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Barbara Ann Logan Colley | |
|---|---|
| Born | July 26, 1947 |
| Residence | Luling, St. Charles Parish, Louisiana (New Orleans metro area) |
| Occupation | Author |
| Spouse(s) | Alfred David Colley |
| Children | Three children |
| Parent(s) | Charles and Doris Wilson Logan |
Barbara Ann Logan Colley (born July 26, 1947) is a romance and mystery novelist based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her recent work is centered on the fictitious "Charlotte LaRue", the subject of a series of mysteries. She has written more than a dozen novels which have been published in some seventeen languages. Sometimes she writes under the name "Anne Logan". Her 2009 book Wash and Die is available in paperback. In 2010, she released Dusted to Death.
Romance is a novel written by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford. It was the second of their three collaborations. Romance was eventually published by Smith, Elder & Co. in London in 1903 and by McClure, Phillips and Company in New York in March 1904.
Mystery fiction is a genre of fiction usually involving a mysterious death or a crime to be solved. Often with a closed circle of suspects, each suspect is usually provided with a credible motive and a reasonable opportunity for committing the crime. The central character will often be a detective who eventually solves the mystery by logical deduction from facts presented to the reader. Sometimes mystery books are nonfictional. "Mystery fiction" can be detective stories in which the emphasis is on the puzzle or suspense element and its logical solution such as a whodunit. Mystery fiction can be contrasted with hardboiled detective stories, which focus on action and gritty realism.
A novelist is an author or writer of novels, though often novelists also write in other genres of both fiction and non-fiction. Some novelists are professional novelists, thus make a living writing novels and other fiction, while others aspire to support themselves in this way or write as an avocation. Most novelists struggle to get their debut novel published, but once published they often continue to be published, although very few become literary celebrities, thus gaining prestige or a considerable income from their work.
Colley was born in Ringgold in Bienville Parish in North Louisiana to Charles Logan and the former Doris B. Wilson (1927-2016), who was a later resident of Heflin in Webster Parish. Doris, a native of Center, Texas, worked at the Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant during World War II and later the West Brothers Department Store, Bell Telephone, and the Webster Parish School Board office. [1]
Ringgold is a town in Bienville Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,495 at the 2010 census. Ringgold is named for United States Army Major Samuel Ringgold.
North Louisiana is a region in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The region has two metropolitan areas: Shreveport-Bossier City and Monroe-West Monroe.
Heflin is a village in southern Webster Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 245 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Minden Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Mrs. Colley was reared primarily in Minden in Webster Parish. She graduated in 1965 from Minden High School along with her future husband, Alfred David Colley (born April 20, 1947). At MHS she played in the "All District Band" of the Louisiana Music Educators Association. She attended, first, Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, the seat of Lincoln Parish, and, then, Nicholls State University in Thibodaux in Lafourche Parish in south Louisiana, having majored in music education. It was while she was at Tech that Colley made her first trip to New Orleans, not having realized at the time that she would live most of her life within twenty miles (32 km) of the city. At the time, she expected to become a band director. The Colleys moved to Luling in St. Charles Parish in the Orleans suburbs. They have three children and at least a half dozen grandchildren.
The small city of Minden is the parish seat of Webster Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. It is located twenty-eight miles east of Shreveport. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 13,027.
Louisiana Tech University, colloquially referred to as Louisiana Tech, La. Tech, or simply Tech is a public research university in Ruston, Louisiana. It is a space grant college, member of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, member of the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities, and Carnegie Doctoral University with high research activity (R2). It is a member of the University of Louisiana System.
Ruston is a small city and the parish seat of Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is the largest city in the Eastern Ark-La-Tex region. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 21,859, reflecting an increase of 6.4 percent from the count of 20,546 counted in the 2000 Census. Ruston is near the eastern border of the Ark-La-Tex region and is the home of Louisiana Tech University. Its economy is therefore based on its college population. Ruston hosts the annual Peach Festival.
Colley turned to writing to put to use what she calls her "healthy dose of imagination as well as the belief that I could do anything I wanted to do if I set my mind to it." Living near New Orleans gave her ideas for writing. "I truly love living near New Orleans. With its unique Creole French and Spanish influence, it's such a unique and interesting city. Strolling through the historical French Quarter or the lush Garden District is one of my favorite pastimes. The city is well over two hundred years old, but each time that I visit, I find something new and fascinating."
Louisiana Creole people, are persons descended from the inhabitants of colonial Louisiana during the period of both French and Spanish rule. Louisiana Creoles share cultural ties such as the traditional use of the French and Louisiana Creole languages and predominant practice of Catholicism.
The French Quarter, also known as the Vieux Carré, is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the Vieux Carré, a central square. The district is more commonly called the French Quarter today, or simply "The Quarter," related to changes in the city with American immigration after the Louisiana Purchase. Most of the extant historic buildings were constructed either in the late 18th century, during the city's period of Spanish rule, or were built during the first half of the 19th century, after U.S. annexation and statehood.
Her writing initially originated from her daughter's interest in Harlequin romance novels. Colley said that she became convinced she too could write such a novel: "Believing I could write a book was half the battle. Actually writing one and getting published was the other half."
Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a Toronto-based company that publishes series romance and women's fiction. Harlequin was owned by the Torstar Corporation, the largest newspaper publisher in Canada, from 1981 to 2014. It was then purchased by News Corp and is now a division of HarperCollins.
Colley's awards include the 2003 "Reviewer's Choice Award for Best First Mystery", the 1996 "Distinguished Artist Award" because of her contribution to the literary arts in Louisiana, and the 1992 Oklahoma Romance Writers of America National Reader's Choice" for her romantic suspense novel Gulf Breezes.
Oklahoma is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, Texas on the south and west, New Mexico on the west, and Colorado on the northwest. It is the 20th-most extensive and the 28th-most populous of the 50 United States. The state's name is derived from the Choctaw words okla and humma, meaning "red people". It is also known informally by its nickname, "The Sooner State", in reference to the non-Native settlers who staked their claims on land before the official opening date of lands in the western Oklahoma Territory or before the Indian Appropriations Act of 1889, which increased European-American settlement in the eastern Indian Territory. Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory were merged into the State of Oklahoma when it became the 46th state to enter the union on November 16, 1907. Its residents are known as Oklahomans, and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
Colley once worked as a line dispatcher in the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant and edited the classified advertising section of the Minden Press-Herald newspaper. Yet, she declares that her best job is being a published author because she can "share my stories, whether they are romances or mysteries, with thousands of wonderful readers all over the world."
On April 7, 2008, Colley underwent surgery for cancer. Her husband, David, reported that the prognosis was encouraging for her complete recovery.
