J. Ivanel Johnson is the pen name for an author/playwright living with disability who now resides on a remote farm in the Appalachians of New Brunswick. She strives always to write about marginalized and culturally-diverse characters, many based on people from the First Nations, inner city or mountain communities where she has previously lived and taught across the UK, USA and Canada (including in SW Ontario on a rural property such as the one described in this novel.)Her historical Canadian musical Rough Notes, also set in both New Brunswick and Ontario, was just workshopped professionally thanks to a national grant, and the first book of the JUST (e)STATE mysteries (actually taking place after Just A STALE MATE, in 1971) came out in September of 2022 by Black Rose Writing.
