Independent Mystery Booksellers of America best-selling author of female mysteries, Patricia Sprinkle, will reveal shocking secrets of her popular southern sleuths this Saturday at the Fayette County Library.

Sprinkle will give a presentation on her sleuths MacLaren Yarbrough in “Guess Who’s Going to Die?” and Sheila Travis in “A Mystery Bred in Buckhead,” and will participate in a Q&A and book signing beginning at noon.

The event is free and open to the public, and light refreshments will be served.

In sleuth MacLaren Yarbrough’s tale, her husband Joe Riddley Yarbrough finagled her an invitation to join the prestigious Magnolia Women’s Investment Club – noted as “the moneyed women’s investment club,” which is made up of the aristocracy of Hopemore, Ga. Amongst them, they control more money than many countries in the world. At her first meeting, Mac finds the outgoing president dead on the ladies’ room floor with a silver corkscrew in her throat and Cindy Yarbrough a main suspect. A cast of characters include a former soap opera star, a greedy real estate developer and a mysterious lawyer who left a great New York career to direct the Poverty Law Center in Hopemore.

The mystery in “Buckhead,” with Sheila Travis, features six old friends from the cream of Atlanta society, each with a secret buried in the mists of World War II; stolen chapters of a Margaret Mitchell manuscript, hidden since that time, which begs the question, “Why does everybody who tries to bring a ‘next book’ to Travis end up dead?” Scandal is in the making.

A third book, and the first in a new series with a twist on genealogy, titled “Death on the Family Tree,” features new main character Katharine Murray whose Aunt Lucy dies and leaves her possessions to Katharine, who questions, “Where would a small-town history teacher have acquired a priceless Celtic necklace and a diary written German?” Her discovery leads to a history of a family shockingly steeped in murder.

“Sins of the Father,” the second book in the genealogy series, is slated for a January 2008 release and deals with pirates and privateers during the War Between the States.

“I just hope that writing the book is half as much fun as the research has been, and that my readers like the results,” said Sprinkle.

Sprinkle is a member and past president of the Sisters in Crime, SinC. The Fayette County Library is celebrating the 20th anniversary of Sister in Crime, www.sistersincrime.org, a worldwide, not-for-profit organization that provides networking, advice and support to female mystery writers and their fans. Their mission is “to combat discrimination against women in the mystery field, educate publishers and the general public as to inequities in the treatment of female authors, raise the level of awareness of their contributions to the field, and promote the professional advancement of women who write mysteries.”

A highlight of Sprinkle’s career was an invitation to the Library of Congress to be on a panel of five mystery writers for one of the library’s few annual events. “I was invited by librarian Emily Howie, who liked my work. She was a gracious hostess and took us on a private tour ‘backstage.’ I was amazed to find a gorgeous building lavishly decorated with murals, mosaics and marble,” said Sprinkle.

Sprinkle decided at nine years old that she would be a writer. After attending Robert E. Lee High, she attended Vassar College’s creative writing program. After college, she returned to her folks in Miami. Later, with $750, one suitcase, two coats and a portable typewriter, she headed to a Scottish Highland village where, at that time, room and board cost $14 a week. Before the money ran out, she had sold one poem, one article, one short story, and a one-act play.

“For me, writing is next to breathing. If I walk in a room and there is a pencil, I’ll pick it up and start to write,” said Sprinkle. Her husband Bob has concluded that her writing is not a profession, it’s an obsession. She has written 18 mysteries, two other fiction books and five non-fiction books.

She is the daughter, wife and mother of ministers and as such she has moved around the country, gaining introduction to new locations. For more information, visit Sprinkle’s website at www.patriciasprinkle.com.

This event is sponsored by the Fayette County Public Library and the Friends of the Fayette County Public Library. A reception will follow including talks with the author, a book signing, with books available for purchase, and light refreshments.

The Fayette County Public Library is located behind the Fayette County administrative complex in downtown Fayetteville, 1821 Heritage Park Way.

For additional information, please contact the library at 770-461-8841.