Mary Jane Maffini Books

Description /Buy link takes you to Amazon. As an Amazon Associate I earn money from qualifying purchases.

Mary Jane Maffini is a Canadian author that writes mystery and suspense novels. She also writes short stories. Born in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Maffini attended Dalhousie University. She acquired a BA in Library Sciences. She eventually added a Masters in the same field to her resume.

Maffini used her qualifications to secure positions with organizations such as ‘The Brewers Association of Canada’ and ‘Statistics Canada’. She went on to explore her love for books by investing in Prime Crime Mystery Bookstore.

Previously the President of the Crime Writers of Canada, Maffini spends a lot of time talking about the art of writing mysteries. She believes that crime fiction is an important component of Canada’s publishing arena.

She admits that Canada was once quite hostile towards crime fiction. Succeeding as a crime writer was no easy task. Publishing houses had no interest in the genre and they would only tolerate a small number of established mystery authors.

Canada was more interested in literary fiction and nonfiction. Many publishing circles did not hesitate to express their disdain for commercial fiction. It took the industry a while to realize that the country was filled with intelligent readers that enjoyed crime fiction.

By the time Maffini joined forces with her daughter to write novels under the ‘Victoria Abbott’ pen name, publishers were more welcoming of mystery writers.

The author was a child when she took up the writing habit. Maffini was already experimenting with cozy mysteries in grade school, though she had to wait until 1999 to publish her first novel. She first experimented with romance.

Maffini wrote 50 pages before she realized that she wasn’t cut out for the genre. So she changed tracks and turned her attention to crime fiction, a genre she loved and understood.

The author would like to write every day but her schedule doesn’t always permit her to do so. Her career requires her to attend business meetings and to participate in the marketing and promotional aspects of publishing.

Whenever she collaborates with her daughter to write fiction, Maffini relegates her personal projects to the end of the day, specifically between the hours of 7 and 9 PM. Writer’s block is rarely an issue for the author because she has so many strict deadlines that must be met.

For that reason, she is disciplined enough to sit in her chair and write regardless of whether or not she feels inspired to do so. Maffini does most of her writing from her office. She requires silence. Though, she is willing to tolerate interruptions from her dogs.

The author doesn’t outline, not when she is writing her own novels. But she cannot take the same approach with her collaborative efforts because her writing has to manifest the same voice as her daughter’s. For that reason, the two of them will schedule brainstorming sessions during which they will concoct outlines and scenes that will streamline their collaborative efforts.

Mary Jane Maffini Awards

Maffini won the RT Reviewers Choice Award in 2011. She also won the Ottawa Citizen Contest in 1994.

Best Mary Jane Maffini Books

Maffini once sat on the Canadian Booksellers Association Board. Her best works include:

Organize Your Corpses: Charlotte Adams was a mess, which made no sense because she was a professional organizer. Her fiancé had cheated on her. Charlotte had dumped him and the development had compelled her to return to Woodbridge.

There, while trying to reorganize her life, she had taken on a client, the meanest teacher in the community, who desperately needed her skills. She was sorting through accumulated junk when she came across a murder.

The Cluttered Corpse: Charlotte Adams is a professional organizer that can never finish a job. Murder keeps getting in her way. This time, she has agreed to bring some much-needed order to Emmy Lou’s collection of stuffed animals.

She did not expect another murder to interrupt her work, but that is exactly what has happened. Now Charlotte’s client is in a heap of trouble and Charlotte is determined to help her. But there are consequences for Charlotte’s actions.

Every step she takes only makes things worse. Charlotte knows that her nosing around could get her killed. She also understands that she doesn’t know Emmy that well. But that won’t keep her from investigating the mystery.

When Does The Next Mary Jane Maffini book come out?

Mary Jane Maffini doesn't seem to have an upcoming book. Their newest book is Death Plans a Perfect Trip and was released on May, 3rd 2022. It is the newest book in the Charlotte Adams Mystery Series.

Home » Author » Mary Jane Maffini

BookSeries.org