Mary Meigs Atwater (1878-1956) was an American artist (studying at the Chicago Art Institute and in Paris) best known as a leader in the movement resurrecting handweaving as an art form. She organized a weaving guild and wrote several popular books and monographs on the subject. One of six well-educated daughters to Montgomery and Grace Meigs of Rock Island, Illinois, though raised in Iowa, she met her husband, Maxwell Atwater (a respected mining engineer), while studying in Paris. From there they moved to various mining camps throughout the American West (and even Bolivia and Mexico), before settling in Montana. They had two children before Maxwell died from influenza in 1919. Mary supported her family afterward through teaching, writing, and occupational therapy. Crime in Corn-Weather (published as Murder in Midsummer in the UK) appears to be Mary's sole foray into novel-length fiction. She did write at least one short story, 'El Medico, ' published in 1911 in The Century Magazine (included at the end of this volume). Her son, Montgomery Atwater (1904-1975), became an author of young adult adventure/mystery fiction, among more physical occupations (avalanche researcher, forester, rancher, and more).