Chicago Crimewriter Beth Anderson

Chicago area resident Beth Anderson is the author of six published novels, among them one romance and five mainstream mystery/thrillers. Two of her recent books have been nominated for the International Frankfurt Award. Two were EPPIE finalists in their e-book incarnations. Her bestselling 2003 release, SECOND GENERATION, won the 2003 AllAboutMurder Bloody Dagger Award, the 2003 Rendezvous Review Magazine Rosebud Award, and the 2003 FMAM (Futures Magazine) Fire to Fly Award.

Beth started writing when she attempted a screenplay for a radio show at age eight. At age twelve she began a lucrative but short career writing love stories for her junior high girlfriends for a dollar apiece. That caper ended shortly after the principal got wind of it. She tried again a little later with Womens Day Magazine, where she won a short story contest with her story of a widower with three young sons and a divorcee with a head cold. At that point she knew she would eventually become a novelist.

After she married and raised four children, and while working as an accountant in a large corporation, she attended Illinois Benedictine College, where she earned a cum laude degree in business management. Soon after that she began writing novels part-time while working full-time. Her first full-length novel, a Harlequin Superromance titled COUNT ON ME, was followed by ALL THAT GLITTERS, Ballantine/Ivy, and DIAMONDS, Dorchester/Leisure. Once she became a full-time writer, three more of her novels were published by Amber Quill Press, all three mystery/thrillers–NIGHT SOUNDS, MURDER ONLINE, and her bestselling award-winning political thriller, SECOND GENERATION.

Beth lives in a Chicago suburb with her husband, Stan, where they are ruled by three imperialistic, unruly cats, one of whom clearly qualifies for the title of The Cat From Hell. Her children, Rick, Beth Lyn, Barb and Debbie, are scattered here and there across the U.S. She enjoys collecting porcelain dolls and watching both the Chicago Bears and the Washington Redskins win football games except at least once a year, whenever they’re playing each other and she turns to her husband and says, “Omigod, we’re beating us!”

She is currently at work on finishing her seventh novel, THE SCOUTMASTER’S WIFE — a mainstream suspense thriller, this time taking place in the haunting fishing village of Valdez, Alaska, where she spent three months researching her novel.

An accomplished public speaker, Beth has lectured at many writers’ conferences, Purdue University, Moraine Valley College, numerous bookstores and libraries, and has been active in the Literacy movement. She has been featured on the ABC Evening News and Chicago WGN’s Cathy and Judy Show, as well as other local and cable television shows.

She is always available for speaking engagements and can be contacted at: andersonbeth@comcast.net