Abby Drake

Abby Drake, a.k.a. Jean Stone, is a native New Englander whose 15 novels are set in locations from Martha's Vineyard to Manhattan. A former advertising copywriter and owner of her own ad agency for many years, Drake writes about women…their laughter, their lives, and their men who come and go and occasionally stick around, whether they're wanted or not. Each of her stories focuses on the connections between women with very different families, careers, and issues, but with a common problem that bring them together. In Good Little Wives, the problem is murder; in Perfect Little Ladies, the problem is panties! Lavender lace panties. They have been kidnapped. A ransom note has been received. And Elinor must dig up a half-million dollars for their return before all of New York, Washington, and maybe the world finds out. Not including a small article in Jack and Jill magazine when she was 9, Drake's first published work was Dare to Dream, a nonfiction book, which she coauthored with Olympic gold medal gymnast Tim Daggett. She met Daggett when she enlisted him to speak at the annual meeting of one of her clients. A year later, they collaborated on the book, and Drake knew "it was time" to trade in writing 30-second commercials for 300-page novels. It had, after all, been her dream for as long as she could remember. Now, with three USA Today bestsellers, translations of her books in more than a dozen languages, and a TV movie option for Good Little Wives, Drake is at work on her next Avon title, The Secrets Sisters Keep. She is a graduate of Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, New York, and currently lives in Amherst, Massachusetts.