Elena Taylor spent several years working in theater as a playwright, director, designer, and educator before turning her storytelling skills to novels.

Her first series, the Eddie Shoes Mysteries - written under the name Elena Hartwell - introduced a quirky mother/daughter crime fighting duo.

The Bet Rivers mystery series returned Elena to her dramatic roots, with darker, more atmospheric novels.

Elena is also a senior developmental editor with Allegory Editing, a boutique editing house, where she works one-on-one with writers to shape and polish their manuscripts. She also writes the Wait, Wait, Don't Query (Yet!) series of short books on the writing craft.

Her favorite place to be is at Paradise, the property she and her hubby own south of Spokane, Washington. They live with horses, Jasper, Radar, and Diggy, dogs Polar and Wyatt, and cats Coal Train and Cocoa.

Elena holds a B.A. from the University of San Diego, a M.Ed. from the University of Washington, Tacoma, and a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia.