YORK — Dawn Brotherton’s Girl Scout journey began around the first grade and, five-plus decades later, is still going strong.

As a child, Brotherton pushed herself to earn as many skill badges as possible. As a troop leader for her own two daughters, the York County resident watched her girls develop poise and self-confidence as they mastered new subjects and sold cookies.

And as a prolific, award-winning author of 21 books to date, including anthologies, she has led workshops to teach Girl Scouts of all ages about writing and publishing. That, in turn, led her to drive into an entirely unfamiliar genre: mystery theater.

Brotherton’s first-ever play, “The Great Girl Scout Cookie Mystery,” is scheduled for a sold-out debut on Sunday at the Girl Scout camp in James City County. Sixty-five Scouts have signed up to attend the five-act performance and score a “Detective” badge. A waitlist is open to scouting families and the general public.

“Young girls should be inspired to be whatever they want to be, no limits,” Brotherton said. “This will be a fun, interactive way to cover a bit of writing and crime-solving. My only rule was, ‘Don’t kill anybody.’ So, no murder mystery, but there is a cookie culprit we need to catch.”

The event is a first of its kind for the Girl Scout Council of the Colonial Coast, where Brotherton is a board member. Modeled after interactive dinner theater, the two-hour matinee at GSCCC’s Camp Skimino will include stations for fingerprinting and penning invisible messages courtesy of lemon water, cotton swabs and backlighting from a portable s’more heater.

Promotional banner for “The Great Girl Scout Cookie Mystery.” Courtesy of Girls Scouts of the Colonial Coast

“Dawn is a real role model for our girls — an extremely accomplished woman who is always embracing creative things,” said Sally Swanson, GSCCC’s philanthropy director. “She’s very encouraging to them about their writing and not being afraid to follow their passions.”

Brotherton, 59, retired from the U.S. Air Force as a colonel in 2016 after nearly 28 years of service. She began writing books while on duty and in 2010 founded an independent publishing company, Blue Dragon Publishing, which has released 96 books.

Easily bored by repetition, Brotherton has written mystery, romance, middle-school fiction, nonfiction and children’s picture books. Her steamy romance novel “Untimely Love” originally appeared under the pen name Misty Austin, as she was then still on active duty.

Brotherton has drawn from her military life and years as a softball player, coach and umpire that inspired the five-book “Lady Tigers” fiction series on sports and life lessons; her daughter, Paige, a fellow player like her older sister, Rachel, wrote the fourth installment, focused on self-esteem. She also loves quilting and painting and has dabbled in resin, 3D printing and crochet.

“I just like a challenge,” she explained, “and that all started in the Girl Scouts.”

An Ohio native, Brotherton thrived in the checklist-oriented Girl Scout badge program, developing discipline that she used throughout her military career. She originally joined the Air Force to pay tuition at The Ohio State University, where she majored in psychology. She also has a master’s in counseling psychology from Central Missouri State University.

In her 12½ years on active duty and 15 years as a reservist, Brotherton held multiple high-level leadership positions in the United States and abroad. During her final assignment, for example, she worked with members of Congress on legislative issues that affect Air Force programs, policies and weapon systems.

In 2006, Brotherton and her husband, Pete Brotherton, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel, moved to the Williamsburg area while stationed at Langley Air Force Base. They sent Rachel, now 25, and Paige, 23, to the Williamsburg Montessori School.

Brotherton enrolled her children in Girl Scouts at ages 5 and 7 and spent more than eight years as a troop leader, drawing again on her organizational skills to help her young charges pursue badges in their individual interest areas.

“The growth I saw in them was simply amazing,” she recalled. “Take the cookie sales: They’re about way more than fundraising. After a few years of doing it, these girls were able to talk easily to adults, look them in the eye, make change and hold good conversations.”

In recent years, Brotherton has led Girl Scout workshops with age-appropriate activities such as creating picture books, overcoming writers’ block, designing book covers, developing engaging plotlines and publishing. Each participant receives a signed copy of one of her books.

Dawn Brotherton with a Daisy Girl Scout at the 2024 Cookie Classic Run, where she hosted a table featuring her books. Courtesy of Girls Scouts of the Colonial Coast

“Dawn will talk to any girl who comes up to her and take the time to answer every question that comes her way,” Swanson said.

Currently, Brotherton is focused mainly on her children’s books and “cozy” mysteries, which feature amateur sleuths and no graphic violence, sex or cursing. A third book in her kids’ series on Scout, a chameleon dragon, just went off to an illustrator, and she is researching for the historical fiction components of a fourth cozy mystery that may appear in late 2026.

As for advice for aspiring young writers, Brotherton encourages reading as much as possible and joining a writers’ group for impartial feedback on drafts.

“That’s how you improve,” she noted. “You need people other than your friends and family who will tell you honestly what’s good, what doesn’t work, what’s boring, what’s confusing. Everybody benefits from that, no matter how old they are.”

Alison Johnson, ajohnsondp@yahoo.com

While the Sunday showing of “The Great Girl Scout Cookie Mystery” is sold out, a similar performance may be scheduled in the future if demand is high enough. To join a waitlist for the 2 p.m. event or to express interest, email customercare@gsccc.org. For more information on Dawn Brotherton and her books, visit dawnbrothertonauthor.com.

https://www.pilotonline.com/2025/09/11/authors-scout-journey-going-on-strong-with-cookie-whodunit/