Bio
Photo by Evangeline Gala (www.evangelinegala.com)
Jodé is a life long resident of Poughkeepsie, New York, which serves as the setting for her crime fiction. In her writing, she draws upon her many years as an attorney to capture the tensions that arise when a small community is rocked by tragedy.
Author of the best-selling SEATS: NEW YORK Theatre guidebooks, her debut thriller, “The Midnight Call” won the 2021 Independent Press Award for Legal Thriller, the 2020 Bronze IPPY Award, the 2020 American Fiction Award for Legal Thriller, was a nominee for the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction, a 2021 finalist for the Book Excellence Awards, was short-listed for the 2019 Clue Award, and received the First Place Blue Ribbon as “Best Police Procedural” by Chantireviews.com.
Her second thriller, “Hooker Avenue” won the 2022 Independent Press Award for Crime Fiction and was a Finalist for the 2022 American Fiction Award and is a Finalist for the 2022 Clue Award.
Jode’s third installment of “The Queen City Crimes” series, “The Empty Kayak,” will be released in May 2023.
Jode received her BA and JD from Syracuse University, and she obtained her MA in English Literature from Eastern Michigan University.
She has developed “The Writer’s Law School,” which is an educational program designed to inform writers and artists about protecting their artistic rights. And she is a book reviewer for Booktrib.com and the New York Journal of Books.
Presently, she also co-hosts and co-produces Backstage with the Bardavon Podcast, which invites the listener backstage for intimate conversations with musicians and performers appearing at the Bardavon 1869 Opera House in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. and UPAC in Kingston, NY. The podcast is available on Itunes, Spotify, iHeart Media, and Google.
Jode is a member of The Authors Guild, New York State Bar Association, Mystery Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, Sisters In Crime, Romance Writers of America, and Women Fiction Writers Association.
Her hobbies include: golf, watercolor painting, photography, baking, cinema, gardening, travel, and, of course, reading.
