Ellen Edwards Kennedy (www.missprenticecozymystery.com) grew up in Miss Prentice’s region of far northern New York State and lived with her husband and children across the South and West. This has given her a deep love for these areas and a sharp ear for regional accents.

Through high school and college, she performed in summer stock, briefly nursing the vain dream of becoming a Broadway musical star, but eventually made a career as an award-winning TV/radio advertising copywriter. Her experiences as a high school substitute teacher make her uniquely qualified to translate obscure adolescent dialects into understandable English.

Along with the Miss Prentice Mysteries, she is the author of a Christian romance novella, "The Applesauce War," in the anthology, HARVEST HOME, from Barbour Books; ANOTHER THINK COMING, a mystery set in Texas and RED FLAG WARNING, a romantic suspense novel that is serialized on her website.

Book Two in the Miss Prentice series, DEATH DANGLES A PARTICIPLE, follows the further adventures of Amelia, Gil, Vern and Lily in the wintry North Country and is scheduled to be published in the spring of 2013. Book three, MURDER IN THE PAST TENSE introduces us to Amelia and friends as teenagers, and is currently in production.

Ellen writes weekly articles at The WordsmithJournalMagazine.com under the column title "Behind the Mystery." Articles on writing and the Christian life alternate, week to week.

She is a member of SinC and MurderMustAdvertise. She and her husband live in North Carolina, are born-again Christians, and the happy, blessed grandparents of five little answers to prayer.