Press Kit
About the Author
Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 36 books, mostly novels dealing with British history. The award-winning Glastonbury, an Arthurian grail search epic covering 15 centuries of English history, is her best-known work. A Very Private Grave, Book 1 in the Monastery Murders series, is her reentry into publishing after a 10-year hiatus. Book 2, A Darkly Hidden Truth, will be out this fall, and she is at work on Book 3, An Unholy Communion, scheduled for 2012.
The Elizabeth & Richard Mysteries is a romantic intrigue series using literary figures as background: Dorothy L Sayers in The Shadow of Reality and Shakespeare in A Midsummer Eve's Nightmare.
Her newest release in the ebook field is Lord Danvers, a Victorian true crime series: A Most Inconvenient Death, Grave Matters, and To Dust You Shall Return.
The Daughters of Courage, Kathryn, Elizabeth and Stephanie is a pioneer family saga based on the stories of Donna's own family and other Idaho pioneers in the Kuna, Nampa and Boise area.
Donna and her husband live in Boise, Idaho. They have 4 adult children and 10 grandchildren. Donna is remembered by Idahoans with long memories as a former Queen of the Snake River Stampede, Miss Rodeo Idaho and runner-up for Miss Rodeo America. She is an enthusiastic gardener.
Reviews of A Darkly Hidden Truth
"A gripping modern mystery enriched by liturgy, iconography, and medieval history."
--Donn Taylor, Rhapsody in Red
"In A Darkly Hidden Truth, Donna Fletcher Crow creates a world in which the events of past centuries echo down present-day hallways - a world in which saintliness and devotion compete with the noise of traffic, a world in which a thoroughly 21st-century young woman can be drawn to the timeless and luminous peace of the convent - and then, on the surface of this world, she engraves murder, violence, and theft. I came away from the book feeling as though I'd been someplace both ancient and new, and had learned a great deal there. Donna Fletcher Crow gives us, in three extremely persuasive dimensions, the world that Dan Brown merely sketches."
--Timothy Hallinan, The Queen of Patpong, Edgar nominated Best Novel, 2011
"Donna Fletcher Crow's Monastery Murders series gets better and better. In a book notable for its meticulous research, Felicity is at a crossroads in her life. She has a vocation to the religious life, but where does that leave Antony, who has come to love the young, engaging American? Matters are further complicated when Felicity's mother, Cynthia, fresh from the break-up of her marriage to Felicity's much-loved father, arrives in England, attempting to forge new bonds with the daughter she never really knew.
"Matters come to a head when a valuable icon is stolen and a student murdered.
"A sound grasp of Christian history informs this contemporary thriller as Felicity. Anthony and Cynthia are plunged headlong into the dangerous hunt for the stolen icon."
--Dolores Gordon-Smith, The Jack Haldean Mysteries
"Donna Fletcher Crow's novel, A DARKLY HIDDEN TRUTH, is a character-rich contemporary mystery based on English Church History that made me want to turn every page, and spend a year in England."
--Sally Wright, The Ben Reese Mysteries, 2001 Edgar Finalist for Pursuit And Persuasion
"Readers who enjoyed A Very Private Grave, the first in Donna Fletcher Crow's Monastery Murders, will be delighted with the second in the series. A Darkly Hidden Truth finds Felicity Howard tangled again in a mystery with roots in ancient church history, in this case all the way back to the founding of the Knights Hospitaller in 1061. With this book, Crow establishes herself as the leading practitioner of modern mystery entwined with historical fiction. The historical sections are much superior to The Da Vinci Code because she doesn't merely recite the facts; she makes the events come alive by telling them through the eyes of participants. The contemporary story is skillfully character-driven, suspended between the deliberate and reflective life of religious orders in the U.K. and Felicity's "Damn the torpedoes, full steam ahead" American impetuousness. The American part comes naturally to Ms. Crow who grew up in Idaho and participated in rodeos. But only meticulous research can account for her mastery of British church history. Her descriptions of the English characters read like an updated and edgy version of Barbara Pym. A Darkly Hidden Truth weaves ancient puzzles and modern murder with a savvy but sometimes unwary protagonist into a seamless story. You won't need a bookmark - you'll read it in a single sitting despite other plans."
