Joan Wright Mularz

Joan Wright Mularz is an award-winning author who writes Young Adult mysteries because the teen years are so full of emotion—from soaring highs to heart-breaking lows. The stories are not just for teens though. They’re for anyone who appreciates a youthful perspective and good writing.

Joan was born into a large family on an island in the middle of New York Harbor. It's where she read her first mystery and learned to love reading, writing, and drawing. Since then, she's lived in three countries and traveled to five continents. Many rich experiences with diverse groups of kids as a parent, teacher, and graduate student have influenced her to write for young people.

"Slate - A Band of Friends Mystery" is set in Manhattan, the place she spent her undergraduate years and knows well. It won the ROYAL PALM LITERARY AWARD 2023 for Best Young Adult/New Adult novel (Florida Writers Assn.) and was 2nd runner-up BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 (all genres) (Florida Writer Assn.). It was also a FINALIST for the Dante Rossetti Best Young Adult book (Chanticleer International Book Awards 2023). The sequel, "Slate and Dash Go South," was published in 2025 and is a mystery set in Palm Beach County, Florida.

The 3 books of the E.T. Madigan Mystery series are set in other places she's lived—Italy, Germany, and Maine. The third book, Maine Roots Run Deep was a Finalist for Best Young Adult Book at the Independent Publishers of New England 2018 Book Awards.

Her picture book, "What I Like About My Friends," celebrates the diversity she has found through both teaching and travel and another, "Island Times," celebrates the multiplication and diversity of animal and plant life found on islands.

Many years ago, she and her husband were drawn to the beauty of the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine and built a vacation home there with their own labor and the help of family and friends. Rangeley is the inspiration for her alliterative alphabet book, "Down West — the Other Maine" and her picture book, "The Color of Western Maine is…." Many excursions to the Maine Coast led to another picture book, "The Color of the Maine Coast is…."

Joan has also written short stories, curriculums and educational grants.

She is a member of Sisters in Crime and is President of the Treasure Coast Florida Chapter. She also belongs to the Society for Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, Palm Beach Gardens Fiction Writers, Newburyport Writers, Independent Publishers of New England., and the Florida Writers’ Assn.

Outside of her writing life, she loves to swim laps, kayak, hike, downhill ski, paint and draw, sew, garden, read, travel, and spend time with her family and friends.