Karen Kijewski grew up in Berkeley, California, surrounded by books. Her earliest memories were of toddling behind her mother as they headed to the library. Kijewski majored in English in college and then went on to teach English at Brookline High School in Massachusetts, but she eventually left teaching to fulfill her lifelong calling as a writer. For eight years after becoming a full-time writer, Kijewski worked as a bartender at night to supplement her income. During this period, she completed four manuscripts, all of which she submitted to New York publishing houses, but it was with her fifth manuscript that Kijewski became a published author. The winner of St Martin's "The Best First… Private Eye Novel of the Year Contest," Kijewski's first book, Katwalk, was the basis for her successful Kat Colorado Series thrillers. The principal character in Kijewski's nine-book series, Kat Colorado, is a private detective in Sacramento, California. Some of the books in the series include Katwalk, Katapult, Kat's Cradle, and Stray Kat Waltz. Kijewski uses real-life experiences, past and present, to make her novels realistic and identifiable. Kijewski's seventh novel in the series, Honky Tonk Kat, is set in Nashville and California and was researched in Nashville and on tour with country music star Lari White.