ABOUT KELLYE
Kellye Garrett’s first novel, Hollywood Homicide, was released by Midnight Ink in August 2017 and was named one of BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. In addition to receiving starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, it won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty, and Independent Publisher “IPPY” awards for best first novel. It was also nominated for the Macavity Award for Best First Mystery Novel and Barry award for Best Paperback Original.
Hollywood Ending, the second book in her Detective by Day mystery series, was chosen a best mystery of 2018 by Suspense Magazine, Book Riot, and CrimeReads, which called it the most fun book of the year. In addition to being featured on the TODAY show’s Best Summer Reads of 2019, it was nominated for an Anthony Award for Best Paperback Original and a Lefty Award for Best Humorous Novel. In addition to writing, she currently serves on the national Board of Directors of Sisters in Crime and is a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color alongside Walter Mosley and Gigi Pandian.
Kellye previously spent 8 years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for the CBS drama Cold Case. People were always surprised to learn what she did for a living—probably because she seemed way too happy to be brainstorming ways to murder people. A former magazine editor, Kellye holds a B.S. in magazine writing from Florida A&M and an MFA in screenwriting from USC’s famed film school. Having moved back to her native New Jersey, she spends her mornings commuting to Manhattan for her job at a leading media company—while still happily brainstorming ways to commit murder.
Her latest novel is award-winning Like A Sister about a black woman in New York City looking into the mysterious overdose of her estranged reality star sister. In addition to being featured on the TODAY show, the suspense novel was a Book of the Month April 2022 selection, the Oxygen channel’s July Book Club pick, an Edgar award finalist for Best Novel and Lefty award winner for Best Mystery.
Kellye Garrett is the acclaimed author Like A Sister (Mulholland Books/Simon & Schuster UK) suspense novel in which no one bats an eye when a disgraced reality TV star is found dead in the Bronx—except her estranged half-sister, whose refusal to believe the official story leads her on an increasingly dangerous search for the truth. In addition to being featured on the TODAY show, the suspense novel was a Book of the Month April 2022 selection, the Oxygen channel’s July Book Club pick, an Edgar award finalist for Best Novel and Lefty award winner for Best Mystery.
She’s also the author of the Detective by Day mysteries about a semi-famous, mega-broke black actress who takes on the deadliest role of her life: Private Detective. The first, Hollywood Homicide, won the Agatha, Anthony, Lefty and Independent Publisher “IPPY” awards for best first novel and was named one of BookBub’s Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time. The second, Hollywood Ending, was featured on the TODAY show’s Best Summer Reads of 2019 and was nominated for both Anthony and Lefty awards. Prior to writing novels, Kellye spent eight years working in Hollywood, including a stint writing for Cold Case. She is a former member of the Sisters in Crime Board of Directors and is a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color, which received the 2023 Raven Award from MWA.
Kellye Garrett is the author of the award-winning Like A Sister about a black woman in New York City looking into the mysterious overdose of her estranged reality star sister. In addition to being featured on the TODAY show, the suspense novel was a Book of the Month April 2022 selection, the Oxygen channel’s July Book Club pick, an Edgar award finalist for Best Novel and Lefty award winner for Best Mystery. She previously wrote the Detective by Day lightweight mysteries, which have won the Anthony, Agatha, Lefty and IPPY awards. Kellye is also a co-founder of Crime Writers of Color, received the 2023 Raven Award from MWA. Learn more at KellyeGarrett.com.
