Cozy mystery Dead Air and Double Dares, Janis Thornton's second book in the Elmwood Confidential series, was released in June 2017 and continues the adventures of Elmwood Gazette editor Crystal Cropper and friends. Dust Bunnies and Dead Bodies, published in 2014, was Janis' first novel. 

Janis also is the author of two local history books, Images of America: Tipton County and Images of America: Frankfort, and is a contributor to Undeniably Indiana, a bicentennial project from Indiana University Press. In the works for a 2018 release is No Place Like Murder, a collection of 15 true crime stories that rocked the East-Central Indiana counties of Clinton, Hamilton, Howard, Madison, and Tipton between 1869 and 1950. 

She is a member of Sisters in Crime, the Indiana Writers Center, the Midwest Writers Workshop Planning Committee, the Tipton County Historical Society, and the Tipton County Chamber of Commerce. She lives in a small, Indiana town not unlike Elmwood.

HONORS
• One of 25 authors featured at the 2016 Indy Author Fair at Indianapolis' Central Library
• One of 85 invited authors at the Indiana State Historical Societyʼs 2012 and 2014 Holiday Author Fairs
• Finalist in the East Texas Writers' Guild Book Awards Contest, 2015 and 2016
• Midwest Writers Workshop Fiction Writers Fellow, 2009
• Finalist in the 2009 Daphne du Maurier Kiss of Death Contest for unpublished paranormal romance, Dead Wait
• Winner of six first-place awards from the Hoosier State Press Association annual Better Newspaper Contest (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2007); part of the Frankfort Times news team that won first-place awards for two continuing series (2007 and 2008)
• Received first-place award in journalism from Women in Communications, 2005
• Smiles Unlimited Founders Award, 2005

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