After becoming disillusioned with the journalism profession and hitting her 50th birthday in 2004, Sailboat Bend resident Deborah Sharp abandoned the news business to pen mystery novels. But not just any kind of mystery novels: Florida mystery novels.

“Things really took a serious and somber tone and none of the news was lighthearted and fun,” she said. “Like a lot of journalists, I had that forgotten manuscript in a drawer.”

Sharp describes her series - including Mama Does Time, which was released in October, and Mama Rides Shotgun, which comes out in July 2009 - as "Agatha Christie meets ‘My Name is Earl’.”

“Being a Florida native, there was nowhere else [I wanted] to set my novels,” she said. “It’s kind of cool to write about places no one else is writing about.”

Sharp attended Stranahan High School in Fort Lauderdale and Florida International University before working at the Fort Myers News-Press.

This month, she appeared at the Miami International Book Fair.