Maine native Kate Flora’s fascination with people’s criminal tendencies began in the Maine attorney general’s office. Deadbeat dads, people who hurt their kids, and employers’ discrimination aroused her curiosity about human behavior. The author of twenty-four books and many short stories, Flora’s been a finalist for the Edgar, Agatha, Anthony, and Derringer awards.
She won the Public Safety Writers Association award for nonfiction and twice won the Maine Literary Award for crime fiction. Her most recent Thea Kozak Mystery is Death Sends a Message; her most recent Joe Burgess novel is A World of Deceit. She is also the author of the crime story collection, Careful What You Wish For: Stories of Revenge, Retribution, and the World Made Right. Encircle published her domestic thriller, Teach Her a Lesson, in May 2023, and her new suspense thriller, Burn the Diaries and Run, was just released on October 22, 2024.
Flora is a founding member of the New England Crime Bake and the Maine Crime Wave and runs the blog Maine Crime Writers at mainecrimewriters.com. Flora’s nonfiction focuses on aspects of the public safety officers’ experience. She divides her time between Massachusetts and Maine, where she gardens and cooks and watches the clouds when she’s not imagining her character’s dark deeds. She occasionally swims in the shark-filled sea. She’s been married for decades to an excellent man. Her sons edit films and hang out in research labs.
