself on the trail of a killer who is still very much alive and determined to prevent anyone from uncovering the crime. As other bodies start turning up and several of Faye's fellow students disappear from an archeology dig, Faye realizes the past is catching up with her. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called the novel a "capably written debut with perhaps too much history and not enough mystery for its high body count." More enthusiastically, Booklist reviewer Barbara Bibel commended Evans for introducing "a strong female sleuth in this extremely promising debut … weaving past and present together in a multilayered, compelling plot."