Erica Ruth Neubauer

Erica Ruth Neubauer is a historical fiction and mystery author best known for her debut novel “Murder at the Mena House”. Erica’s background probably had the most significant influence in her later career as an author of police procedurals. For more than a decade she worked in the military as a linguist specializing in the Korean language, then as a police officer before she taught high school for several years. Her father Scott Neubauer who spent more than two decades working as police chief in Palmyra raised her on old white and black mysteries including “Masterpiece Mystery” and Agatha Christie. Together, they would watch old detective shows such as Humphrey Bogart since absorbing mystery was something that they both shared. Somewhere while growing up, she became fascinated with 1920 Egypt, which she saw as a very romantic place. She used to have a picture of a fancy hotel full of elegantly dressed people where someone ends up dead. While reading “Murder At The Brightwell” by Ashley Weaver, she thought I would want to write something like that. Taking the advice to write what she wanted to read she decided to write an escapist novel set in Egypt during the 1920s. She spent years as a reviewer of crime and mystery fiction with magazines such as “Mystery Scene,” “Publishers Weekly,” “Milwaukee CrimeSpree Magazine,” and “Los Angeles Review of Books.” As such, she had a good understanding of what made a good mystery story when she started writing her debut.