Deborah Sharp

Like the main character in her funny, Southern-flavored mysteries, Deborah's roots were set in Florida long before Disney and ''Miami Vice.'' A native and former reporter for USA Today, she knows spots not found on maps: Molasses Junction. Muse. And now, Himmarshee, her own slice of Authentic Florida.

It's the setting for her Mace Bauer Mysteries, featuring Mace's wacky ''Mama.'' To create it, Deborah borrowed from the present-day ranching town of Okeechobee, and from the south Florida of her family's past. Deborah left a Ph.D. program in psychology to become a reporter, and then left the news biz to write light-hearted fiction. She has no plans, though, to leave her husband of 20-plus years, NBC reporter Kerry Sanders. They live in south Florida. No kids; no pets. Had goldfish once. Turned out badly.