One eighth grade afternoon, a bully on the bus was worse to Laurel S. Peterson (she/her) than usual, so she went home and wrote a story of revenge in her journal. What satisfaction to leave her bleeding (on paper, of course!) on the playground. Thus was born her career as a mystery writer. In college, Laurel majored in psychology, fascinated by what motivates us (or doesn’t). After college, she tested the waters in advertising, catering, retail, and sales, salting away character details in her journals. Then, she did an MFA and entered the world of academic politics, where she currently resides writing poetry and mysteries, and grading papers. Her book Shadow Notes is the first in the Clara Montague Mysteries.