Author Anne-Marie Sutton has lived in Newport, Rhode Island, and has used her knowledge of the city and its fabulous Gilded Age mansions to craft her first mystery novel, Murder Stalks A Mansion.

"I love walking on the Cliff Walk, and it truly was my inspiration for the book. The Cliff Walk, for those who don't know Newport, is a three mile stretch of pathways and steps along the high rocky sea wall of the Atlantic Ocean. It begins at Easton's Beach, a broad sandy ocean beach, and travels toward the area behind the south end of Bellevue Avenue, the 'avenue of the mansions.' On the Cliff Walk, you pass several of the old big houses, including The Breakers, Cornelius Vanderbilt II's famous home. The view is dazzling and dramatic with the ocean waves breaking up on the rocks of the high winding coastline, the faraway sails of boats and the sun glistening on the water."

"I don't know what first put the idea of murder in my head. I love reading mysteries and perhaps I just started thinking how pleasant it would be to read something set in Newport, and particularly near the Cliff Walk, which is where I placed the story's fictional house, Kenwood Court. I enjoy the classic British mystery books, especially what are referred to as country house mysteries. Of course, the wealthy residents of Newport have always called their homes "summer cottages," so I guess you could say what I've really written is a summer cottage mystery."

A journalist and marketing/communications consultant, Anne-Marie Sutton has lectured on mass communications at the college level. The author of two plays, The Sunshine Soldier and Margaret Sloane (D-NY), she was born in Baltimore and graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in English. Now residing in Connecticut with her family, she is at work on the second novel in the series, Gilded Death, also set in Newport and featuring the team of amateur sleuth Caroline Kent and Newport police detective Hank Nightingale.