Earlene Fowler was raised in La Puente, California. She wrote literary and commercial short fiction for ten years without publishing success when she decided to write a mystery novel. Her first novel, Fools Puzzle, was published in 1994. Her other works include Kansas Troubles, Seven Sisters, Arkansas Traveler, Broken Dishes, Delectable Mountains, and The Saddlemakers Wife. She won the Agatha Award for Mariners Compass in 1999.