Helaine Mario is the author of four novels of suspense. FIREBIRD is a stand-alone Cold War suspense novel. The three novels in the Maggie O'Shea Classical Music Suspense series are THE LOST CONCERTO, DARK RHAPSODY and SHADOW MUSIC.

New York City born and raised, Helaine is a Boston University graduate. She married in 1969 and moved to Connecticut to raise her two children, volunteer at Save the Children, and write for the local newspaper.

In 1985, Helaine’s life took an unpredictable turn when her husband’s career brought her family to Potomac, Maryland. For all eight years of the Clinton Presidency, she was a White House volunteer for Tipper and Al Gore, and continues to be a passionate advocate for public service and women & children’s issues.

Because Helaine believes strongly in “giving back,” she has worked on several non-profit boards and, in 1998, founded The SunDial Foundation, Inc., which benefited our most vulnerable women, children and families for 20 years. She also created Project PJs, offering new books, bears and pajamas to under-served children in the community. Now, the Helaine and Ronald Mario Fund continues to support some 40 charities. All royalties from book sales go to programs that support reading, music, art, nutrition and scholarship programs for children and families

Helaine and her husband, Ron, now spend their time in Arlington, Virginia --- where she continues her advocacy work --- and Cape May, New Jersey.

She is grateful to be a cancer survivor and is most proud of her two children and five beautiful grandchildren. Her son, Sean, is the pianist who inspired the classical music background in THE LOST CONCERTO.

When it comes to writing, Helaine wants, more than anything, to tell a good story, create characters with depth, and paint pictures with words. To make people feel. She wants to be a storyteller forever.

Books by Helaine Mario

Shadow Music

by Helaine Mario - Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller

Late in the Cold War, a young woman escapes from Communist Hungary, vanishing into the night with a priceless painting and a baby girl --- setting events in motion from a decades-old secret that will change lives for generations to come. Many years later, classical pianist Maggie O’Shea is drawn to Cornwall in search of a long-lost Van Gogh and the truth behind her husband’s death. A journal from World War II Paris holds many of the answers, but only two people know where the Van Gogh is hidden now --- a courageous nun and a man presumed dead. Maggie finds herself on a collision course with three dangerous Russians who threaten all she holds dear --- including her life and the life of the man she has come to love.