Jacqueline McMahon, Suspense Thriller Author
https://jacquelinemcmahon.com/newsletter/
What do you do with an over-active imagination? Become a writer, of course!
As far back as I can remember, my childhood days were filled with storytelling. From scripted stories featuring the neighborhood kids acting out all the characters, to sitting in my room recording myself improvising tales so vivid I could see them unfolding as I told them, to thriving at any creative writing assignments in school.
At fifteen, I applied for a paid job as the neighborhood news reporter for the area where I lived and got the job. With my meticulous ability to remember details, and a penchant for telling stories, I thrived coming up with ideas for my weekly column and enjoyed this part-time job until I graduated from high school.
I always knew I was different somehow. I often preferred spending time alone reading, writing stories and plays, playing music, and even drawing maps of imaginary locations in my best stick figure ability. Being an only child until nearly nine years of age, having such an ability to amuse myself meant I wasn’t ever really lonely.
After graduating with a degree in Fine Arts, I co-owned a performing arts studio for twenty-three years and besides teaching classes, I also penned six to eight original playscripts every school year for the students in our drama department to perform.
Being an avid reader of mystery and suspense since my discovery of Trixie Beldon books, The Hardy Boys, and Nancy Drew, fueled my desire to try writing my own book. But it wasn’t until I read Mary Higgins Clark’s Where Are The Children? that I put pen to paper and started with short stories, until finally graduating to novels.
My domestic suspense novel, When Love Won’t Die, was published in 2014 in e-book and paperback versions. Oddly enough, I hired a developmental editor who turned out to be none other than Higgins Clark’s best friend, Marilyn Henderson, an author of over 60 novels and a mentor to many writers.
In January 2027 my psychological thriller, They’re Watching, will be published by Creative James Media, and my second domestic suspense, Amorous Obsession, will come out in October 2027, although through CJM.