Death by Design: A DIY Diva Mystery

An instructor at five colleges over the years, Paula Darnell most often taught the dreaded first-year English composition classes, but she's also been happy to teach some fun classes, such as fashion design, sewing, and jewelry making. Paula has a Bachelor's degree in English from the University of Iowa, Iowa City, and a Master's degree in English from the University of Nevada, Reno.

Like Laurel, the main character in Death by Association, Paula enjoys all kinds of arts and crafts. Some of her memorable projects include making a hat and a cape to wear to Royal Ascot, sewing wedding gowns for both her daughters, exhibiting her textile and mixed-media artwork in juried art shows, and having one of her jewelry projects accepted for inclusion in Leather Jewelry, published by Lark Books. She sells some of her jewelry and hair accessories in her Etsy shop.

Paula's interest in DIY craft projects and fashion led to her writing hundreds of articles for print and online national publications. She is the author of Death by Association, Death by Design, and Death by Proxy, all in her cozy series, the DIY Diva Mysteries as well as the author of Artistic License to Kill, Vanished into Plein Air, and Hemlock for the Holidays, all in her cozy Fine Art Mystery series.

In addition, she wrote The Six-Week Solution, a historical mystery set in Reno, Nevada, in 1955. A former Reno resident, she was inspired by the local history and found the 1950s when Reno was considered the Divorce Capital of the World to be an interesting era in which to set a mystery. 

Paula is an award-winning author with three book awards to her credit, one of which was for Death by Association, the first novel in her DIY Diva cozy mystery series.