Kelly Oliver

Kelly Oliver is the author of four award-winning bestselling mystery series and dozens of nonfiction books. Kelly grew up in the Northwest—Montana, Idaho, and Washington states. Her maternal grandfather was a forest ranger committed to saving the trees, and her paternal grandfather was a logger hell bent on cutting them down. The only thing they agreed on was Canadian rye whiskey. On both sides, her ancestors were some of the first settlers in Northern Idaho. She went from eating a steady diet of wild game shot by her dad (and playing drums with their hooves) to becoming a vegetarian while studying philosophy and pondering animal minds at Northwestern University where she got a PhD in philosophy. Competing with peers who’d come from private schools and posh families “back East” her working-class backwoods grit served her well. And much to her parent’s surprise, she managed to feed and clothe herself as a professional philosopher before giving up academia to become a mystery writer. Her Jessica James Mysteries are contemporary suspense featuring a former Montana barrel racer become philosophy graduate student. Sound familiar? If James Patterson and Janet Evanovich had a love child, meet Jessica James. The Jessica James Mysteries have won the IPPY Award for BEST Mystery, The Silver Falchion Award for BEST Suspense, the Mischief and Mayhem Award for BEST Mystery, the E-Lit Award for BEST Suspense, and the New York Book Award for BEST Crime Novel. Her cozy historical mystery series, The Fiona Figg Mysteries are set in WW1 and follow plucky file clerk turned spy Fiona Figg from London to Paris, Vienna, New York and Cairo. The first, Betrayal at Ravenswick, won a Reader's Choice Award for Historical Mystery. The second, High Treason at the Grand Hotel, was chosen by Mystery Tribune Magazine as one of the most anticipated mysteries of 2021. Mystery in Manhattan is the first in the spin-off series The Fiona Figg and Kitty Lane Mysteries, where Fiona gets a new side-kick. Arsenic at Ascot won the Silver Falchion Award for Best Historical Mystery. Kelly is also the author of The Pet Detective Middle Grade Mysteries, including Cub Reporter, Treasure Hunter, and Geocacher. The Pet Detective Mysteries have won a Reader's Choice Award for Children's Mystery, been a finalist for a Silver Falchion Award for Children's Mystery, and won a New York Book Award for BEST Children's Book. Kelly's latest series is The Detection Club Mysteries featuring Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers. Watch for the first in the series, The Case of the Christie Controversy. When she’s not writing mysteries, Kelly is emerita Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at Vanderbilt University. Kelly's nonfiction work includes over 100 articles and over twenty books, including: Hunting Girls: Sexual Violence from The Hunger Games to Campus Rape (which won a CHOICE AWARD for Outstanding Title). She has been featured on ABC news, CSPAN books, and various radio programs.