Carole Nelson Douglas

The author of 60 novels in romance/women's fiction, mystery, high and urban fantasy and science fiction, Carole Nelson Douglas was an award–winning journalist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press until moving to Texas in 1984 to write fiction full time. In fact, she "found" Midnight Louie in the classified ads in 1973 and wrote a feature article on the real—life alley cat long before she began writing novels or Louie returned as a feline supersleuth with his own mystery series and newsletter started in 1995, Midnight Louie's Scratching Post—Intelligencer.

Carole the child loved the Sherlock Holmes stories, but the adult found something missing: strong women. That literary lack drives her multi–genre odyssey: "I began Amberleigh, my first published novel, in college because I was fed up with the wimpy heroines of then–popular Gothics," she says. "Since then, I've merrily moved through fiction genres, reinventing women as strong protagonists. Of course, creating true women means creating true men as partners and co–protagonists. I like writing popular fiction because it's so influential; it forms attitudes that shape society."

She was the first author to take a woman character from the Sherlock Holmes stories and make her the protagonist of her own suspense series. The New York Times Notable Book of the Year, Good Night, Mr. Holmes, introduced American diva Irene Adler as a private inquiry agent worthy of rivaling Holmes.

Many Douglas novels have appeared on mystery, romance and sf/f bestseller lists. She's won many RT Book Reviews awards for individual books and its Lifetime Achievement Awards in Mystery and Versatility. Carole was among the first authors RT named "Pioneers of Publishing "as well.

Carole passed away in 2021.