I'm Cynthia Thomason, and I'm a romantic. To me, romance means love between people as well as finding romance in places, such as waterfalls, lighthouses, beaches, or wherever else your soul connects with the wider universe.. I have written 39 romance novels for Harlequin and Kensington. But I am currently proud to announce, BACKDROP DEAD, my FIRST COZY HISTORICAL MYSTERY, set on a showboat in 1898. I guess I'll add showboats to my list of romantic places. I was raised in Ohio. I taught high school English, ran my own auction house, and wrote books. I have experienced a great love, but lost my husband a few years ago to cancer. But he's still around. I can feel him. I have won the HOLT Medallion Award, the Golden Quill and Readers' Choice Awards and I've been nominated several times for the prestigious Maggie Award. I'm proud of those awards, but as the saying goes, "That and five dollars will get you in the door of Starbucks." I love to write about America's small towns, similar to the one where I grew up in Summit County, Ohio. I have one son, also a writer. My favorite place to spend an afternoon is the mountains of North Carolina, but I haven't been to Ireland yet. My motto as I grow older and wiser is "never stop learning." After several lessons, I am now playing the guitar and I love it.