From the Booking Desk:

I discovered Maya Corrigan and her Five Ingredient Mysteries because she is a member of my local chapter of Sister in Crime – in fact, she is currently the President of that Chesapeake Chapter of SiC. Her presentations at our chapter’s yearly round-up of newly published novels are always delightful and leave everyone in the room hungry for more.

Like so many in our community, Maya is always willing to volunteer her time in the hopes of bettering the genre we all love. I hope that you will enjoy finding out more about her here today and if you are just meeting Maya, be sure to say hello to her the next time you see her at a crime fiction convention.

Name: Mary Ann (Maya) Corrigan
Location: Reston, VA

This person from my personal life is such an inspiration:

Miss Lucas was my World History teacher in 10^th grade. My other history teachers taught dates and facts. Boring. She presented history as a series of intertwined stories and kept everyone’s attention. She taught me the value of story-telling, no matter what the subject. She recently died and, via her obit, I discovered how amazing her life had been. She attended the same high school where she taught, started teaching there immediately after graduating from college, and never left that job until she retired decades later. She didn’t become the principal or a bigwig in education. She didn’t job hop. She stuck to her mission of bringing history alive for girls (single sex school) who came from the same background she did. 

One of the people I admire most in the crime fiction community is:

The mystery community is vast and full of many people I admire. I’ll go for someone in my own backyard—Donna Andrews. We’re both longtime residents of Reston, VA. I stand in awe of Donna’s accomplishments. She writes two books a year, has two series, and two dozen books in one of those series, the bestselling and multi-award-winning Meg Langslow series. What’s more, she has volunteered her time for years to the crime fiction community, serving on the national and local boards of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime. She is also unfailingly supportive of fledging writers, offering both guidance and encouragement. Donna is a great role model.

STALKER ALERT! If this fictional character were real, they would likely need to get a restraining order against me:

Mr. Darcy from Pride and Prejudice, but only as played by Colin Firth. Other Darcys, including Lawrence Olivier, David Rintoul, and Matthew MacFadyen, are safe from me.

People are always surprised that I am a fan of this individual (singer, actor, or artist):

Elvis came into my life when I was still playing with paper dolls. My father’s business had a jukebox (a vending machine for music for those not familiar with it). You put in your money and press the number corresponding to your chosen song. I was fascinated by the robotic arm that would then fetch a 45 RPM record and deposit it on a turntable. The needle would descend on it and everyone in the place would hear the tune you picked. The jukebox man came every few weeks to substitute the latest hits for the records that had dropped out of the top forty. He left the old records with my father, who brought them home. Our house became a gathering place for my older brothers’ friends because we had the largest collection of records in the neighborhood. I got to listen to a lot of Elvis. I still enjoy hearing him sing those early hits—songs like “Love Me Tender,” “Kentucky Rain,” and “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You.”

My personal catch phrase is (or should be):

When in doubt, cook something and eat it.—Spenser, Mortal Stakes, by Robert B. Parker.

If I get stuck on a sentence or paragraph I’m writing, I head for the kitchen. I don’t always cook when I get there, but I do eat. Filling the tummy clears the head.