Emyl Jenkins

by Betsy Ashton

Betsy Ashton, born in Washington, DC, was raised in Southern California where she ran wild with coyotes in the hills above Malibu. She protested the war in Vietnam, burned her bra for feminism, and is a steadfast Independent. She is a writer, a thinker, the mother of three grown stepchildren, companion and friend. She mentors writers and writes and publishes fiction. Her first mystery, Mad Max Unintended Consequences, was published in February 2013. The second in the series, Uncharted Territory, A Mad Max Mystery, came out in April 2015. In her spare time, she is the president of the state-wide Virginia Writers Club. She loves riding behind her husband on his motorcycle. You’ll have to decide for yourself if and where she has a tattoo.

April 29, 2010


When a writer dies, so do her memories and all her experience. We lost Emyl Jenkins on April 27 at the young age of 68. If you never met Emyl, you missed a woman who was more active than her age, tireless in her mentoring of beginning writers, a story teller who loved antiques, and a member of the James River Writers. Missing as last year’s conference because she was on a book tour, she will physically missed at this year’s conference, but will be honored through our memories of this dymanic woman who loved to laugh — and to make us laugh.

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2 Comments

  1. Becky Mushko

    I met Emyl several years ago at the Roanoke Bookfest where she conducted a workshop. Through the years, we met several times again at writers conferences. She was a great lady and a wonderfully talented writer. I loved Stealing with Style, the first cozy mystery I ever read. She will be missed.

  2. Betsy Ashton

    I used to be a big cozy reader, but ODed on them — unitl I read Stealing with Style. Went back and read several of her books. You are right — Emyl was a great lady.