Suzy’s Crew searches the world of stories to bring you, interesting tales of all kind. Sometimes we will even introduce the author herself.
Here are some of the people who write and who contribute to Suzy’s Books:
Meet Suzy. She is my mom. Here she is, tapping her way up and down the California coast in a 1930’s snazzy costume.
No matter where we were — and we moved a lot — Mom always made sure I had two things: ballet slippers and a library card.
“Suzy” represents all our moms, and all the un-named people who encouraged us to stick our noses in a book, and come up smiling.
Thank you to all of you.
MaryAnn Shank
I may be the instigator of this website, and its editor, but I am only one of the contributors. Although I am an award-winning poet and author, I am most honored to be working with the very talented women listed below. Please find out more about my publications, The Mystical Land of Myrrh and Sor Juana, My Beloved on my website.
Janet Hogan Chapman
Janet Hogan Chapman, Ed. D. was born, raised, and lived all her life in Atlanta, Georgia until three years ago when her husband passed away and she relocated to Flagler Beach, Florida. She writes about remarkable women. Her mission as a writer is to empower strong women through prose and poetry.
A life-long writer, Dr. Chapman has published professionally on historical topics, infant education, preschool ministry, elementary education, and teacher education. She has published four novels, a novella, and a memoir. A second memoir is in progress.
Dr. Chapman’s life has been marked with both accomplishment and difficulties. Her faith has sustained her through many trials. She enjoys spending time with family and friends, writing, literary events, travel, reading, and genealogy research.
Jodi Thompson Carr
Jodi Thompson Carr is a University of Washington graduate and third-generation Seattleite. She is a member of the Author’s Guild, the Alliance for Independent Authors, and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association. Lunch Ladies is her debut novel, marking a departure from previous pursuits in philanthropy, education, and human services.
Julie Snider
Julie has been a concert violinist, an environmental activist, and taught science to high school students for 26 years. Her writing, both fiction and nonfiction, falls under the label “heartwarming stories with a twist.”
Kate Michaelson
Growing up in rural Ohio, Kate simultaneously developed a love of the natural world and a strong desire to live closer to a mall. Her writing uses humor and mystery to explore the difficulty of coping with chronic illness.
She enjoys traveling, hiking, and trying (fruitlesslessly) to tire out her Labrador mix. She works as a curriculum designer and holds a PhdD in Educational Psychology. She currently lives with her husband in Toledo, Ohio, only ten minutes from a mall that she now avoids.
Maria Leonard Olsen
Maria Leonard Olsen practices law as a commercial litigator in Washington, DC. She is an author (50 After 50: Reframing the Next Chapter of Your Life), podcaster (“Becoming Your Best Version”), journalist, TEDx speaker (“Turning Life’s Challenges into a Force for Good” and “What to Consider Before and After You Take a DNA Test”), book marketing coach for female authors and mentor to women in recovery.
Maria served as a political appointee in the Clinton Justice Department and on numerous boards. She writes for several women in midlife publications (including AARP’s The Ethel and Kuel Life) and is a frequent public speaker on wellness issues. Her next books will be Before and After the DNA Test: A Practical Guide to Genetic Privacy, Medical Risks and Family Secrets (Bloomsbury 2026) and 60 After 60: Finding Serenity in Your 60s or at Any Age.
Maryka Biaggio
Maryka began writing novels in her middle years, and she has been writing up a storm since then, Now she is an award-winning novelist specializing in historical fiction based on real people.
She loves unearthing the stories of people overlooked by history and bringing them back to life — portraying their challenges and foibles and rekindling their emotional world. She takes pride in carefully researching the period and people and providing readers with an immersive experience. She is the author of six novels, including Parlor Games and The Model Spy.
Maura Casey
Over a 35-year journalism career, Maura Casey worked as a reporter and opinion writer for four newspapers, including as a member of The New York Times editorial board. She has won 45 national and regional journalism awards. She writes a weekly Substack column called Casey’s Catch with 3,800 subscribers.
Maura began to keep journals at the age of 12 and never stopped. She also never re-read them. That changed during the Covid-19 lockdown, when she decided to read the journals she kept as a teenager. To her surprise, they contained pages of dialogue and detailed scenes about her big Irish family, her alcoholic father, wise-cracking mother and her sister Ellen struggling with kidney disease and its aftermath. The result is her first book, “Saving Ellen: A Memoir of Hope and Recovery.”
Maura hold a BA in Political Science, Magna Cum Laude, from Buffalo State University and a Master’s Degree in Journalism and Public Affairs from American University. She has been married for 40-plus years to Peter J. Panzarella and lives on a small farm in Franklin, Connecticut. They have two adult children, Tim and Anna, and two perfect granddaughters.
Rosanne Limoncelli
Rosanne Limoncelli, PhD is a writer and filmmaker living in Brooklyn. Rosanne writes plays, screenplays, poetry, games, mysteries, thrillers, and science fiction. Her short fiction first appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and her short films have screened in festivals around the world. Rosanne has been teaching story writing and filmmaking at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts for more than three decades.
Rosanne’s debut mystery novel is The Four Queens of Crime published by Crooked Lane Books at Penguin Random House. The series continues with Death at King’s Cross (July 2026) and Murder by the Sea (July 2027). Rosanne’s thriller series that takes place in 1979 NYC, begins with Nina’s Spiral (October 2026).
Valerie Nieman
Valerie Nieman spent weeks solo hiking in Scotland to complete research for Upon the Corner of the Moon (Regal House Publishers, 2025), the story of the young Macbeths. She is the author of six other novels, including the Sir Walter Raleigh award-winning In the Lonely Backwater, a short fiction collection, and three poetry books.
A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she was a journalist in West Virginia and a college professor in North Carolina. The second Book of Alba, The Last Highland King, in which these rightful rulers learn to love as they face lethal challenges at home and abroad, comes out in early 2027.
When not writing, gardening, or reading, she enjoys fly fishing.
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