Margaret Maron grew up in rural North Carolina. She attended college for two years before a summer job at the Pentagon led to marriage, a tour of duty in Italy, than several years in Brooklyn, New York before moving back to North Carolina. She is the author of the Sigrid Harald Mystery series, the Deborah Knott Mystery series, Bloody Kin, and Last Lessons of Summer. Bootlegger's Daughter won the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony and Macavity Awards for Best Mystery in 1992. "Up Jumps the Devil" won the 1996 "Best Novel" Agatha award. "High Country Fall" was nominated for an Agatha Award in 2004 and also picked up a Macavity nomination the following year. "Three-Day Town" won the 2011 Agatha Award for "Best Novel". "Long Upon the Land" won the Agatha Award for Best Contemporary Novel of 2015.Margaret is a founding member and past president of sisters in Crime and of the American Crime Writer's League; She is a director on the national board for Mystery Writers of America.