Julie Smith

Julie Smith is a successful American author, best known for her mystery novels. She has written several series, including Rebecca Schwartz, Paul McDonald, Skip Langdon, and Talba Wallis. After graduating from the University of Mississippi, Smith worked as a journalist for 16 years in New Orleans and San Francisco. She has also worked as a copywriter and public information officer. In 1991, Smith won the Edgar Award for Best Novel for her book "New Orleans Mourning."

Smith was born in Annapolis, Maryland, but spent most of her childhood in Savannah, Georgia. She pursued her undergraduate degree from the Mississippi University in 1965. After graduation, she began her career as a journalist, working as a reporter for the Times Picayune in New Orleans. Later, she moved to the San Francisco Chronicle, where she became the first woman after World War II to be hired for the newsroom. Smith worked as a court and general assignment reporter for the next ten years of her journalism career. She then shifted to work as a catalog and advertising copywriter for the Banana Republic at the Santa Barbara News Press.