BOOK BITTY MARTIN
Speakers Showcase
Return to main page to view all speakers.
Bitty Martin
Specialties: Crime research, writing a true-crime scene, how to write a nonfiction book proposal
Home base: Central Arkansas
Website: www.bittymartin.com
Facebook: bitty7martin
In 2014, Bitty Martin returned to her hometown of Hot Springs, Arkansas, to investigate the mysterious 1966 death of her junior high school friend. She never realized a true-crime story could help a victim’s sister and the killer’s son process the past and begin to heal, but that’s exactly what happened after the 2022 release of her debut book Snake Eyes: Murder in a Southern Town (Prometheus, 2022).
Bitty holds a BSBA in Marketing from Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She worked in research, executive leadership, financial marketing and advertising before joining the Little Rock Arkansas media community as an account executive with the Arkansas Times magazine, KATV- Channel 7/ABC affiliate and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. 
She later earned a nursing degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, became president of her college’s nursing graduates and was editor of the statewide professional nursing organization. While working as a travel nurse in operating rooms across America, she won several literary awards in healthcare publications.
Snake Eyes was selected as a “2023 Arkansas Gem” by the Arkansas State Library and Martin was awarded Best Author Finalist by the Arkansas Times magazine. She was a featured speaker at the 1st Annual Hot Springs Book Festival and the Literacy 
Council’s Read Between the Wines Soiree; and has spoken at the Six Bridges Book Festival; the Hot Springs True Crime Festival; the Austin, Texas, Women’s Antique Club; the Benton Literary Guild; the Northwest Arkansas Community College Festival of the Arts; the Arkansas Library Association’s Annual Conference; and to many organizations, groups and book clubs.
Her sophomore book, Killer Wife: The True Story of Bonnie Connelly and the Men Who Died to Love Her, will be published by Prometheus in March 2027.
In addition to her many speaking engagements for Snake Eyes, Bitty has continued her civic involvement as the past board president of the Garland County Historical Society, giving historical tours of local preservation projects. She had founded the Media Softball League (through the patronization of a local medical research business owner) and also the Capitol View Stifft Station Neighborhood Association. In 1987, as a fan of the then-popular TV show Designing Women, she brought the entire cast and crew to Little Rock for a benefit to repair the historic Villa Marre—famous as the exterior of Sugarbaker & Associates design firm in the CBS sitcom.
Bitty lives in her hometown where she enjoys researching the spa city’s history, baking, walking for good health and learning (she hopes) how to play bridge.
Suggested Topics