Rachel Goddard

Rachel Goddard is the lead character of the Rachel Goddard Series of mystery novels by Sandra Parshall. The first novel of the series was “The Heat of the Moon” that was first published in 2006 to much popularity among fans. Parshall was born in South Carolina and asserts that her first paying gig was penning the obituary column for “The Spartanburg Herald” her local newspaper. She became a reporter after she wrote an exceptional feature that she presented to an editor who loved it. Her great work in her hometown paper opened doors for her as she went on to write for “The Baltimore Evening Sun” and several papers in West Virginia. She was involved in the writing of anything from experiences of Native Americans, school board meetings, poverty in Appalachia, health care in prisons, mining disasters, and even a private interview of Hugh Hefner. Nonetheless, she had always loved stories growing up and remembers “To Kill a Mocking Bird” as a novel that had a particularly significant impact on her as a teenager. It was reading that novel that finally led her towards a career in writing. Despite living in small town and calling the local police chief grandfather, she was never into the suspense/mystery genre until at dream changed all that. A year later, she had written and published “The Heat of the Moon” with Poisoned Press which went on to win Best First Novel at the Agatha Awards.