Mary’s checkered past has taken her down to the conch beds of the Virgin Islands and up to 14,000 feet in a hot air balloon. Her earthbound endeavors range from florist to shopkeeper to bookkeeper.

Born in Michigan, Mary has lived most of her adult life in Arizona with a five-year sojourn in California. Trained as a full-charge bookkeeper, she worked for a variety of companies until a friend introduced her to hot air ballooning. In 1978 she received her license as a private hot air balloon pilot and a year later her commercial certificate. She flew, trained pilots, sold balloons and operated Papillon Balloons, an FAA-certificated repair station for balloons in Phoenix, Arizona. She has flown in five countries and a dozen states. She is also a certified scuba diver.

Mary began her writing career as editor of Ballooning Journal, a national magazine published by the Balloon Federation of America. She has been a staff and freelance writer and editor for magazines and newspapers for nearly 25 years. She has written primarily on business and aviation. Desperate Measures, a novel set in Detroit from 1920 to 1945 and based on the murder of her father’s first wife, is her first novel.