Katia Lief

Katia Lief is a best-selling American author, known for her work in the genres of crime fiction, psychological thriller novels, and literary fiction. She was born in France to American parents, but was quickly moved back to the East Coast of the United States where she grew up. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she returned to Paris for a short period before coming back to the U.S. to pursue a publishing job in New York, among other jobs. She eventually earned her Master's degree in literature and creative writing.

Lief has written under various names throughout her career, including Katia Spiegelman, Kate Pepper, and Katia Lief, the name she currently writes under. She is best known for her Karin Schaeffer series, but has also written standalone novels and literary fiction. Her writing career began in 1993 with the publication of her standalone novel Peculiar Politics, which was later re-issued in 2005 as Peculiar Politics: Love, Sex & the Wrong Bride. She published a novel Five Days in Summer under the pen name Kate Pepper in 2004 and has been writing as Katia Lief since 2010.

In addition to her work as Katia Lief, she has also published novels under the pen name Karen Ellis. Lief has a strong connection to her writing and has stated that the first thing she ever wrote that received any notice was a one-page story for her third grade English teacher. This early experience encouraged her to pursue a career in writing and she has since published a total of 11 novels under various names. Her work has been well-received and has been called "riveting," "compelling," and "gorgeous, rich, contemplative" by critics and fellow authors.