Joy Ann Ribar grew up in a small Wisconsin community where Winter is the longest season of the year, the Friday Fish Fry is a religion and Up North is a collection of wonderful memories instead of a destination. Joy loves to travel just about anywhere, but her hiking boots keep finding their way back to Wisconsin. Where else can a person find excuses to bake goodies nine months of the year as comfort from the cold? Where else is grilling brats, drinking toasts and slicing cheese considered a workout? Where else can you find celebrated supper clubs, the largest variety of year-round water activities and the most adoring football fans even when the Packers are losing? And in the current century, visitors can find something in Wisconsin they never imagined – many first-rate wineries!
Joy couldn’t imagine a better place to set a mystery series than a touristy Wisconsin lake town filled with local characters and flavors. Joy uses her main character, amateur investigator, Frankie Champagne, to showcase many of her favorite things including baking, wine tasting, birding, and hygge! What’s “hygge”, you ask? It is the Danish version of coziness; it celebrates the warmth of friendship and hominess! Joy invites you to see the many sides of Wisconsin life in her Deep Lakes Mystery Series.
Now for the official and pretentious what-not about Joy: Besides holding a Journalism degree from UW-Madison and Masters in Education from UW-Oshkosh, Joy has logged time as a waitress, chicken factory processor, Christmas tree shearer, high school secretary, newspaper reporter, paralegal and high school and college educator. Every summer, she reads and scores national AP English Literature essays for FUN! Joy shares her home with her genius husband and number one fan, John, and a backyard loaded with wildlife and flowers. She further shares her life and love with three talented daughters, five amazing step-children and 18 glorious grandchildren!