--Mike Orenduff 2011 Lefty Award Winner, The Pot Thief Who Studied Einstein
"The intrepid Felicity and lovable Antony have their noses to the trail of more dark and sinister goings-on. As they investigate, a tale wonderfully rich in history and spirituality unfolds."
--Penelope Wilcock, The Hawk and the Dove
Press Release for A Very Private Grave
Video Trailer for A Very Private Grave
Discussion Questions for A Very Private Grave
Endorsements for A Very Private Grave
"With a bludgeoned body in Chapter 1, and a pair of intrepid amateur sleuths, A Very Private Grave qualifies as a traditional mystery. But this is no mere formulaic whodunit: it is a Knickerbocker Glory of a thriller. At its centre is a sweeping, page-turning quest - in the steps of St Cuthbert - through the atmospherically-depicted North of England, served up with dollops of Church history and lashings of romance. In this novel, Donna Fletcher Crow has created her own niche within the genre of clerical mysteries."
--Kate Charles, author of Deep Waters
"A compelling thriller, as well as a masterful mystery, the mental gymnastics will have you breathlessly soaking in British and church history as you puzzle through a satisfying spiritual adventure with romantic, quirky characters. Anglophiles and history buffs will love it."
--Church Libraries Journal
"If I could give this book 6 stars ****** I would. I just couldn't put it down, it was fast paced, I learned lots of church and English history, and I liked the characters. I can't wait for the next Monastery Murder to be published."
--Linda from Brisbane, Australia on GoodReads
"History and mystery and murders most foul keep the pages turning in A Very Private Grave. Two scholars, Felicity and Antony, embark on an unusual spiritual pilgrimage, following the journey of Saint Cuthbert from Lindisfarne to Whithorn, even as they're pursued by friends and foes, who don't reveal their true colors to the very end. Seldom does one find a whodunit with such a thorough grasp of ecclesiastical history. A fascinating read."
--Liz Curtis Higgs, bestelling author of Thorn in My Heart
"I always admired [Donna's] work and her fastidious attempt that dogs us all to practice our art with creative defiance."
--Calvin Miller, Author of The Singer Trilogy
"As in Glastonbury, Donna Fletcher Crow's descriptions of the English and Scottish settings in her new mystery, A Very Private Grave, are drawn with real artistry. Lovers of British history and church history will be impressed by her grasp of both. Still, it's a grisly murder in a monastery that brings the conflicts faced by men and women in the church today into thoughtful focus as the two major characters, Felicity and Father Antony, struggle to find direction in their own lives."
--Sally Wright, Edgar Award finalist author of the Ben Reese Mysteries
"Donna Crow's A Very Private Grave is full of past and present, faith and frailty, murder and mystery. Highly recommended."
--Gayle Roper, A Stranger's Wish
"A Very Private Grave by Donna Fletcher Crow is not to be missed. I loved getting to know Felicity and Fr. Antony as they journeyed through remote places and islands in England and Scotland in pursuit of clues. The author skillfully weaves past and present with a cast of wonderful and sometimes quirky characters."
--Linda Hall, author of Storm Warning and On Thin Ice
"Like a P. D. James novel A Very Private Grave occupies a learned territory. Also a beautifully described corner of England, that of the Northumbrian coast where St. Cuthbert's Christianity retains its powerful presence. Where myth and holiness, wild nature and tourism, art and prayer run in parallel, and capture the imagination still.
"A pair of elderly religious are murdered, but why? An American student and her young history teacher are determined to find out. Donna Fletcher Crow sets them in pursuit of St. Cuthbert's bones and treasure. Also his faith. She knows her theology like the lines on her palms, the fortunate and the unlucky leads, the truths and the errors, taking us to them by the local train and bus services, the hospices and by foot. All this with a cinematic skill.
