High Stakes

Born in St. Louis, Missouri, American author Iris Johansen went through the usual life duties of being wife and mother, until her children left home to attend college. In 1980, she began experiencing success with her writing of category romances. Next, Johansen started writing romance novels that had a historical and a suspense theme intertwined. One such novel was her successful, The Wind Dancer, published in 1991. Then, in 1996, she changed again, this time to crime fiction. To date, that has been her most successful genre. She has had seventeen consecutive New York Times bestsellers through 2006.

Johansen lives near Atlanta, Georgia, and has two children. Son, Roy Johnson, is an award winning screenwriter and novelist in his own right. Daughter, Tamara, serves as her mother's research assistant.