Mary Coley is a native Oklahoman, where she has worked as a naturalist, journalist, environmental educator and communications officer. An award-winning writer, Coley has twice been named a Creative Woman of Oklahoma, and has been a finalist in the Oklahoma Book Awards and a two-time finalist in the New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards. Blood on the Cimarron is her fifth novel. She has also written a nonfiction environmental education book for children and numerous education curriculums. Coley lives in Tulsa and in Santa Fe, New Mexico.