"Did Henry VII manage to get all the treasure from Cuthbert's shrine at Durham? Might what remains of it not be sent to the African Children's Fund? Old Brother Dominic and Sister Elspeth thought so. But they are murdered. A thrilling amateur investigation follows in which the northern landscape and modern liturgical goings on play a large part. The centuries between us and the world of Lindisfarne and Whitby collapse and we are in the timeless zone of greed and goodness. A Very Private Grave is an exciting thriller with a fine sermon attached."
--Ronald Blythe
"A Very Private Grave is a novel that delivers much more than the promised suspense. In passage after passage, it is enriched by the author's detailed knowledge of medieval church history and her intimate knowledge of the English and Scottish countryside, a knowledge that extends to specifics of tiny islands and tides. And it is a pleasure to read an author who not only knows about the Synod of Whitby (A.D. 664), but alsounderstands its significance. The reader of this thriller will emerge pleasantly educated as well as entertained."
--Donn Taylor, The Suspense Zone
Endorsements for The Shadow of Reality
"In The Shadow of Reality, Donna Fletcher Crow engages the reader with a lively dialogue between the two protagonists, Elizabeth and Richard, as they participate in a murder mystery vacation week at a resort in the Rockies. When reality blurs with fiction, the reader is taken behind the scenes into a darker drama that Elizabeth is drawn into and compelled to solve at her own peril. The characters are well developed and the action flows at a rapid pace that makes it impossible to put the book down. It is a thoroughly satisfying read and an intriguing idea to mix the roles of actor and audience, a complex dance of relationships that keeps the reader wondering what is true and who is real."
--Gwyneth Bledsoe, Death Before Breakfast
Honors:
The Banks of the Boyne, Silver Angel; First Place Historical Fiction, 1999 National Federation Press Women
The Fields of Bannockburn, First Place Historical Fiction, 1997 National Federation Press Women
Professional Achievement Award, 1994 Homecoming, Northwest Nazarene College
Glastonbury First Place, Historical Fiction, 1993, National Federation of Press Women Award of Merit, Juvenile Books, Idaho Press Women, 1990
Pacesetter Award, Mt. Hermon Writer's Conference, 1990
Outstanding Historical Fiction, Idaho Press Women, National Fed. Press Women, 1989
Idaho Writer of the Year, 1988
Best Inspirational Novel, Finalist, 1985, Romance Writers of America
Writer of the Year, 1983, Mt. Hermon Writers Conference
Listings:
Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genra, 2005
To Be Continued: An Anotated Guide to Sequels, 2000
The Company of the Creative, 1999
World Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide, 1998
The New Arthurian Encyclopedia: Updated Edition, 1995
Contemporary Authors, NRS 1996
Something About The Author, 1986
Contemporary Authors, 1983
Who's Who of American Women, 14th edition
The World Who's Who of Women, 8th and 10th editions
Who's Who in U.S. Writers, Editors & Poets, 3rd edition
International Authors and Writers Who's Who, 11th & 12th editions
Notable American Women, 1st illustrated edition 1988
Biography International, 1986
Dictionary of International Biography, XXI edition
Five Thousand Personalities of the World, 2nd edition
Personalities of America, 5th edition
Outstanding Young Women of America, 1972
Who's Who in American Colleges and Universities, 1964
Memberships and Professional Organizations:
Society of the Holy House of Our Lady of Walsingham, 2009
Companion, Fraternity of the Resurretion, 2004
Sisters in Crime, 2009-present
Partners in Crime, 2009-present
Idaho Press Women, 1987-1999
National Federation of Press Women, 1987-1999
Arts Centre Group, UK, 1994-present
National League of American Pen Women, 1988-1995
Idaho Writers' League 1985-1992
Romance Writers of America 1982-1993