MEET THE AUTHOR
ABOUT MARGARET
Margaret A. Blenkush is the author of the award-winning Dr. M.E. Senty Series.
The Doctor of Bellechester, Book One, received a Gold Medal at the 2024 Next Generation Independent Book Awards, 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite and Reader Views, and was a finalist in the 2022 Wishing Shelf Awards. The book also won Honorable Mention at the 2023 Catholic Media Book Awards in the Catholic Novel and Best Cover Artwork categories.
Book Two, Welcome to Bellechester received a Silver Medal at the 2024 Next Generation Independent Book Awards, 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite and Reader Views and was a 2025 finalist in the Chanticleer Mystery & Mayhem awards.
Blenkush began writing at the age of ten. She created fan fiction stories featuring her favorite television characters. These stories were written for her own amusement and only shared with her twin sister. During the COVID pandemic of 2020 Blenkush began writing again. Her favorite television program, The Father Brown Mysteries on PBS became the foundation for a fan fiction piece. For her story, Blenkush created the character of Dr. Mary Elizabeth Senty. This character so captivated her imagination that she scrapped the fan fiction idea and decided to build a story around Dr. Senty. The daily news stories reporting on the isolation senior citizens experienced during the pandemic touched Blenkush’s heart. She decided to write a book that would whisk readers away to a different time (1959) and a different place (UK) thus hoping to ease people’s loneliness and provide them with a few hours of entertainment.
Fans of The Father Brown Mysteries and books about small-town life such as Patrick Taylor (Ballybucklebo, Northern Ireland), Jon Hassler (Staggerford, Minnesota) and Ann B. Ross (Abbotsville, North Carolina) might enjoy these cozy stories set in Shropshire, UK. Award judges and reviewers and praise the Dr. M.E. Senty series for its relatable characters and authentic dialogue. Readers frequently report that they get so caught up in the story that they find it difficult to put the book down.
Blenkush received a B.A. from the College of St. Benedict in 1977 (Theology major/ Psychology minor.) She was awarded a Master’s degree in Theology with an emphasis in Systematics from St. John’s University, Collegeville, MN in 1988. Blenkush served in several parishes within the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as a Director of Religious Education (1977-1990). A life long desire to become a librarian led her to the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee where she earned a Masters in Library and Information Science in 1991. She landed her dream job in 1992 working as Director of the Instructional Services Center for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Running the video library enabled her to combine her library skills with her love of theology. A highlight of her job was co-producing the video, We Are Called: Catholic Social Teaching for Today which was viewed in parishes all across the United States. Blenkush also served several terms on the Board of the National Association of Catechetical Media Professionals (NACMP). In late 2004 she contracted a rare auto-immune disease called GPA (Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis) and suffered a stroke. This led to a medical retirement in 2005.
Blenkush writes from her childhood home in South St. Paul, Minnesota where she enjoys the changing seasons. A gardener of flowers and vegetables she receives great satisfaction baking zucchini bread, freezing beans and tomatoes and making strawberry jam from the bounty of her garden. Other pastimes include: working sudoku puzzles, watching WILD hockey games and going for walks. She is an Oblate of St. Benedict’s Monastery, St. Joseph, Minnesota since 2010. Since the mid-1980’s, she and her identical twin have been enrolled in the Minnesota Twin Study. Currently, they are participating in a study on twins and aging.
