Kathleen Easley

Kathleen J. Easley is the author of the Brenna Wickham Haunted Mystery series, of which “Siblings and Secrets,” is book one, followed by “Families and Felons." Set in Seattle, these are contemporary murder mysteries with a paranormal twist and a hint of romantic suspense. Kathleen was born in a small town in southern Iowa from a long line of stubborn Swedes. Her maternal grandfather was the pastor of a small rural church built by Swedish immigrants. When Kathleen was five years old, the family moved to Seattle, a burgeoning city full of possibilities. They settled in a suburb just north of town where Kathleen grew up with her three siblings, eventually graduating from Shoreline High School and later, Shoreline Community College. Kathleen met the love of her life in high school. They married and built a house on acreage in a quiet rural community in the Snoqualmie Valley, east of Seattle near the foothills of the Cascade Mountains. Turns out you can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl. There, they raised three beautiful talented daughters, as well as a passel of animals, including cats, dogs, rabbits, goats, and horses. She had a pedigreed golden retriever which she trained and showed for many years, collecting fistfuls of ribbons. She also spent several years as a Girl Scout leader, then switched to 4-H where her daughters showed their dogs and horses at the fair. They even raised three golden retriever puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. She has had varied work experience, from insurance claims assistant to school bus driver, and even a stretch at Barnes and Noble as a book seller. She likes to sew quilts and make beaded jewelry. A true denizen of the Pacific Northwest, Kathleen loves deep blue water, tall green trees, and the Seattle Seahawks. On nice days, she can often be found with her husband on their boat cruising the San Juan Islands. Always an avid lover of books, one of Kathleen’s favorite childhood memories is sitting on her father’s lap while he read “Lassie Come-Home” aloud. Since then, she has read nearly everything she could get her hands on, including every animal book ever written, followed by a wide range of classics, and eventually science fiction and fantasy. But it was the enduring works of the great Gothic romantic suspense novelists Daphne Du Maurier, Mary Stewart, Victoria Holt, Barbara Michaels, and Phyllis A. Whitney that finally convinced her that those were the kinds of books she wanted to write. Smitten with mysteries, several plot ideas began to rattle around in her head, eventually materializing into the Brenna Wickham Haunted Mystery series.