Mary-Ann Tirone Smith has lived in Connecticut all her life except for the two years she served as a Peace Corps volunteer on Mt. Cameroon. She has published eight novels including the Poppy Rice Mysteries, and a memoir, GIRLS OF TENDER AGE. She is one of a hundred writers who contributed to the collection, DIRTY WORDS: A LITERARY ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SEX. She collaborated with her son Jere Smith on her newest novel, DIRTY WATER: A RED SOX MYSTERY, published in October, 2008. She is currently at work on a fictional memoir of the Civil War.