Kathy Hogan Trocheck has published 17 novels, 10 critically-acclaimed mysteries under her own name and seven other bestselling novels writing as Mary Kay Andrews. A native of St. Petersburg, Florida, Trocheck earned a B.A. in journalism from the University of Georgia in 1976. She started her professional journalism career in Savannah, Georgia, where she covered the real-life murder trials which were the basis of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. She left journalism after a ten-year stint as a reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her first book, Every Crooked Nanny, featuring a clever, snoopy housecleaner named Callahan Garrity, appeared in 1992. It was followed by seven other Garrity novels including To Live and Die in Dixie (1993), Homemade Sin (1994), Happy Never After (1995), Heart Trouble (1996), Strange Brew (1997), Midnight Clear (1998), and Irish Eyes (2000). The two Truman Kicklighter novels were Lickety Split (1996) and Crash Course (1997).The first novel to be published under the name Mary Kay Andrews was Savannah Blues (2002). It was followed by Little Bitty Lies (2003); Hissy Fit (2004); the New York Times bestseller, Savannah Breeze (2006); the New York Times bestseller, Blue Christmas (2007); Deep Dish (2008); and the New York Times bestseller, The Fixer Upper (2009).Her mysteries have been nominated for the Agatha, Anthony, Edgar, and Macavity Awards.As a lifelong "junker" the author claims to know the location of every promising thrift store, flea market, and junkpile in the southeastern United States, plus many parts of Ohio.She is a frequent lecturer and writing teacher at workshops including Emory University, The University of Georgia's Harriet Austin Writer's Workshop, the Tennessee Mountain Writer's Workshop, and the Antioch Writer's Workshop. Her mysteries have been nominated for the Edgar, Anthony, Agatha and Macavity Awards.Married to her high school sweetheart, she is the mother of two grown children and a proud grandmother. After a brief hiatus in Raleigh, NC, she and her husband moved back to their old neighborhood in Atlanta, where they live in a restored 1926 Craftsman bungalow. She divides her time between Atlanta and her restored beach cottage on Tybee Island, GA.