Daisy Pettles is the pen name of novelist Vicky Phillips, who was born in Bedford, Indiana.
She grew up in the tiny river town of Medora, Indiana. Her parents, “Junie and Deanie,” ran the corner gas station and ice cream stand.
She learned to read while sitting on her grandmother’s lap, under an apple tree in Brownstown, Indiana. As a child, she was fed a steady diet of books, pies, and Bible stories.
After graduating from one of the smallest public high schools in Indiana, Medora High School, in 1977, she attended DePauw University, where she was graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
A world traveler, she has lived in San Francisco, London, and Athens. She has raced camels in Egypt and eaten Kentucky Fried Chicken with Communists in Shanghai.
She was a therapist before becoming an Internet entrepreneur, designing America’s first online university counseling system in 1989.
Her current home lies at the end of a dirt road in Vermont. For all her travels, her heart remains a Hoosier. She loves persimmon pudding and stories where good stomps all over evil.
The Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, a humorous cozy mystery series set in the fictitious town of Knobby Waters, Indiana (Pawpaw County), is her award-winning, debut, southern mystery novel series.
The Shady Hoosier Series won the Gold Medal as Best Humor Book 2019 from the Indie Reader, the Next Generation Indie Book Awards, and the American Fiction Awards. The debut series was also an IPPY Award medalist as Best Cozy Mystery 2019 in the national Independent Book Publisher’s Awards.
Press Kit
Author Daisy Pettles
If you’re writing about Daisy Pettles, or her humorous mystery and crime novel series, the Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, feel free to use bios, pull quotes, materials, and photos from the fast facts on this page.
> Ghost Busting Mystery (Book 1)
> Chickenlandia Mystery (Book 3)
BOOK Reviewers – NetGalley
If you’re a book blogger or reviewer you can download a complimentary copy of Chickenlandia at NetGalley until Dec. 15 2019.
For PRESS REVIEW copies, email Daisy!
BOOK Reviewers – Good Reads
Visit Book 1: The “Ghost Busting Mystery” GoodReads review page.
Visit Book 2: The “Baby Daddy Mystery” GoodReads review page.
Visit Book 3: The “Chickenlandia Mystery” GoodReads review page.
Daisy Pettles Biographies
We provide three bio lengths (100, 200, and 250 words) for ease of use by media sources.
Scroll down the page to find photos and logos you may download for use in your stories.
Background pull quotes can also be obtained from these informative articles and Q & A blog interviews with Daisy:
- Why Set a Mystery Series in Southern Indiana?
- Mystery Author Bets on Women Baby Boomer Readers
- Daisy Pettles Indie Pub Success with Award-Winning Humorous Mystery Series
- Indiana Author Writes About Missing Gold, Ghosts & Treasure
If you have specific interview questions you’d like answered or need additional press materials drop Daisy a note.
She loves to guest blog about mysteries, humor, comedy writing, the writing life, small town America, country life, growing up in the 60’s and the 70’s, and other fun baby boomer stuff
Daisy Pettles
Short Bio (100 Words)
Daisy Pettles is the pen name of Vicky Phillips, born in Bedford, Indiana and raised in the tiny farming community of Medora. As a child, she was fed a steady diet of books, pies, and Bible stories. A world traveler, she has raced camels in Egypt and eaten Kentucky Fried Chicken with Communists in Shanghai. She was a therapist before becoming an entrepreneur and award-winning writer. She currently lives in a cloud of peace and quiet at the end of a dirt road in Vermont. The Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, humorous crime comedy novels set in Knobby Waters, Indiana, is her debut mystery series.
Daisy Pettles
Medium Bio (200 Words)
Daisy Pettles is the pen name of Vicky Phillips, born in Bedford, Indiana, and raised in the tiny farming community of Medora, where her parents ran the corner gas station and ice cream stand.
She learned to read while sitting on her grandmother’s lap, under an apple tree in Brownstown, Indiana. As a child, she was fed a steady diet of books, pies, and Bible stories.
After graduating from Medora High School in 1977, she attended DePauw University, where she was graduated Phi Beta Kappa.
