Hello and thank you for visiting my site. I am the daughter of an Italian-American avid reader and an Arkansas farm boy turned world traveler. Raised in the Middle East, I experienced a scary brush with a cholera epidemic, as well as an emergency evacuation from Libya when Colonel Muammar Gaddafi seized power. After returning to a tamer existence in the U.S., I watched a BBC miniseries at an impressionable age and developed a morbid fascination with Henry VIII’s headless wives. I hold these poor women personally responsible for my lifelong obsession with all things murderous and British.
In college, I majored in English with no clue as to how I meant to support myself, eventually earning an M.A. and becoming a high school English teacher. I like to read mysteries of all kinds and nineteenth-century novels—the fatter the better.
Published by Poisoned Pen Press, my Regency mysteries are set in a time when the nobs (people of wealth and distinction) were mad for the waltz, King George III was just plain mad, and Britain battled the “Corsican Monster” Napoleon. The series follows the exploits of a Bow Street Runner, an unconventional lady, and a melancholic barrister—none of whom are nobs.
These days I am excited to be launching a new series set half a century later in 1861 when women wore enormous crinoline petticoats, Queen Victoria was about to become “the Widow of Windsor” after the loss of her beloved Albert, and Britannia ruled the waves. Safe in Death: An Esther Hardy Victorian Mystery introduces a “redundant” spinster, who finds her purpose in life as a woman detective.
I do occasionally step out of the past, and I love to hear from readers! Please sign up for my mailing list and receive a free short story—or you can email me directly at skrizzolo@gmail.com
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