Raine Baushke

Food, Family, Cooking, Flowers, Politics, Travel--all of these experiences from my wonderful life contribute to my novels.

Travel inspires me and I am the rare person who sets resolutions in January, and invariably, completes them. In 2013, I resolved to write a novel although a couple of previous attempts were disastrous. This time, I learned the craft.

Writers Digest sponsored a monthly contest: write the first line of a short story based on a photo. That first line (long gone) is now Mystery in Montmartre. I didn't win, but purchased the rights to the photo, now gracing the cover of MYSTERY IN MONTMARTRE. Then I attended every free and paid writers' conference I could find, and read every writing book in our local library. Some books I purchased for my library.

Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan and moving to the tiny town of Fountain, Michigan around age seven, I've lived in many places after marrying, although my roots are still in my childhood home. Mom and Dad, ages 89 and 88 are living and loving there.

I completed a Commercial Floriculture Program at Michigan State University in 1976, the same year we married on Valentine's Day. We've just celebrated number 45!

After graduating Mom and I opened Flowers by Lorraine in Ludington, MI. We spent twenty years growing our business and employing family members who needed jobs or we needed their helping hands to create and deliver hundreds of flower arrangements during peak flower holidays. Four generations participated, including my grandmother, Mary Genson who operated our billing department for many years. Her brother, my great-uncle Leo Garland cleaned twice a week while we were closed. As the oldest of twenty cousins on that side, we are so grateful all helped as we provided floral service for a couple of generations of people.

We experienced the highs and lows of life with our loyal customers: new birth, first communions, birthdays, anniversaries, dance recitals, proms, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, weddings and the final blessing, funerals. What richness this added to our lives and those we connected with through flowers.

In 2000, my husband accepted a promotion to a better position in Bowling Green, Kentucky, when we had two children in college and needed more income. Ken encouraged me to go back to school. His words? "Education is never wasted."

After earning an BA in Government/International Relations/International Business Minor and an MPA from Western Kentucky University, I taught American Government at the junior college level.

A study abroad trip to Bregenz, Austria embedded a love of overseas travel. Since then, I've traveled to Austria, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Tanzania Africa, Beijing China, Canada, Mexico, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Ireland--some more than once.

A semester in Washington DC spent at the Lithuanian Embassy as an older intern (much older, I was in my late 40s), exposed me to international politics at the highest levels. The staff and the Lithuanian ambassador were kind and friendly, although I was asked if I was a spy by his secretary as we were heating our various lunches in the kitchen. At the time in 2003, the U.S. built its case against biological weapons. I helped Lithuania celebrate its independence from Russia during a massive snowstorm that inundated Washington DC in the winter of 2003. After the event that night, the subway only went to Alexandria, no taxis were running that late and the busses were grounded. I walked in my long skirt and dressy clothes in the middle of the streets for more than a mile, wondering if I was the next intern to be found dead.

Writing is my third career. For twenty years, I co-owned Flowers by Lorraine in Ludington, Michigan with my mother, Evelyn Urban. Then I taught American Government and Judicial Processes. After many writing workshops, writers' conferences, reading countless books on the craft of writing, and researching the changing field of publishing, I've published three novels as Raine Baushke.

Mystery in Montmartre is an art mystery set in Paris with romance at its heart. My sequel entitled Sixty Mortal Sins is set in Doue La Fontaine, in the Loire Valley in France and centers around a Caravaggio painting last seen in France 300 years ago. My third novel, Angels and Thieves, is all about family, a Raphael and the fear and heartbreak that encompasses those who love deeply.

And of course, two artists in my husband's family, his sister Candace Baushke Brancik and her husband Joseph Brancik, artfully created the covers of my three novels. Candy painted the baby on Angels and Thieves and Joseph incorporated it into his artwork. I am so grateful.

I hope you love deeply. We and our family love deeply.