About The Artist

From her first visit to the Caribbean, award-winning artist and author Mary Montague Sikes has been enchanted with the islands. Her love of the tropics inspired her to set her first novel, Hearts Across Forever, in Jamaica. Because of Sikes’ fascination with exotic destinations, her publisher created the Passenger to Paradise series for some of her books. She is author of seven novels and five non-fiction books, including Hotels to Remember, a coffee-table art book. A Fredericksburg, Virginia native, Sikes is a graduate of the University of Mary Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in psychology. Following her love of art, she studied painting and sculpture at the College of William and Mary and earned a MFA in painting from Virginia Commonwealth University. She maintains studio/galleries at Petersburg Regional Art Center in Petersburg and has been featured in numerous one-woman shows in the United States and Canada. A freelance writer and photographer as well as artist and book author, Sikes presents programs for art, writing, and civic organizations. For more information on Sikes, her books and art, please visit http://marymontaguesikes.blogspot.com and www.marymontaguesikes.com . Her latest Passenger to Paradise novel, Jungle Jeopardy, is a sequel to Secrets by the Sea and features adventures among the lost ruins of the Maya in Central America. An exhibition of her large Maya Ruins paintings is currently on view in Gallery One at Crossroads Art Center, 2016 Staples Mill Road in Richmond, Virginia.