Monica Ferris

Author profile

born

Marshall, Illinois, The United States

gender

female

website

http://monica-ferris.com/

genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Historical Fiction

About this author

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Has published as
Mary Monica Pulver (real name)
Mary Kuhfeld
Margaret Frazer (with Gail Frazer)

[from the author's own website)

Mary Monica Pulver (her maiden name) is an incidental Hoosier — Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents’ home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee.

She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is married to a museum curator.

Mary Monica sold her first short story, “Pass the Word,” to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, in 1983, and has since sold more than two dozen short stories to anthologies and...more Has published as
Mary Monica Pulver (real name)
Mary Kuhfeld
Margaret Frazer (with Gail Frazer)

[from the author's own website)

Mary Monica Pulver (her maiden name) is an incidental Hoosier — Terre Haute, Indiana, had the hospital closest to her parents’ home in Marshall, Illinois. She spent the later part of her childhood and early adult life in Wisconsin, graduating from high school in Milwaukee.

She was a journalist in the U.S. Navy for six and a half years (two in London), and later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She is married to a museum curator.

Mary Monica sold her first short story, “Pass the Word,” to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine, in 1983, and has since sold more than two dozen short stories to anthologies and magazines, including some in Germany, England, Italy and France.

She has appeared in such anthologies as The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives, The Mammoth Book of Historical Whodunnits, Shakespearean Mysteries, Royal Whodunnits, Unholy Orders, Murder Most Crafty, and Silence of the Loons. Her first mystery novel, Murder at the War, appeared from St. Martin’s Press in 1987 and was nominated for an Anthony as Best First Novel. The Unforgiving Minutes and Ashes to Ashes followed in 1988; but Original Sin was sold to Walker, who also presented the fifth book, Show Stopper, in May of 1992. Berkley Diamond brought these mysteries out in paperback. They feature detective Peter Brichter – a cop one reviewer said was “a hardboiled sleuth who’s somehow landed in a cozy mystery”.

Berkley published six medieval mysteries Mary Monica wrote in collaboration with Gail Frazer under the pseudonym Margaret Frazer: The Novice’s Tale, The Servant’s Tale (nominated for an Edgar as Best Original Paperback of 1993), The Outlaw’s Tale, The Bishop’s Tale, The Boy’s Tale, and The Murderer’s Tale. The detective in the mysteries is a nun, Dame Frevisse, a niece by marriage of Thomas Chaucer, the legendary Geoffrey’s son. The stories take place in England in the 1430s. Gail presently continues the series alone.

In 1998 Mary Monica began writing a new series for Berkley featuring amateur needleworking sleuth Betsy Devonshire. Set in Excelsior, Minnesota, Crewel World came out in March and was followed by Framed in Lace, A Stitch in Time, Unraveled Sleeve, A Murderous Yarn, Hanging by A Thread, Cutwork, Crewel Yule, Embroidered Truths, Sins and Needles, Knitting Bones, Thai Die, Blackwork, and Buttons and Bones. Threadbare will appear in December of 2011, and she is at work on And Then You Dye. The first six were paperback originals. Subsequent books were hardcovers followed by paperback editions. These light and traditional novels are written under the pseudonym Monica Ferris, and all have gone to multiple printings – the first one is in its eighteenth printing!

Mary Monica has taught courses on mystery writing to children at North Hennepin Community College, gifted children in District #287, and adults at one-evening seminars at Hennepin and Ramsey County libraries. She does lectures and signings, and has appeared on panels at mystery and science fiction conventions, including Bouchercon, Minicon, Diversicon, Magna Cum Murder, and Malice Domestic.

She has spoken to stitchery guilds on local, state, and national levels. She has won a place on national and local best-seller lists, including USA Today and the independent mystery bookstore compilation. She is a member of Sisters in Crime (a national organization that promotes women who write mystery fiction), remains a paid speaker on the life of a mystery author, and is a volunteer for Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation, and in(less)

combine editions
Books by Monica Ferris

Average rating: 3.67 · 6,793 ratings · 726 reviews · 22 distinct works

	Crewel World (A Needlecraft Mystery, #1) by Monica Ferris, Terry Bookman 3.68 avg rating — 873 ratings — published 1999 — 4 editions	My rating:
	A Stitch in Time (A Needlecraft Mystery, #3) 3.73 avg rating — 593 ratings — published 2000 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Framed in Lace (A Needlecraft Mystery, #2) 3.72 avg rating — 583 ratings — published 1999 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Unraveled Sleeve (A Needlecraft Mystery, #4) 3.72 avg rating — 490 ratings — published 2001 — 5 editions	My rating:
	A Murderous Yarn (A Needlecraft Mystery, #5) 3.68 avg rating — 455 ratings — published 2002 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Crewel Yule (A Needlecraft Mystery, #8) 3.66 avg rating — 449 ratings — published 2004 — 10 editions	My rating:
	Knitting Bones (A Needlecraft Mystery, #11) 3.67 avg rating — 443 ratings — published 2007 — 8 editions	My rating:
	Sins and Needles (A Needlecraft Mystery, #10) 3.69 avg rating — 443 ratings — published 2006 — 9 editions	My rating:
	Hanging by a Thread (A Needlecraft Mystery, #6) 3.74 avg rating — 409 ratings — published 2003 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Cutwork (A Needlecraft Mystery, #7) 3.71 avg rating — 403 ratings — published 2003 — 5 editions	My rating:

More books by Monica Ferris…

Series by Monica Ferris

A Needlecraft Mystery (15 books)
by Monica Ferris

3.67 avg rating — 6,649 ratings

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