Neighbors: Nadja Bernitt

Nadja Bernitt is a woman who has had many different careers and titles throughout her years — social worker, multi-state adoption-program director, speech writer, lifestyle writer, personnel and volunteer, just to name a few.

But most recently, she has been taking pride in her newest career as a published mystery novelist. Bernitt recently released her first book, “Final Grave,” through iUniverse, a self-publishing company. Locally, the book is available at Circle Books, and she will host her first signing there at 1 p.m. April 13.

“I was smiling for days,” Bernitt says about her seeing her story in print. “I thought Friday the 13th was the perfect day for a mystery novel book signing.”

However, although the book only recently became available to the public, her work for it began more than a decade ago when she was a volunteer with the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office. Bernitt took the position to learn about police procedure. Today, she attributes the authenticity of her writing to the deputies with whom she worked, specifically Kathy Duff. Both women had backgrounds in social work and became friends. Bernitt’s protagonist, Meri Ann Fehr, was created thanks to Duff’s influence.

“She was the most influential female deputy I knew, and she was a detective for a while,” Bernitt says. “Some of the stories she would tell me greatly influenced the way I wrote my detective. She had a life. Everybody has a life. I think that is what is missing from a lot of mystery novels — what detectives do in their off-time.”

After penning several different manuscripts, one called “Grave Depiction” emerged as the clear favorite. Beginning on Siesta Key and eventually moving to Boise, Idaho, the story won the Florida First Coast Writers’ Festival’s top prize in 2003.

From there, Bernitt signed with a literary agent in hopes of having her book published by a big publishing house. But, as the years passed without a contract, Bernitt began to put her dreams of being a mystery novelist aside. She felt life was passing her by while she was continuously writing, and she decided she was going to live her life.

“I said, ‘I am going to enjoy my husband and just go play,’” she says. “I left all the manuscripts on the shelf, and I took a trip from Vancouver to Hong Kong, and I took cruises.”

But, when Bernitt got back from her adventures, she realized the manuscripts were still waiting for her.

“My friend said, ‘At least publish it yourself,’” she says. “I thought, ‘Well it would get rid of all those boxes of manuscripts.’”

Bernitt renamed the novel “Final Grave,” which, in addition to Circle Books, is now available online at barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.

Mystery writing had not always been Bernitt’s calling. After four years of working as the director for a multi-state adoption program, Northwest Adoption Exchange, Bernitt moved from Boise to New York to continue her work in social services.

After earning her master’s degree, Bernitt took a position at Fairchild Republic, an aerospace firm. There, she met her husband, Robert, and, one year after their wedding, the couple found their way to Siesta Key in 1998.

“I love living here,” she says. “We are ‘islanders’ now, and once you live on an island, it is a distinction. I don’t know what it is, but it is different than living on the mainland. I love downtown Sarasota, but it is just so relaxed here.”