Jan Burke

Last updated
Jan Burke
Born (1953-08-01) August 1, 1953 (age 70)
Houston, Texas, U.S.
OccupationAuthor
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater California State University, Long Beach
Notable awards Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Novel (2000)

Jan Burke (born August 1, 1953) is an American author of novels and short stories. She is a winner of the Edgar Award for Best Novel, the Agatha for Best Short Story, the Macavity, and Ellery Queen Readers Award.

Contents

Bio

Burke was born August 1, 1953, in Houston, Texas, [1] but has lived in Southern California most of her life. She attended California State University, Long Beach, and graduated with a degree in history. She is a distinguished alumna of CSULB.

She worked as a researcher on an oral history project interviewing "Rosie the Riveters." Later she became the manager of a manufacturing plant for a large corporation.

She completed her first novel, Goodnight, Irene, in the evenings after work. It was sold unagented and unsolicited to Simon & Schuster. She received a surprising boost from a new fan when, during his first White House interview after taking office, President Bill Clinton said he was reading Goodnight, Irene.

Her books have been on bestseller lists of the New York Times, USA Today and other publications. They have been published internationally and have been optioned for film and television.

Burke became active in raising awareness of the problems facing crime labs and the need to obtain better funding for forensic science, at one point founding a nonprofit to do so. She has also been an advocate for the improvement of medicolegal death investigation in the U.S. and for requiring the reporting of unidentified remains to NamUs. Working with missing persons advocates, she helped to get legislation passed in New York State, the first state to require Namus reporting by all coroners and medical examiners. Other states have followed this model. She has been a speaker at meetings of the National Institute of Justice, the American Society of Crime Lab Directors, the California Association of Criminalists, the California Association of Crime Lab Directors, and other forensic science organizations. She has served on the honorary board of the California Forensic Science Institute.

Burke has been the Guest of Honor at several mystery fan conventions, including Malice Domestic, Left Coast Crime, and Mayhem in the Midwest.

Illness in her family has taken her away from writing in recent years.

Novels

Irene Kelly Mysteries:

Other novels

Contributions

Burke edited the first edition of Breaking and Entering, [2] a Sisters in Crime's guide to getting published. She served as an Associate Editor on Writing Mysteries: A Handbook by the Mystery Writers of America, [3] edited by Sue Grafton. She has served on the national boards of Mystery Writers of America and the American Crime Writers League. She is a past president of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America (MWA).

Burke's novel Bloodlines appears in the television series Bones: Season 1, Ep. 17 - The Skull in the Desert. It is used as a prop on a table at minute 15:05.

Awards and nominations

Edgar Award

Edgar nomination [4]

Agatha Award [5]

Agatha Nominations [5]

Macavity Awards

Macavity nominations [6]

Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Reader's Award.
Romantic Times's Career Achievement Award for Contemporary Suspense

Anthony Award nominations

Barry Nominations [7]

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References

  1. ↑ page 33, Great Women Mystery Writers, 2nd Ed. by Elizabeth Blakesley Lindsay, 2007, publ. Greenwood Press, ISBN   0-313-33428-5
  2. ↑ "Inside The Cover Book Reviews". Mysteryreaders.com. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  3. ↑ "Jan Burke, interviewed by T. Jefferson Parker". Absolutewrite.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-24. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  4. ↑ "Edgar Award Winners and Nominees". ThrillingDetective.com. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
  5. 1 2 "Past Award Winners & Nominees". Malice Domestic Ltd. Archived from the original on 2006-08-10. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  6. ↑ "Macavity Award Winners & Nominees". Mystery Readers Interlational. Retrieved 2006-08-24.
  7. ↑ "The Barry Awards". DeadlyPleasures.com. Archived from the original on 2006-08-20. Retrieved 2006-08-30.
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