Hadley Hartwell
Hadley Hartwell is the pen name of Sarah Skilton, whose traditionally published novels have been published in seven territories and translated into six languages. She was a 2019 Edgar Awards judge in the best juvenile mystery category. Her love of Murder, She Wrote, cozy cat mysteries, and the Enneagram led her to create the Purrs & Personality Types mysteries, a series straight from her Type Four heart. She lives in a suburb of Los Angeles with her magician husband and teenage son. When she’s not writing or parenting, Hadley volunteers at a cat café.
Who's The Cat?
Full disclosure: the cute kitty sitting on my shoulder like a pirate's parrot is not mine, but one of many rescues living at a cat cafe in Los Angeles waiting to be adopted. My own cat, growing up in Illinois, was a Maine Coon named Amund. He was a gentle giant and I miss him to this day.
Now whenever I need a feline fix, my sister's cat Murphy answers the call.
Me and my "niece," Murphy
What Are The Nine Personality Types?
The Nine Personality Types, or Enneagram, is a theory of human nature and a toolkit for self-discovery.
"Ennea" means "nine" in Greek, so the Enneagram is a "nine diagram" that groups the nine personalities into three triads based on their ways of processing the world (through thinking, feeling, or doing), all of which affect our core motivations, behavior, and relationships.
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The Nine Types are easily recognizable. We see them in action all the time in our daily lives, whether tied to the Seven Deadly Sins, Jungian archetypes in psychology, traditional spiritualism, or pop culture.​ (Think Type A; Mother Hen; Go-getter; Melancholy Romantic; Introverted Genius; Life of the Party, etc.)
Learning about the Types can help us understand why people do the things they do.
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Or, you know, solve crimes. ;)
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Do I need to know about the Nine Personality Types to understand or enjoy the series?
Nope! I wrote this series to be accessible to everyone. No knowledge whatsoever of the Enneagram is required.
Constance will be diving into a different Personality Type for each book, as well as providing her students with overviews and reminders of the other Types throughout the series as it relates to their amateur sleuthing.
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That said, if you'd like to discover your own Type or learn more about the Enneagram, check out my Resources Page. And if you already know and love the Enneagram, I hope you'll enjoy bonus chuckles or additional insight when you read the Purrs & Personality Types series. Either way, I'm thrilled you're here.​​
What Inspired the Series?
​Murder, She Wrote was huge in my house growing up. And while binge-reading Agatha Christie few years ago, I noticed Miss Marple uses her knowledge of human nature to solve mysteries and predict behavior--and then I stumbled upon this gem in Personality Types, by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson:
"There are a number of good reasons to study personality types, the most important of which is that human beings are inherently interesting--and dangerous."(page 3, emphasis mine).
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I combined my interest in the Enneagram with my love of cats and behold, the Purrs & Personality Types cozy mystery series was born!
Why "Hadley Hartwell"?
My traditionally published books hopped between genres (whoops) and I thought it would be nice to start fresh with a cozy mystery-only name.
I've liked the name Hadley ever since I heard it on an episode of True Blood. Hadley also happens to be the name of a dried fruit orchard and gift shop near Palm Springs--one of the inspirations for the city of Cherry Hill in my books.
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In Old English, a hart is a deer or stag, and a well is a spring. It's my hope that reading these books will feel like a cool drink of water on a hot day, and a welcome escape from the outside world.
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Lastly, wells have a lot going on beneath the surface, much like each Type on the Enneagram.​
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