As a kid growing up on the South Side of Chicago, Carolyn Marie Wilkins dreamed of singing backup for Aretha Franklin while becoming the next Agatha Christie. Although she’s still waiting for Aretha to call, Carolyn is now the author of five books. Mojo For Murder and Melody For Murder feature the crime-fighting exploits of Bertie Bigelow, a forty-something choir director and amateur sleuth living on the South Side of Chicago. Carolyn’s nonfiction work includes They Raised Me Up: A Black Single Mother and the Women Who Inspired Her; Damn Near White: An African American Family's Rise from Slavery to Bittersweet Success, and Tips For Singers: Performing, Auditioning, Rehearsing. An accomplished jazz vocalist and professor at Berklee College of Music, Carolyn has performed on TV and radio with her group SpiritJazz, toured South America as a Jazz Ambassador for the US State Department, and played for shows featuring Melba Moore, Nancy Wilson, and the Fifth Dimension. When she’s not in the classroom or writing her next mystery novel, Carolyn can be found hanging out in the jazz clubs around Boston, MA.