Bio

"For I know the plans I have for you...."
Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

Inspirational Romantic Suspense & Mystery Writer

Bio:

Six year-old Kelly Ann Riley couldn’t wait until she got into the first grade, so she could learn to read. The introduction of Dick, Jane, Sally and Spot in those early readers started a love affair with books that has lasted her entire life. She started penning stories at an early age and received recognition for her short stories in eight grade and later became a writer and the editor for her high school newspaper.

Born in southern California, Kelly Ann also spent time growing up and going to school in northern California, near Boston, Massachusetts, and Dayton, Ohio. For ninth grade she spent a year on a farm and cattle ranch in Alberta, Canada and attended a two room school on the prairie. Summers were spent in California where she explored the beaches, mountains and deserts, and eventually attended college; where she studied nutrition to become a Registered Dietitian and then earned a Masters in Business Administration. While attending school and working as a dietitian, she continued to travel around the United States and took a trip to Europe with her future husband, Rick.

The Riley Family on a teen mission trip to Alberta, Canada

Her many adventures and travels have provided interesting settings and research for her novels. Years spent growing up on the Pacific coast provided the culture and setting of the world for Casey Bartolino in "Tread Softly" and "Cargo to Die For". Kelly Ann's experience as a firefighter in a small town in the San Bernardino Mountains is the basis of the story for firefighter Kitty McGuire’s adventure in “Kitty’s Fire”. The year spent on the Alberta farm and cattle ranch and her love of horses led to Chase Montgomery’s story in “A Cowboy’s Prayer”.

Kelly with her critique partners after the Death By
Chocolate party at RWA's National Conference in
Atlanta, Georgia.

Kelly Ann is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Romance Writers of America, as well as the RWA chapters of Faith, Hope and Love and Kiss of Death (RWA’s Mystery/Suspense chapter). She belongs to two active critique groups. As Co-coordinator of the Published Daphne du Maurier Award Contest for the past four years, she helped initiate the addition of an inspirational category to award excellence in inspirational mystery/suspense books.

Kelly Ann now lives in Alabama where she writes her novels and enjoys many adventures as a youth leader in her church, wife to an engineer and mother to two wonderful children.