About Charmain
Charmain Zimmerman Brackett grew up in a picturesque Southern neighborhood where most of her neighbors were retirees. She found friends within the pages of the books she read. Her earliest friends were Nancy Drew, Little Bear and Ramona. Her love of reading led her to pursue a bachelor of arts in English from Augusta College. She started working for The Augusta Chronicle while she was still in college and has written for that publication for more than 30 years. She’s currently its art columnist and features writer. In 2018, she was named the Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media person of the year. She also wrote for Fort Gordon’s Signal newspaper for 11 years and a feature she wrote for the Army newspaper received second place at the Department of the Army level in the 2008 Keith L. Ware journalism competition.
She has written several novels including the 2014 Yerby Award for Fiction winner, The Key of Elyon. Other titles include Elyon’s Cipher, Elyon’s Light and Fixed in the Tempest. She has published six mystery novellas in the Victoria James Mystery Series. The first three, Murder at Twin Oaks, Murder at the Masquerade and Murder in Threes, are on Amazon for Kindle and are combined into a paperback anthology called Murder Runs Deep. The second set of three novellas, Murder in Session, Murder Special Edition and Murder in Chambers, have been combined into a second paperback anthology, Murder’s Deep Secrets.
Her first children’s book, Little Pearl’s Circus World, is based on the true story of her great-grandmother who began performing in the circus owned by her father when she was 4 years-old. It combines an illustrated story based on the writings of Pearl’s daughter, Juanita LaComa Zimmerman, with a history of the circus and family photographs. The book won the 2015 Georgia Author of the Year Award. Judge Peggy Mercer called it a “delightful read, great illustrations. A true winner for children.” She released her second children’s book, Nutcrackers and Pirates: A Boy’s Journey Into Dance in December 2015.
Her latest series is called Grace’s Augusta Mysteries. and the books are set in the author’s hometown of Augusta, Ga. Murder Under the Magnolias is the first novel followed by Murder En Pointe and Murder Makes the Ballot. The fourth book, Murder Makes a Mistake, was released in November 2018.
All of her books are available at Amazon. Click the button below to visit her Amazon author page.