Darla S. Bartos has lived in Malamulele, Bryanston and Nelspruit, South Africa, as well as Zevenhuizen, the Netherlands, and various points across the U.S.Living in Africa and experiencing a beautiful and peaceful existence there with a group of wonderful Catholic nuns, Darla’s imagination took off when she returned to the U.S. She set her mystery novels in a place she loves and where she has spent a good deal of time – Malamulele, South Africa where she volunteered at the Holy Rosary School for several months at a time from 2000 to 2009.Midnight in Malamulele begins with fictional characters Annabelle Chase, a former crime reporter, who links up with Detective Baloyi to solve a murder in a convent of nuns. Her best friend, Sister Bridget, is an immediate suspect. Annabelle must prove her innocence. The search for the real killer takes Baloyi and Annabelle into a world of ritual killers.Darla has been published in Fair Lady and the Star in South Africa; You and Yours, Sydney, Australia; Asbury Park Press, Neptune, NJ; The New York Times, New York, NY; The Plain Dealer, Cleveland, Ohio; The Oregonian, Portland, OR; both the Arkansas Gazette and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Little Rock, AR; D & B News, New York, NY and others.After receiving a Master’s Degree in Journalism from Columbia University, Darla pursued work as a writer and crime reporter, teaching communications at the Metropolitan State University of Denver and at Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado.South Africa inspired her to transition from freelancing for newspapers and magazines to fabricating other worlds. Now she writes full time and enjoys the fruits of her labor – the five children she raised on three continents — and many grandchildren.