http://www.joyceandjimlavene.com
http://murder-and-mayhem.blogspot.com
http://www.absolutewrite.com/novels/joyce_lavene.htm
Award winning (3 NC Press Association awards, 2007) North Carolina features reporter, Joyce Lavene, and photographer, Jim Lavene, write the Peggy Lee Garden Mysteries from Berkley Prime Crime. They live outside Charlotte, North Carolina with their family.
The first book in the series, Pretty Poison (May 2005), was an IMBA bestseller, a Barnes and Noble top-pick, and has gone into multiple printings. The next two books are Fruit of the Poisoned Tree (May 2006) and Poisoned Petals (May 2007). There are at least two more books planned for this series.
They write the Sheriff Sharyn Howard Mystery series set in the Uwharrie Mountains as well. The first book in that series, Last Dance, was nominated for the Master’s Choice Award for best first mystery novel. The twelfth book will be out in October 2007.
Their new project is Swapping Paint, a NASCAR Mystery, scheduled for publication in May 2007 by Midnight Ink with a second book, Hooked Up, out in February 2008. Each book in that series will be set at a different speedway across the country.
The Lavenes have also written 20 other novels in various genres and a book about writing, The Everything Guide to Writing a Novel, by Adams Media. They are currently working on two new mystery series that will debut in 2008.
They promote with the Carolina Conspiracy, a group of North and South Carolina mystery authors. They are members of the Southeast Mystery Writers, Mystery Writers of America, and Sisters-in-Crime.
