Joy Ribar in the Spotlight

I love writing mysteries set in contemporary times, but I also love historical research. When I’m not preoccupied with a work in progress, I dig into archives to find my ancestors.

The best part of being a Florida snowbird is being a frequent flyer at Disney World. The Flower and Garden Festival is my favorite and helps ease the absence of gardening, a hobby I traded for life on the road.

I have itchy feet. My mother claims it’s a genetic defect from the Wheaton side of the family. Although she considers it a defect, I have to add that she’s talking about her people.

Pardon me while I sidetrack a minute. I love writing mysteries set in contemporary times, but I also love historical research. When I’m not preoccupied with a work in progress, I dig into archives to find my ancestors.

I am a textbook example of melting-pot America with heritage from Scandinavia, the UK, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and even Africa. I have assembled many-branched trees of documented names, dates, locations, and sometimes gravestones. That genealogy comprises the delicate shell of my ancestors. It’s like a pie crust without filling. (I’m wild about baking.) What I’m after are family stories - the pieces that bring my ancestors to life.

A Shakespeare-themed costume party features in the climax of Shake-speared in the Park. Posey, a prominent character in the mystery, is passionate about her gardens, greenhouses, teas, and tinctures. Posey is modeled after several of Shakespeare’s heroines.

Enter my itchy feet. The earliest Wheatons lived in Westchester, New York, in the 1700s. They were loyalists during the American Revolution, awarded a land grant in Nova Scotia in 1783, and eventually, relocated to New Brunswick, Canada (with about 15,000 other loyalists). They formed a farming settlement in 1802 with a peak population of about 200 in 1898. My direct ancestor, Thomas, fathered nine children. Charles left Canada to resettle in the United States. But for my great-great-grandfather Charles, I would be Canadian instead of American. I ponder the individual decision that changed a family’s future course forever.

The Wheaton Settlement is still on the map, and my itchy feet and our Winnebago View will venture to New Brunswick, where I hope to discover more than gravestones. Our summer is packed with historical adventures: my husband and I will seek out ancestors in Maine and Massachusetts, and I will romp on a literary lark to explore Anne of Green Gables, the Belle of Amherst, and Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.

Photo of Wheaton Settlement in New Brunswick, Canada. My itchy feet will explore here in July.

Emily Dickinson, the Belle, holds sacred space in my upcoming third Bay Browning mystery, Poetry Slammed. A newly discovered Dickinson poem is at the heart of a kidnapping that drives the mystery. Professor Bay Browning and her detective beau witness the taking of Bay’s colleague, Vivian Rossi, the keeper of the poem. Like the other two series mysteries, literary themes take the stage as the plot unravels.

Hello readers. Do you like adventure and discovery? I do, too. My lengthy resume testifies to it, and knowing all those jobs and careers led me here, writing the Deep Lakes cozies and Bay Browning mysteries, the journey is a worthwhile one. I’ve worked in law, journalism, education, greenhouse technology, and church administration. Besides those fields, I baked and decorated cakes as a home side hustle. Readers will see pieces of me scattered, whipped, and served on a platter in all my books. My current work in progress, Poetry Slammed, is book three in the Bay Browning literary-themed mysteries. I’m proud to say the first in the series, The Medusa Murders, is a multi-award winner recognized by Chanticleer, Book Fest, Readers’ Favorite, and PenCraft.

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