Hello and welcome to my homepage!

I’m Diane Mechem Kinser, author, lecturer, teacher, sometime poet and history buff. People often ask me how long I’ve been writing, expecting me to say something like ‘All my life.’ The truth is, I’ve just passed the ten-year mark. My first book, “Magician’s Wake,” was published in 2004, but I wrote it in 2002, mostly in a cabin at Lake Hope State Park. The lake seems to be a magic place for me, in many ways, of course, but most recently, for writing. Those of you who have read the newest mystery, “October Ridge,” will see scenes I’ve loved for years, in Zaleski State Forest, small Vinton County towns of McArthur and Zaleski, and the cabin area of the lake.

Of course, I can’t spend all my time at “my” lake, so I do write at home and even at some of the craft shows and book fairs I book around Ohio. I love being on the road! Maybe I would have made a good vagabond? “Have booth, will travel,” has been a motto since 2008, when I started taking my show on the road. But one feature unique to my writing style is that I need to go there, be there, touch the tombstones, shuffle my feet over the old brick courtyards, finger the lettering on vintage buildings…in short, feel the places where I set my novels. That passion began in 2002, with a weekend trip to San Toy, Ohio, the “Brigadoon” of Southeastern Ohio. Now, I’m exploring little-known sites in Perry County, researching background for an up-and-coming sequel for the “Black Diamond” series.

I hope you will hang around with me here as I travel, create, learn and pay homage to those who went before us. Yes, my books are fiction, but I promise you will also learn fascinating historical facts about this amazing state of Ohio.

Happy adventuring!

Diane Mechem Kinser