Mary Stanton's career as a fiction writer began with the publication of her first novel, The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West, in 1984. A beast fable similar in tone and theme to Watership Down, it was published in the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan. She sold her first mystery to The Berkley Publishing Group in1994. In all, Stanton has written nineteen mystery novels, two adult fantasy novels, eleven novels for middle-grade readers (including the successful series, The Unicorns of Balinor), and three scripts for a television cartoon series, Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders. Her nonfiction articles on horse care and veterinary medicine have appeared in national and regional magazines. Mary also publishes the Hemlock Falls mysteries as Claudia Bishop. She divides her time between a goat farm in upstate New York near the Finger Lakes region and a small home in West Palm Beach.