Author Louise Penny Bio and Signed Books

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VJ Books Presents Author Louise Penny!

Louise Penny was born in 1958 in Toronto, Ontario. As a child, she picked up her mother's love of crime fiction. She earned a Bachelor of Applied Arts in Radio and Television from Ryerson University and after graduating embarked on a career in radio that would last nearly two decades.

In her thirties, Penny met her future husband, Dr. Michael Whitehead. After their marriage, she left her radio job and set her mind to writing--she wanted to write the kind of books that she liked to read, and that her childhood self liked to read.. Five years later, with numerous rejections and on the brink of giving up, she entered her first novel into a British writing contest and won 2nd place. Thereafter, she secured a British agent and launched her new career as a novelist.

Penny's debut novel, Still Life (2005) won the New Blood Dagger award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Dilys Award, the Anthony Award, and the Barry Award, and began her series following Chief Inspector Armand Gamache. Her second novel, A Fatal Grace (2007) won an Agatha Award for Best Novel. Since then, she has published about a novel a year, and also served as executive producer for a TV movie adaptation of Still Life.

Penny and her husband enjoyed 22 years together before his death in 2016. She lives in Montreal, Canada.

Louise Penny Book List
Author's website: www.louisepenny.com
Similar authors: S.J. Bolton, Laura Lippman, Charles Todd, Jacqueline Winspear