A world traveler, she has lived in San Francisco, London and Athens. She has raced camels in Egypt and eaten Kentucky Fried Chicken with Communists in Shanghai.
She was a therapist before becoming an Internet entrepreneur, designing America’s first online university counseling system in 1989.
She currently lives in a cloud of peace and quiet at the end of a dirt road in Vermont. For all her travels, she remains a Hoosier at heart. She loves persimmon pudding and feel-good stories where Good stomps all over Evil.
The Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, a humorous crime comedy series set in the fictitious small southern town of Knobby Waters, Indiana, is her debut cozy mystery series.
Daisy Pettles
Long Bio (250 Words)
Daisy Pettles is the pen name of Vicky Phillips, born in Bedford, Indiana. She grew up in her father’s hometown of Medora, Indiana, where he ran a Phillips 66 gas station while her mother ran the local ice cream stand. She learned to read on her grandmother’s lap, sitting under an apple tree on High Street, in Brownstown, Indiana, where she was fed a steady diet of books, pies, and Bible stories.
Graduating Medora High School in 1977, she attended DePauw University, where she was graduated Phi Beta Kappa, Summa Cum Laude with a bachelor’s in psychology before earning her graduate degree in psychology from Antioch University.
A world traveler, she has lived in San Francisco, London, and Athens. She has raced camels in Egypt and eaten Kentucky Fried Chicken with Communists in Shanghai.
She spent her early years training as a therapist before becoming an Internet entrepreneur, designing America’s first online university system in 1989 and earning the US News & World Report career accolade of “for twenty years America’s leading consumer advocate for online college students.”
Her non-fiction writings have appeared in hundreds of national markets ranging from essays and articles in Salon, CNN and Nation’s Business, to college textbooks, software and guidebooks from The Princeton Review, Macmillan, and Simon & Schuster.
An angel investor, one of her current passion projects is investing in social entrepreneurs and start-ups which develop natural and affordable healthcare products and services.
The Shady Hoosier Detective Agency, set in the fictitious small, southern, river town of Knobby Waters, Indiana, is Daisy Pettles’s debut humorous cozy mystery novel series. The series chronicles the hijinks of two nosy retired ladies and lifelong friends, Ruby Jane Waskom and Veenie Goens.
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Daisy Pettles
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Daisy Pettles
LOGO 2
Daisy Pettles helping her brother-in-law, Martin, of Bedford, Indiana, select pies from the emergency, self-service pie shed operated by her Underhill, Vermont neighbors at Poorhouse Pies.
The Ghost Busting Mystery, Book 1 of Daisy’s Shady Hoosier Detective novel series, features an emergency pie shed in the fictitious town of Knobby Waters, Indiana.
Poorhouse Pies and their self-service pie shed have been featured in Yankee Magazine and in the PBS documentary on the search for the great American pie.
Just so you know, they also make the world’s best homemade doughnuts in their kitchen on holiday Sundays and sell them from a folding table in their front yard.
Daisy’s grandmother, who helped raise her, had an 8th grade diploma but loved to read as well as make up poems and stories.
When Daisy was in second grade her grandma helped her make a series of booklets. “Bucky the Deer and Elsy the Cow Helps Refus the Squirrel,” a moral tale, was the first book issued in that 1965 series.
Contact Daisy Pettles
To contact author Daisy Pettles for readings or book signings, or to book her as a special events host for your library, book reading group or fundraiser, complete the form below.
If you’re interested in licensing subsidiary rights for any of her novels, including The Shady Hoosier Detective Series, use the contact form below.
Book Reviewers: Daisy would be happy to provide review copies of her books.
Just complete the form below.
Give us a link to your blog or magazine or consumer review accounts, such as Good Reads, Net Galley or Amazon. Specify also which format you prefer for e-reading.
Please be specific in submitting your request. Daisy will get back to you ASAP.
Don’t be shy.
She loves hearing from her readers, book lovers, other authors, and Hoosiers of all stripes.
She is actively accepting queries for guest blog posts and is interested in joining writing and blog circles with other great mystery and humor authors.
