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Livia J. Washburn
I have lived my entire life in the small town of Azle,
Texas. Azle is located just northwest of Fort Worth, so
while I can live the small town life, I have the big city
just a few miles away.
Both of my parents were stay at home parents. Paul and Naomi
went to beautician school and got their licenses while they
built onto their house so they’d have a place to work and
raise their children. They love to tell stories about how I
climbed up the ladder when I was two years old while they
were working on the roof. So I grew up with the smells of
hair dye and permanents, but I also had both parents anytime
I really needed them. And let me tell you with two older
brothers, all three of us needed them. Like when I set off
the roman candle in the house, or when the huge snake chased
us into the house. They didn’t close the shop until Bruce,
Arlon, and I were old enough to manage on our own. This is
when my father went back to work at General Dynamics and my
mother went back to school to get her teaching degree. She
then taught first grade for 26 years.
James Reasoner came into my life through my oldest brother,
Bruce. They’d known each other since first grade, but they
didn’t start hanging around together until they attended the
same university. We started dating when I was a senior in
high school. James was writing his own fiction even back
then. I kind of stumbled into the business after we married,
while I was typing his manuscripts, seeing different ways
the story could have gone. Our careers grew as our family
did. We were blessed with two beautiful daughters. We live
in a house we built ourselves with the help of family. We
did everything from the pier and beam foundation poured with
buckets, to shingling the roof. I found that I love
carpentry and tools. James has it easy for presents; all he
has to do is buy the latest tool I’ve been yearning for. The
latest was a cordless nail gun.
My first story was published in 1978 in Mike Shayne
Mystery Magazine. My first novel was published in '83 as
by Livia James. In the eighties I had several westerns
published in hardback by M. Evans, while I was writing
mysteries under my maiden name Washburn. My first mystery
WILD NIGHT was recently reprinted. WILD NIGHT was the winner
of The American Mystery Award and The Private Eye Writers of
America's Best Original Paperback Award. This is also when
both our daughters were born, and we became the stay at home
parents. Our writing careers had progressed to the point we
could both work full time. James and I wrote several
historical novels as by J.L. Reasoner, one of which was
nominated for a Spur, the Western Writers of America award.
My first small town romance, MENDING FENCES by Livia
Reasoner, an Our Town book, was published in January of '98
by Jove. Under the name Elizabeth Hallam, SPIRIT CATCHER was
published by Jove, July '98 in their Haunting Hearts series
and during the summer of '99 my medieval paranormal ALURA'S
WISH was followed by TIME PASSAGES: YESTERDAY'S FLAME, a
time travel romance that came out in February 2000. It
wasn’t until recently that I went back to my first love,
mysteries with the October 2006 release of A PEACH OF A MURDER.
Books:
 The Christmas Cookie Killer, October 2008
Murder by the Slice, October 2007
A Peach of a Murder, October 2006
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