And our Sue's Clues Mystery Author is:

Every once in a while an author comes along and, just by publishing one book, makes a huge impact on the world of fiction. I say the 'world of fiction' rather than 'world of romance' or 'world of historical romance', because the books written by Diana Gabaldon have attracted fans from several areas of published literature. Her fans can be found on websites featuring fiction, historical fiction, historical romance, sci-fi, time-travel, and so on.

With the publication of OUTLANDER in 1991, we embarked on a journey of epic proportions. The author was probably more surprised than anyone at the success of the book since she mentions on her website, "...at the time, I thought the book was purely for practice."

When I pick up a book that has nearly 900 pages there is usually one thing that runs through my mind: Will it be worth it? I'm always wondering if a book this long is going to be bogged down with a lot of unnecessary descriptive writing or musings; too much historical information.

But the blurb tugged at my curiosity and I decided to give it a go. Much to my delight, the author had me glued to the pages of her book. It took over my days and nights. I became very talented at reading while cooking, loading the dishwasher...and sleep? Pfft, who needed sleep when one must know what would happen next with Claire and Jamie.

Oh, and Jamie... augh, I want a Jamie. I want a Jamie and I want him now. Who could ask for a better hero? Only in fiction could you have a guy like him, even with his flaws he could only be found in a woman's imagination.

And what about that woman? Reading a book like this only makes you curious about the author. Here's what I've been able to find out:

Diana Gabaldon (pronounced GAB-uhl-dohn (long O)) was born in Flagstaff, AZ on January 11, 1952. She is married, has 2 girls and one boy (late teens and early 20's) and numerous animals. Respecting their privacy, that is all the info she will give about her kids. Who could blame her, considering the popularity of her writing? How many people would try to get at them to get to her?

Many assume she is of Scottish or English heritage. She answers this very question on her website: "American. However, my ancestry is both English and Mexican-American; one of my maternal great-grandfathers emigrated from England to Arizona in the late 1800's, while my father's family seems to have been in New Mexico since the late 1500's."

She has degrees in Marine Biology and became an expert on scientific computation. Diana tells much about what she has done and learned on her website and does a much better job of it than I can. I highly recommend visiting her site and perusing the various sections. They are very informative and interesting.

With that recommendation, I will also suggest that if you haven't read OUTLANDER you should definitely find the time to do so. Then make time to read the 4 novels that follow. By the time you are done, perhaps the 6th book will be out and you can just keep going. I guess that is one of the perks of reading a series that is already out for the first time—you don't have wait impatiently in between books. You can read them back-to-back without missing a beat.

Hmmm.... I think I am going to dig out my copy of OUTLANDER and enjoy one of the best time-travels ever written, all over again.