“The Marriage of Silence and Sin” has won the SILVER MEDAL for the 2011 Independent Publisher Book Awards for the mystery/suspense/thriller category. If you like Jodi Picoult or Stieg Larsson, the book will grab you and run. The plot-driven story takes the reader on an electric ride from the sleepy banks of the Ohio to Ciudad Juarez, unfolding a grisly mystery. Dicey Carmichael, a quirky British literature professor, is faced with the alleged suicide of a friend and former student. Convinced the death was a tragedy much more sinister, Dicey draws her best friend, Gale Knightly, an uptight, fast-track lawyer, into the lethal web to help uncover the horrific truth.

Desperate to find answers, Dicey and Gale turn to the artwork the young woman left behind. Her provocative and disturbing paintings give voice to the tortured past she could not confess in life. But was her past so dark that she preferred death over life?

What if the young artist knew that someone she loved was in danger? Perhaps then she would speak out—even if it meant forfeiting her life at the hands of a killer. As Dicey and Gale dig deeper into the mystery of the girl’s death, they find disturbing connections within their own lives. As they seek to give voice to their dead friend, the women must first face their own fears and prejudices to finally uncover the murderer. Will the best friends untangle the tragedy before death strikes again, but this time much closer to home?

Draped in wit and irony, “The Marriage of Silence and Sin” is a riveting, cautionary tale that explores the intermingling of human experiences, choice and fate in molding the human condition.

“Many of the secrets revealed in ‘The Marriage of Silence and Sin’ are dark indeed, yet Lyon never wallows in them nor uses them for gratuitous purposes. . . . The characters are vibrant, believable, and relevant to the contemporary world. . . . Lyon’s debut novel is well worth reading. She is a writer to watch for in the future.” – Janine Stinson, ForeWord Clarion Review

Jacqueline M. Lyon holds a master’s degree in Education with a concentration in English from Xavier University and a master’s degree in Health Planning and Administration from the University of Cincinnati. After beginning her career in the corporate world, she changed tack and entered academia. Today, she teaches writing and literary survey courses at Xavier University. Although The Marriage of Silence and Sin is her first novel, she is a published poet who views writing as “a passionate exploration seeking to uncover the internal and external factors that shape the human condition.” She lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with her husband, Michael, and her two daughters, and is currently at work on her second manuscript.

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