Julie Hyzy
1959
An American author of award winning mystery fiction, Julie Hyzy has thrilled book lovers with her three series of novels (Alex St James, the White House Chef Mystery series, and the Manor House Mystery series) and a few other singular books. She has also written smaller works under two pseudonyms: N.C. Hyzy and S.F Hyzy. Despite her lack of any personal experience as an investigator or executive chef, she focuses the majority of her writing around three female main characters: Alex St James (investigator), Grace Wheaton (amateur sleuth in the Manor House Mysteries), and Olivia Paras (executive chef in the White House Chef Mysteries). As a little girl, Julie wrote her own mystery stories and made up her own newspaper, which her dad helped her to sell around the neighborhood. Julie fell in love with science fiction when her eighth-grade teacher gave her a copy of The October Country by Ray Bradbury. As an adult, she then tried her hand at writing science fiction but rekindled her love of mysteries becoming the mainstay of her writing career.