C. Jean Downer spent her childhood in the rural Midwest relying on her vivid imagination to entertain family and friends. She earned a Master of Arts in literature and a Ph.D. in Rhetoric and taught many years in both English and Women Studies departments, which spurred her to achieve her life’s dream—to write and live creatively. Downer is a published poet and the author of Lies are Forever, the first book in the Sloane West mystery series. Formerly from the US southwest, she now lives in British Columbia, Canada, with her wife of twenty years, their two fabulous teenage daughters, two lazy dogs, and three chill cats.