Local author Diane Marquette has announced the publication of her fifth novel by Cambridge Books. Good Fridays is available in bookstores, and on the Internet in both print and ebook formats.

Describing her latest novel, Marquette says, “Good Fridays is the story of a woman who kept diaries for seven decades about growing up in Baltimore, her career, two marriages, the infant daughter she gave up for adoption, and her retirement to Maryland’s Eastern Shore. Now those diaries are about to reveal the secret that will forever change the lives of a mother and her daughter traveling to Baltimore. It’s an emotional illustration of how one person’s decision affects the lives of so many.”

Marquette is also the author of the popular Chesapeake Conference Center mystery series, which so far includes the titles In Over My Head, Too Close for Words, and Suitable for Framing. The series is inspired by Marquette’s previous employment at the Aspen Institute/Wye River Conference Centers in Queenstown on the Eastern Shore, which hosts high-level government meetings and conferences for international organizations. “Most people don’t understand what goes on at that facility, and that’s just the way the Secret Service likes it, but my series does provide a lot of behind-the-scenes surprises readers are finding interesting.”

Marquette’s first novel, also set in Maryland, is Almost Mine, a work of contemporary women’s fiction, which has received high praise for it’s depiction of the unique subject of step-grandparenting. The lesson learned from this story is that no one should ever give up on their dreams.

Each of Marquette’s five novels is available in print and ebook formats. An excerpt and synopsis of each book can be viewed on her website www.dianemarquette.com. In addition to her five novels, Marquette has written more than 150 articles, which have been published in the Baltimore Sun, the Star Democrat, Delmarva Quarterly, Delaware Beach Life, and other publications.

Marquette is a member of the Eastern Shore Writers Association, the Maryland Writers Association, the Chesapeake Chapter of Sisters in Crime, and for ten years has been on the planning committee for the Bay to Ocean Writers Conference, which is held each February at Chesapeake College.

Book signings are being scheduled in the region for the fall and winter, and Marquette will be participating in several local literary events on the Eastern Shore.