Interview with Janet Majerus

Author Bio

Janet Majerus grew up in Quincy, Illinois, a beautiful old river town on the bluffs of the Mississippi. After graduating from the University of Illinois-Champaign Urbana, she started a career as a science editor, first with a scientific publishing house and then free lance. Tiring of correcting other people's manuscripts, she decided to try her hand at writing fiction. The result was her first novel, Grandpa and Frank. "I was extraordinarily successful--hard back, paper back, large print, and a movie," Janet said. "The movie, Home to Stay, a CBS television feature, was the frosting on the cake, particularly when I found out that Henry Fonda would play Grandpa. Then the drought hit and, except for a short story, I could not get anything else published." It was then that Janet completely changed her career path again and decided to devote her time to public service in University City, Missouri, a city of 40,000 people and a suburb of St. Louis. "I started out on the Traffic Commission then moved on the Planning and Zoning Commission. It was after that experience that I decided to run for elective office," she said. Janet was elected to the six-member City Council, but soon decided to run for mayor. Her tenure as mayor lasted for ten years. "It was an exciting, but exhausting time, and after ten years of phone calls, meetings, and political machinations, I was ready to step down." The result was a return to her early love of writing fiction and a soon to be published murder mystery, The Best Laid Plans. "I've often been asked why I changed genres from a family story to murder mysteries," she laughed. "My experience in politics taught me a lot about intrigue, plots, misleading statements, and half truths. Seemed a shame not to use that experience."