Karen Chance

Karen Chance is the author of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Cassandra Palmer Series and other books and stories, including the recently released Midnight's Daughter.

Last week I asked her what she was reading. Her reply:

I grew up reading whatever was lying around the house, usually what my mother was reading. As a result, I received some very strange looks in the fourth grade when the teacher asked everyone to list their favorite book. At the time, mine was Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express (still a favorite).

My tendency toward eclectic reading didn’t change with age. I write urban fantasy, but I probably read more outside the genre than in it. My most recent obsession is Lindsey Davis’s charming Falco books. They are a great series for anyone interested in ancient Rome, but who prefers to learn about it the easy way—through a fictional narrative—rather than through a more traditional text book. Likewise, the Cadfael mysteries by Edith Pargeter [aka Ellis Peters] offer a wonderful glimpse into medieval England and Wales.

On the nonfiction front, I just finished Something New Under the Sun: An Environmental History of the Twentieth Century World by John McNeill, Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser and The Floating Brothel: The Extraordinary True Story of an 18th-Century Ship and Its Cargo of Female Convicts by Sian Rees.

Read an excerpt from Midnight's Daughter.

Visit Karen Chance's website.

--Marshal Zeringue