Romantic Suspense and Mystery Novelist
 Once upon a time....
...there was a writer
I was born a writer. I can't remember a time I didn't write, though my earliest
scribbles, while I was in diapers, were not decipherable even by me. Later, I saved ideas
for school assignments and awaited opportunities to write them. My first attempt at an
epic, when I was eight, was a science fiction story so incredibly precocious that, if I
could find it, I'm sure I'd find a new calling as a writer. Well, maybe not. Still, it was
a start: the story of a young boy and girl who together explored the universe.
That's something else: I was also a born romantic. Nearly all my
fiction involves a romantic relationship. No wonder I wound up writing romance novels!
I stopped writing fiction in law school -- confusing cases and boring briefs left
little time for pleasure. But, I couldn't stay away. Soon as I could carve out time early
in the morning before work at my first law job, I wrote for fun once more. Cathartic! In
my first finished -- and as yet unpublished -- mystery, I killed off a law firm's senior
partner.
My first published fiction consisted of several short stories in Ellery Queen's
Mystery Magazine. The first, "Different Drummers," won the Robert L. Fish
Memorial Award for best first mystery short story of 1988.
Recently, my first mystery short story was
published in the Sisters of Crime, Los Angeles Chapter, mystery short
story anthology, Murder on Sunset Boulevard. It is
available on
Amazon.com.
My first novel was the 1995 Love Spell time travel romance
A Glimpse of Forever
(ISBN 0-505-52070-2).
In 1996 came
The Glass Slipper, a Love Spell faerie
tale (ISBN
0-505-52111-3).
Point in Time, a Love
Spell time travel romance, was published in 1998
(ISBN 0-505-52244-6)
, followed by
Stranger on the Mountain in 1999
(ISBN 0-505-52301-9).
In 2000, I had three books on the shelves--
Once a
Cavalier from Jove Time Passages
(
ISBN 0-515-12847-3),
The Ballad of Jack O'Dair from Love Spell
(ISBN 0-505-52404-X),
and
Alias Mommy from Harlequin Intrigue
(ISBN 0-373-22592-X).
My novella "Up on the Housetop" appeared in Love Spell's 1999
Christmas anthology
Winter Wonderland
(ISBN 0-505-52339-6).
In July 2001,
Marriage: Classified
(ISBN 0-373-22624-1), my second Harlequin Intrigue, was
published. In March 2002, my third Intrigue was published:
Operation Reunited, ISBN 0-373-22655-1, and in November
2002 my fourth intrigue was published:
Tommy's Mom,
ISBN 0-373-22688-8.
Special Agent Nanny, ISBN
0-373-22725-6 came out in September 2003,
Guardian of Her Heart, ISBN 0-373-22757-4 in February 2004 and
Lawful Engagement, ISBN 0-373-22786-8 in July 2004. My first Silhouette
Intimate Moments, Not a Moment Too Soon,
ISBN 0-373-27401-7, was published in
November 2004. This book is every writer's dream--and
nightmare--as the heroine writes stories that come true! My first
mystery made its appearance in January 2005:
Sit, Stay, Slay, ISBN 0-425-20000-0 and the second in the
Kendra Ballantyne, Pet-Sitter mystery series arrived in August 2005,
Nothing to Fear But Ferrets, ISBN
0-425-20373-5. Upcoming are
Fine-Feathered Death,
ISBN 0-425-20374-3, available now,
Meow is for Murder, ISBN 0-425-21430-3,
to be published in February 2007, and the fifth Kendra mystery,
The Fright of the Iguana, which will be an October 2007 release.
A few years ago, I left my full-time law job to devote more time to writing -- though so
far all that extra time I anticipated is still eluding me! I am a member of the
Orange County (California),
Los Angeles and
RWA Mystery-Suspense
chapters of the Romance Writers of America.
I also belong to Sisters in Crime,
Los Angeles Chapter, and my
mystery short story "Love on Sunset Boulevard" is in the SinC/LA anthology Murder
on Sunset Boulevard. It was fun getting back to my "roots" and
writing a mystery short story again. And since my first mystery novels
have
been published, I recently rejoined the Mystery
Writers of America. I live in the Los Angeles area with my
husband and my
Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, Lexie.
(We unfortunately lost Lexie’s older friend Sparquie recently.) I also
enjoy frequent visits of my two adult sons.
Please e-mail me at lojohnston@yahoo.com
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