Now it’s time to learn more about the authors we read. . .

What drew you to the genre you write?
I love fiction with cozy elements. You can escape the real world! Go to a delightful setting and enjoy a sprinkle of romance! Nothing will be too scary, and you know everything will turn out ok in the end. Best of all…there’s almost always a cat.

Tell us how you got into writing?
I’ve always wanted to become a writer. In my mid-30s, I finally buckled down and started taking creative writing classes and publishing short stories.

What jobs have you held before, during and/or after you became a writer?
Lawyer, ‘nuff said. The writing stuff is more interesting!

How many books do you have published?
The Night Nurse and the Jewel Thief is my first novel.

Where do you write?
I write on my living room sofa. Hopefully from a place of calm inspiration, or at least from a state of being mostly awake, given that I’m a very early morning writer.

What’s your favorite genre to read?
I like anything light-hearted and slightly surreal, and I’m always trying to conquer a classic or two.

What is something people would be surprised to know about you?
I’m a big Disney person. Queuing up for Peter Pan or Pirates of the Caribbean is my happy place.

Who is an author you admire?
Being originally from the Midwest, I most admire Laura Ingalls Wilder. She’s inspiring because she was born in a log cabin and published her first novel at age 65 (the same age as my character Nancy, in The Night Nurse and the Jewel Thief). I love this quote from her: ‘The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies.’

Have you any advice for aspiring or beginning writers?
Take creative writing classes. You’ll learn helpful writing tips, complete some work product by the end of the class, and the best part is you’ll meet other aspiring writers.

What is next for you?
My second novel Mall Goddess releases in August 2026. Attention shoppers! In a tiny midwestern town, a misfit janitor fights to save the crappy local shopping mall. She might just find love along the way.

Where can we find you?
On my website at marileedahlman.com.

Now to have some fun . . .

Breakfast, lunch, or dinner
Breakfast. I must be a true morning person.

Fruits or vegetables
Fruits. Especially peaches in the summer and apples in the fall.

Sweet or salty snacks
Sweet. No contest.

Ice cream or cake
Ice cream! I would walk five miles through a howling blizzard for ice cream, any flavor. Except for lobster flavor. I tried that in Maine once and it was only ok.

Cooking or baking
Cooking, mostly homemade soups that I can eat all week.

Dining in or dining out
Dining out. I love trying new restaurants, fancy or hole-in-the-wall, any cuisine.

City life or country living
City life, except I do like escaping the city now and then.

Beach or mountain
Mountain. I love forest hikes.

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall
Summer.

Extrovert or introvert
Introvert, I can be very content on my own with a book or just going for a walk.

And even more fun . . .

What is your favorite movie?
The Sound of Music. My mom and I went to Austria for the first time in spring of 2025 and saw all the Sound of Music sites. And the coffee and cake culture in Vienna and Salzburg was amazing! I want to go back, right now.

You are stranded on a deserted island. What are your three must-haves?
My two Persian cats and a steady supply of cat food. I’m sure I could scrounge up some coconuts for myself…😀

My bio:
Marilee was raised in a Midwest town hit hard by a changing 90s economy. Now she’s compelled to write about forgotten places and invisible outsiders searching for where they belong. Most of all, she’s inspired by the women in her family: no-nonsense farmers and nurses who drive pickups, eat at McDonald’s and don’t get knocked over by a 40-mile hour wind or anything else that life hurls at them.