I was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, and moved to Raleigh when I was 18 months, but I grew up in Danville, Virginia, just over the North Carolina state line. I’ve mostly lived in both states and I call them both home.
After college (Mary Washington) and graduate school (U.Va.), I taught at St. Anne’s School in Charlottesville, Virginia, where one of my students was Diane Mott Davidson. (As Diane’s English teacher in the 10th, 11th, and 12th grades, I take full credit for all of her success!)
Thanks to life’s twists and turns, I ended up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where I worked part time in Whitehall Antiques. It was the mid-1970s, silver theft was rampant, and appraisers were badly needed by the victims of the crimes and the insurance companies alike. I combined my love for antiques and writing, and before I knew it, I had a career as an appraiser and columnist.
Amazingly, my first antiques book, Why You’re Richer Than You Think, (later reissued as Emyl Jenkins’ Appraisal Book) landed me a 3-day stint on Good Morning, America. Though I loved the challenges of appraising, I was also fascinated by the stories I was told by my clients about their treasures and their histories. Ironically, those stories led to two other books, Southern Christmas and Southern Hospitality. But all the while long the way, I kept thinking how much fun it would be to create an antiques “sleuth,” and thus Sterling Glass was born in my head. It only took another 20 years for me to finally get up enough nerve to really begin writing Stealing with Style.
To my absolute delight, Algonquin Books liked my story, and thus began the Sterling Glass mysteries. Could I have done it earlier? Who knows? What I do know is that I’ve never had so much fun. Sterling Glass’s capers and adventures are wild flights of my imagination spurred on by my love for antiques, places I’ve gone, and fond memories of the people I’ve met and the stories they’ve told me through the years.
These days my husband Bob Sexton, and our huge Maine Coon cat Priscilla, live in Richmond, Virginia, where, when I’m not writing or giving talks, or checking in with the grandboys…Ben, Matt, and Levi, you’ll find me either in an antiques shop or my garden.
