From childhood, Terry Odell wanted to "fix" stories so the characters would behave properly, although it never occurred to her to write her own. Once she began writing—which didn’t happen until her AARP card was well-worn—she found controlling her characters wasn't always possible, as evidenced when the mystery she intended to write turned into a romance, despite the fact that she'd never read one. Odell prefers to think of her books as "Mysteries With Relationships."

After writing eight romantic suspense novels, she finally broke into the mystery genre with Deadly Secrets, and continued that series with Deadly Bones, Deadly Puzzles, Deadly Production, and Deadly Places. She writes the Blackthorne, Inc. series, the Pine Hills Police series, the Triple-D Ranch series, and the Mapleton Mystery series. Her short story collection, Seeing Red, is a Silver Falchion winner. Where Danger Hides, the second book in her Blackthorne series is a HOLT Medallion winner.

You can find her high in the Colorado Rockies (that's altitude—she lives at 9100 feet!) watching wildlife from her window when she should be writing, or at her website, terryodell.com.