Mary Vermillion is a Professor of English at Mount Mercy University and the author of three lesbian mystery novels. They are all set in Iowa, and feature the plucky and neurotic radio personality, Mara Gilgannon. Mary’s first novel, Death by Discount, a finalist for two Lambda awards, portrays Walmart’s impact on small-town America. Her second, Murder by Mascot, provides a darkly comic look at homophobia and sexual violence in the world of Division I basketball. Her third, Seminal Murder, features a murder in a sperm bank, and explores the differences between lesbians who want to parent and lesbians who don’t. She and her husband, Benjamin Thiel, live in Iowa City with their cats, Bubbles and Squeaks.
Dual Memoir
Mary and Ben are proud queer elders who are seeking a publisher for their dual memoir. It’s a love story about his gender transition and how it impacted each of them and their marriage. Twenty-eight years this August! It is tentatively titled All the Changes: A Marriage Transitions.
They read from an early draft of their memoir during Pride 2016 at First Methodist Church in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
They also discussed an early version of their memoir during a 2014 Pride Special. Listen here.
Other Writing
Mary has two pieces forthcoming in Sinister Wisdom. One explores her experience on the collective for an Iowa City journal called Common Lives/Lesbian Lives, and one is titled “How Can a Woman Who Is Married to a Trans Man Call Herself a Lesbian?”
In 2018, Mary started a blog called Midway. It was inspired by her own “midlife,” her husband’s gender transition, the 2016 presidential election, and a longtime fascination with in-betweenness.
That same year, she also reissued her three lesbian mystery novels with newly designed covers by Mount Mercy University alumna Morgan Ortmann.
If you’d like to hear Mary discuss her novels, visit The Liz McMullen Show and listen here. On another episode of the show, Mary read from her third novel, Seminal Murder, and two essays, one about coming out and one about her partner’s gender transition. You can listen here. And in 2013, Mary read at Creighton University. Part of this event is on YouTube.