When I said I wanted to be a writer, my friends and family laughed. Then they read my work and laughed harder. That would've been great if I wrote comedy. Thing is, I write mysteries. But John Bellairs and S.E. Hinton inspired me to persist. By the time I got a load of Agatha Christie and Edgar Allen Poe, there was no stopping me.

I penned my first short story in fourth grade. Many others quickly followed. After high school I attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. Thanks to its lack of a core curriculum I didn’t have to bother with physics or calculus and focused exclusively on studying literature, with a little religion thrown in for good measure. While writing my senior thesis on Hemingway I penned my first novella and began experimenting with what was, to me, a whole new art form: the screenplay. That led me to the University of Miami and an MFA in communications.

Lured by Los Angeles’s infamous siren’s song, I headed west and started my career writing for Megan Fox and Rebecca Ferguson on the telenovella Ocean Avenue. From there I went on to script numerous projects for film, TV and the digital space, but a love of prose kept tugging at my heartstrings. In response, I created the Gothic world of the Elegy Isles. My first novel, Demon Season, couldn’t have taken place anywhere else. Neither could its upcoming sequel.

I also have a very cute dog.