Bio

Maria was born in Missouri and grew up in Eastern Tennessee. She attended the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, earning a B.S. in natural science education and an M.S. in plant physiology.

After marriage, she moved to Portsmouth, then Hampton, Virginia. She taught in Hampton until her retirement in 2002, teaching high school earth science, biology, chemistry and oceanography. As an earth science teacher, she acquired interests in gem and mineral hunting, canoeing, and camping.

Her daughter, Elizabeth, now lives with her husband, Nate, in Salem, MA.

Since retiring, Maria has been indulging in two of her passions: travel and mysteries. She has traveled to England a half-dozen times, twice attending the St. Hilda's Crime and Mystery Conference in Oxford. She has toured Italy, Scotland, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Greece, and Turkey. She has worked on an archaeological dig in the Isle of Man and a dinosaur dig in Montana.

Maria Hudgins

With Denise Dietz at Sleuthfest, Ft. Lauderdale