Katherine “Kathie” Bennett graduated from Illinois State University with a major in art education and a minor in Russian language. She studied writing under Paul J. Gillette, a novelist and screenwriter in Los Angeles. She wrote press releases for the major Chicago newspapers and later founded Rockbridge Publishing Co., which published books about the American Civil War and Virginia travel guides.

She is a self-described serial careerist. In addition to book publishing, her professional experience includes teaching elementary art, arranging charter tours for golfers that took her all over the world, owning and operating a stained-glass studio, and serving as executive director of a historical association. She was, for a time, a headhunter.

She is a founding member of the Society for Women and the Civil War.

She devoted two decades to creating miniatures comprising houses, a houseboat, a pottery shop, and a quilt shop. See her miniatures blog here. Kathie and her late husband, artist and educator Lloyd Bennett, Jr., investigated their family genealogies. Their research took them to France and the Czech Republic, where they connected with distant relatives.

The Heartland to Hometown Mysteries grew from Kathie’s love of mystery stories and an urge to share 80+ years of living an adventurous life.