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, and received the First Place Winner as “Best Police Procedural” at the Clue Awards.

Her second “Queen City Crimes” mystery, “Hooker Avenue” won the 2022 Independent Press Award for Crime Fiction, was a Finalist for the 2022 American Fiction Award and won First Place in the 2022 Clue Awards. It was also a Finalist/Honorable Mention for the prestigious RWA/KOD Daphne DuMaurier Award for Excellence in Mystery/Suspense, and a Finalist for the Killer Nashville Silver Falchion Award.

Jode’s third “Queen City Crimes” installment, “The Empty Kayak,” was an Honorable Mention for the 2023 Readers Favorite Award, and is on the short-list for the 2023 Clue Award, and is a nominee for the Eric Hoffer Award.

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.