Born and raised in North Carolina, I feel most at home in a rural setting where the smell of fresh cut hay lingers. I have an adult son and daughter and nine grandchildren (yes, there is a set of twins in there!), and a brown border collie named Finn who happily sports her own fanbase. I confess to having enjoyed the writing prompts given in junior high English class and I'm a sucker for old photographs.

I'm honored to have won the 2013 GRACE Award for Excellence in Faith-based Fiction for my debut novel, THE RISING. I am also humbled to say I'm the first woman in 10 years to win the St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America Best 1st PI Novel Competition with WINK OF AN EYE (Minotaur Books, 2014). The book went on to be named a 2014 Shamus Award finalist for Best 1st P.I. Novel.