Julie Smith (novelist)

Julie Smith (born November 25, 1944 in Annapolis, Maryland) is an American mystery writer, the author of nineteen novels and several short stories. She received the 1991 Edgar Award for Best Novel for her sixth book, New Orleans Mourning (1990).

Born November 25, 1944 in Annapolis, Maryland she grew up in Savannah, Georgia. She graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1965 then worked as a journalist for sixteen years, beginning as a reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune. She then moved on to the San Francisco Chronicle, where she eventually became the first woman hired for the newsroom since World War II and spent the next ten years as a general assignment and court reporter. She later worked for the Santa Barbara News-Press, for Banana Republic as an advertising and catalogue copy writer, and for the San Francisco District Attorney's office as a public information officer.

She quit the Chronicle in 1979 to form a freelance writing and editing firm called Invisible Ink with several other aspiring fiction writers, including Marcia Muller. In 1982 Smith published her first novel.

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