Maris Soule Books In Order

Publication Order of P.J. Benson Mysteries Books

Publication Order of American Bachelors Books

Publication Order of Destiny Books

Publication Order of Family Matters Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Maris Soule is an American author best known for her mystery, romance and romantic suspense novels.

+Biography

Maris Soule was born in 1939 in Oakland, California. The author spent most of her young life in California and it looked like she might never leave. But then she met a red-haired blue-eyed man that swept her off her feet.

They were soon married and he eventually convinced her to move with him to Michigan. The move wasn’t supposed to be permanent. The couple was only supposed to stay in Michigan while Maris’s husband went to college.

But a few months and years turned into several decades. Maris Soule eventually came to terms with the fact that Michigan was her home, though the couple also has a house in Florida were they migrate to for the winter.

Maris Soule is a graduate of the University of California at Davis. The author studied art and math. She eventually went on to get her teaching degree from the University of California at Berkley.

The author’s journey to achieving her publishing dreams was not particularly straightforward. Maris Soule has been reading for as long as she can remember. The author also experimented with writing when she was just a teen.

Back then, Maris was always writing stories about girls and their horses. If she had to pinpoint one defining moment in her childhood that tagged at her desire for writing, it was when she read a romance novel that revolved around grapes and wine.

The book, though entertaining, left Maris wanting more. She thought that the writer could have done a better job of answering the story’s most burning questions; at that moment, it occurred to Maris that if she could read up on the topic of wine, she could answer some of the questions that were left hanging by the romance novel. It was in this moment that the prospect of writing a story first begun to appeal to Maris. It was here that she first saw herself putting pen to paper and giving a story and its characters life.

Unfortunately for the author, her environment and the people around Maris discouraged her from pursuing the activity. Maris more or less allowed her publishing dream to die for the next several years.

But things changed when Maris turned forty. By this point in her life, Maris was living in the country and she had two preschoolers to worry about. The author eventually decided to stay at home and mother her children.

The decision brought to the table its own challenges. Besides caring for her children, Maris Soule found that she had a lot of free time on her hands; unfortunately, the author had no adults around with whom she could converse.

After finding that she was in need of some mental stimulation, Maris Soule decided to write a book. Her husband was all for it. Maris did not immediately throw herself into the writing process.

She needed to first understand the field she was about to tackle, and it took her roughly four years to gain a handle over her writing craft. Once her book was completed, the author got an agent and convinced Harlequin Books to buy her first novel.

While the publication of her first book was momentous, Maris Soule thinks that her experience with her agent was the more impactful moment. While she considered herself a dabbler as far as writing was concerned, it wasn’t until her agent told Maris that he wanted to take her on as a client that she finally began to look at herself as a writer.

It was at that point that her publishing dream came into focus and she determined to pursue it with everything she had.

Maris Soule has been commended for writing novels that people can relate to. The characters in the author’s books are everyday people, the sorts of individuals that you might live next to and which readers probably interact with every day. This explains why Maris’s fans feel like they truly understand her heroes and heroines.

It helps that Maris’s writing style is so simple and straightforward, and her story is always moving forward, avoiding unnecessary segues and distractions.

+The Crows

P.J. Benson was just minding her own business in the woods, taking her Rhodesian ridgeback for a walk, when gunshots ruined her calm. The accountant quickly rushed home to find a man dying in her dining room.

With her home-based business just starting to get its legs, Benson had little interest in trying to solve the murder that had so rudely invaded her life. But then she became a prime suspect and realized she had no choice.

This is the first book in the P.J. Benson Mysteries series. The book introduces the aforementioned P.J. Benson to readers as a woman that is struggling to keep her life together.

When a murder in her home threatens to destroy the business she is trying to build, Benson is forced to take matters into her own hands. She wants to solve the murder before it can do any further damage to her name.

But Benson doesn’t know whether or not she can trust her mind. On the one hand, she thinks that someone might be breaking into her home and possibly even threatening her. On the other hand, it is entirely possible that she is dealing with schizophrenia like her mother.

The book is set in a rural location near Kalamazoo, and it is quite the quick and light read. The strongest aspect of this book is its likable heroine. The book is also well-plotted, though Maris Soule injects a little too much romance.

+A Killer Past

Mary Harrington is very unassuming, an odd and quiet widow that spends a little too much time at the gym. Like her son, who thinks that she should move into a retirement home, the gang members that targeted Mary thought she was helpless.

None of them knew the truth of Mary’s past, of the life she lived in her younger days. The gang members learn too late that they might have underestimated their target.

This is a short but thrilling book about a flawed but believable heroine trying to steer clear of a past that could destroy her future.