LESLIE A. WHEELER

Leslie Wheeler is a transplanted California who has lived in the Northeast for many years and has strong New England roots. A graduate of Stanford University with a master's in English from UC/Berkeley, Leslie has taught adult education, worked as an in-house writer and editor for Barron's Educational Series, then as a free lance writer specializing in history and biography for both the school and trade markets.

Writing "living history" mysteries enables Leslie to combine a passion for American history, an enjoyment of the mystery genre, and a lifelong love of storytelling in all forms. Leslie lives with her family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Read more at http://www.lesliewheeler.com

FICTION BOOKS:
Murder at Gettysburg, Five Star, May, 2005
Murder at Plimoth Plantation, (hardcover) Larcom Press, November, 2001
Murder at Plimoth Plantation, (paperback) Worldwide Mystery, March, 2005

NON-FICTION BOOKS:
America: The People and the Dream, (coauthor) Scott,Foresman, l990
American Social Leaders, (coauthor) ABC-CLIO, l993
Communities Near and Far, Scott, Foresman, l988
Exploring United States History, (coauthor) Globe Book Company, l986
Jane Addams, Silver Burdett Press, l990
Jimmy Who? (biography of former President Carter), Barron's, l976
Loving Warriors, Selected Letters of Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, Dial Press, l981
Rachel Carson, Silver Burdett Press, l99l
Women in the U.S. Workforce: 1876-1914, (coauthor) Globe Book Company, 1994

ARTICLES:
"Gertrude Atherton: Montana and the Lady Novelist", Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Winter, l977
"Henry B. Blackwell, Woman Suffrage's Gray-bearded Champion Comes to Montana",Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Summer, l98l
"Lucy Stone: Radical Beginnings, Feminist Theorists, ed. Dale Spender, Pantheon Books, l983
"Lucy Stone, Wife of Henry Blackwell",American History Illustrated, December, l981
"Mary MacLane: Montana's Notorious Lit'ry Lady", Montana, the Magazine of Western History, Summer, l977
"The Orphan Trains", American History Illustrated, December, l983

SHORT STORIES:
"The Proposal", New England Writer's Network Magazine (NEWN), autumn, 2004

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AUTHOR PHOTOS

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PRESS RELEASES

MURDER AT GETTYSBURG - PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 1, 2005 Contact: Leslie Wheeler leslie@lesliewheeler.com Mystery Author Finds Murder on the Modern-Day Gettysburg Battlefield In MURDER AT GETTYSBURG (Five Star, May, 2005), the second book in Leslie Wheeler's "living history" mystery series, main character Miranda Lewis journeys to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the annual reenactment of the crucial Civil War battle over the Fourth of July weekend. But when a reenactor takes a hit and can't be "resurrected" because he's truly dead, Miranda soon finds herself on the track of a clever killer. Wheeler was inspired to write this book by a program about Civil War reenactors she saw on PBS several years ago. In it, a hardcore reenactor complained that despite his best efforts to be as authentic as possible, one experience was missing: death on the battlefield. "So if a reenactor did die on the field, would it be an accident, the fulfillment of a bizarre death wish, suicide - or murder ?" wondered Wheeler. To gather local color for the mystery, Wheeler attended the 137th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Battle, along with her husband and son. "Watching men shoot at each other under a blazing sun wasn't their idea of a fun weekend," said Wheeler. "But while they hung out at the hotel pool, I had a ball at the reenactment. Many of the scenes in the book are based on things I observed while there, including the destruction of the National Observation Tower, which was blown up shortly after the reenactment of Pickett's Charge on the third day of the battle." A descendant of the Union General George B. McClellan and a self-confessed Civil War buff, Wheeler is the author of a previous mystery, MURDER AT PLIMOTH PLANTATION (first published in 2001 by Larcom Press and now available in paperback from Worldwide Mystery), which was an Editor's Choice selection in the Boston Herald. Her other publications include LOVING WARRIORS, a biography of Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, which won the English-Speaking Union's Ambassador of Honor Award and biographies of former President Jimmy Carter, Jane Addams, and Rachel Carson. Wheeler is also a co-author of a widely used American history textbook, AMERICA: THE PEOPLE AND THE DREAM. A member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, she lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her family. Here's some advance praise for MURDER AT GETTYSBURG: "History and homicide combine to create an explosive- and thoroughly entertaining - tale of murder and mayhem on the modern-day Gettysburg battlefield." - Joanne Dobson, author of THE MALTESE MANUSCRIPT "Leslie Wheeler sucks you right into the fascinating world of Civil War buffs and battle recreations-in MURDER AT GETTYSBURG, she puts her own spin on 'reenacting the crime.'" -Toni L.P. Kelner, author of WED AND BURIED "The twists and turns in the book keep us guessing until the end . . . a good read that kept my interest all the way through." - Sara Berger, Mysterious Women

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MURDER AT PLIMOTH PLANTATION - PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Leslie Wheeler leslie@lesliewheeler.com Living History Turns Deadly in Author's Debut Mystery In Leslie Wheeler's new mystery, MURDER AT PLIMOTH PLANTATION, protagonist Miranda Lewis is supposed to be keeping an eye on her niece while the young woman portrays a Pilgrim maid at the early seventeenth-century village, recreated in Plymouth, Massachusetts. But the beheading of the interpreter who plays Myles Standish the week before Thanksgiving forces this writer and armchair historian to transform herself into an amateur sleuth. "The idea for this book came from a trip I made to Plimoth Plantation with visiting relatives several years ago," says author Wheeler. "It was a very hot June day and my eight-year-old niece whined the whole way up the path to the Pilgrim village, but once she went inside a house and a Pilgrim woman spoke to her, she stopped complaining and listened attentively. This experience gave me the "what if" of the story: what if my niece had so fallen in love with Plimoth Plantation that years later she returns as an interpreter, and what if while she's there, a murder occurs?" Wheeler, a Mayflower descendant, has written extensively about American history. LOVING WARRIORS (Dial Press, 1981), her biography of Lucy Stone and Henry Blackwell, won the English-Speaking Union's Ambassador of Honor Award. She has written three other biographies and co-authored WOMEN IN THE U.S. WORK FORCE (Globe, 1994), and the widely used American history textbook,AMERICA: THE PEOPLE AND THE DREAM (Scott, Foresman, 1990). A member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America, Wheeler lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her family. Here's what reviewers have said about MURDER AT PLIMOTH PLANTATION: "Mayflower descendant Wheeler is in her element in this fictional brew of history and mystery." The Boston Herald (Editor's Choice) ". . . the sense of place and the portrayal of the interpreters are as engaging as the mystery itself." The Boston Globe "The plot moves along smartly with some good twists and turns and a satisfying ending. . . . The bits of information and quotes from the writings of original settlers added a nice historical flavor throughout." The Berkshire Eagle

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