Chelsea Cain

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Chelsea Cain
Chelsea Cain speaking in 2015.jpg
Cain in 2015
Born (1972-02-05) February 5, 1972 (age 54)
Iowa City, Iowa, U.S.
Occupation Novelist, columnist
Alma mater University of California at Irvine; University of Iowa
Period1996–present
Notable worksSweetheart, Heartsick, Evil at Heart
Website
chelseacain.com

Chelsea Snow Cain (born February 5, 1972) is an American novelist. Her debut novel, "Heartsick", won the 2007 Edgar Award for Best First Novel. She is best known for her Archie Sheridan-Gretchen Lowell series of thrillers, which feature a Portland homicide detective with a troubled past. [1]

Contents

Biography

Cain was born February 5, 1972, in Iowa City, Iowa, and spent her early childhood on a hippie commune outside of Iowa City. Her father dodged the Vietnam draft and her parents lived "underground" for several years. [2]

Cain studied political science at the University of California, Irvine, where she wrote for the New University newspaper and became the opinion editor. After graduating in 1994, she attended the graduate school of journalism at the University of Iowa.[ citation needed ]

While at Iowa, she wrote a weekly column for The Daily Iowan . [3] Her master's thesis at the University of Iowa became Dharma Girl, a memoir about Cain's early childhood on the hippie commune. One of her professors presented it to several editors for review, and Seal Press picked it up as Cain's first published work. She was 24 years old. [4]

Cain is married to Marc Mohan, a former video store owner and film critic for The Oregonian. They have lived in Southeast Portland since 2006. [5] They have one daughter, Eliza. [6]

Career

After working as a creative director at a public relations firm in Portland for several years, Cain began writing humor books, including The Hippie Handbook: How to Tie-Dye a T-Shirt, Flash a Peace Sign, and Other Essential Skills for the Carefree Life (Chronicle Books, 2004), Confessions of a Teen Sleuth (Bloomsbury, 2005), and Does this Cape Make Me Look Fat? Pop-Psychology for Superheroes (Chronicle Books, 2006), which Cain co-wrote with her husband. Cain was, for a time, a weekly columnist for both Portland's alternative newspaper, The Portland Mercury, and Oregon's largest newspaper, The Oregonian. [7]

She wrote her first thriller Heartsick in 2004, and it was published on September 4, 2007. In a review in The New York Times , critic Janet Maslin wrote when Heartsick was published, "In a genre that is rife with copycatting, Ms. Cain deserves some credit for having gotten a potentially interesting new series off the ground." [8] In a blurb for the book, author Chuck Palahniuk wrote, "Chelsea Cain gives us the most compelling, most original serial killer since Hannibal Lecter.” [9]

Sweetheart and Evil at Heart: A Thriller followed as the second and third in the series, respectively. The New York Times critic called Sweetheart "sensual and engulfing." [10]

In March 2016, Cain began writing a new Marvel Comics series, Mockingbird , the first solo series about the character. The series ran for eight issues before cancellation. [11]

Cain is the creator of the comic book series Man-Eaters for Image Comics along with artists Kate Niemczyk and Lia Miternique. [12] Man-Eaters was criticized for failing to account for trans experiences as the plot revolves around a disease that impacts people based on sex-specific symptoms. [13] Cain's response was to print tweets criticizing her in subsequent issues of the book, which resulted in harassment and threats being aimed at her critics, and called into question the legality of publishing tweets. [14] She went on to ask for volunteers to do sensitivity reading, as she stated the book was expensive to produce and she could not offer any pay for the job. [15] Simon & Schuster published Man-Eaters: Tomorrow Belongs to You! in March 2020 and an additional five issue miniseries called Man-Eaters: The Cursed in July 2021. [16]

Accolades

Bibliography

Gretchen Lowell Series

Kick Lannigan Series

References

  1. ↑ "Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell | Series | Macmillan". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  2. ↑ Dharma Girl (1996)
  3. ↑ "UI alumna Chelsea Cain reads Oct. 11 for 'Live at Prairie Lights'". University of Iowa. September 28, 2007. Archived from the original on February 6, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2008.
  4. ↑ Miller, Laura (November 17, 1996). "Iowa Fields Forever". The New York Times Book Review . Retrieved October 22, 2008.
  5. ↑ Eastman, Janet (November 10, 2023). "Novelist Chelsea Cain puts historic Portland home with pink rooms up for sale at $1,250,000". The Oregonian/OregonLive. Retrieved November 10, 2023.
  6. ↑ "Heartsick". Macmillan Publishers. Archived from the original on October 18, 2008. Retrieved October 22, 2008.
  7. ↑ admin (June 18, 2014). "Interview with Chelsea Cain - Strand Magazine". Strand Mag. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  8. ↑ Maslin, Janet (September 3, 2007). "His Girl Friday Meets a Sadistically Chic Serial Killer". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  9. ↑ "Heartsick". Macmillan Publishers. Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  10. ↑ Finnerty, Amy (September 19, 2008). "Femme Fatale". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved February 6, 2026.
  11. ↑ "Marvel's MOCKINGBIRD is Cancelled with Issue 8's Release Today". October 19, 2016.
  12. ↑ Man-Eaters webpage at Image Comics website. Retrieved June 24, 2019.
  13. ↑ "Questioning Chelsea Cain's Feminist Agenda". June 10, 2019.
  14. ↑ "Punching Down: Chelsea Cain's reaction to fair criticism is unacceptable • AIPT". June 9, 2019.
  15. ↑ "Chelsea Cain reprinted a reader's tweets without permission in MAN-EATERS #9 and then everything exploded". June 10, 2019.
  16. ↑ Man-Eaters Volume 4: The Cursed. March 1, 2022. ISBN   978-1-5343-2112-0.
  17. ↑ ew.com Archived January 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine . Entertainment Weekly.
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