Katherine Hall Page

Katherine Hall Page (born July 7, 1947) is an American writer of cozy mysteries. Page has written twenty-five books in her Faith Fairchild series and four Christie and Company juvenile mysteries. Page has won three Agatha Awards and been nominated for two Edgar Awards. She was also the 2016 lifetime achievement recipient at the Malice Domestic convention.

Early life and education

Page was born on July 7, 1947, in New Jersey. For her post-secondary education, Page started with a Bachelor of Arts from Wellesley College in 1969 and a Master of Education from Tufts University in 1974. She later received a Doctor of Education from Harvard University in 1985.^[1]

Career

From the 1960s to 1980s, Page worked with teenagers in special education while teaching history and art. She continued her educational career as a consultant in 1985.^[1][2] In 1990, Page wrote The Body in the Belfry as a stand-alone book. After her editor asked when the next story in the series would be written, Page created the Faith Fairchild books with the publication of The Body in the Kelp.^[3][4]

While writing The Body in the Fjord, Page expanded her writing to juvenile mysteries in the late 1990s.^[5] After publishing Christie and Company in 1996, Page added three more books to the Christie and Company series throughout the remainder of the 1990s. In 2019, her Faith Fairchild series grew to twenty five books after the release of The Body in the Wake.^[6] Apart from her series, Page released Club Meds in 2006.^[1]

Writing style and themes

Page bases the Faith Fairchild series around the criminal and methodology of the crime while planning out her characters, dialogue and timeline of events.^[4] For her locations, Page merged neighboring towns of Boston, Massachusetts, to create her fictional town of Aleford. Her other fictional location, Sanpere Island, is based on Deer Isle, Maine.^[6] From her third Faith Fairchild book onwards, Page used her made-up town of Aleford in every other book while incorporating other American and European locations.^[4]

With her fourth book, Page started to include accompanying recipes that were part of her stories. She also created a compilation of the recipes from her series with the 2010 publication titled Have Faith in Your Kitchen.^[7] In 1998, Page used a home burglary she experienced as the basis for her book The Body in the Bookcase.^[8]

Awards and honors

From 1990 to 2010, Page was nominated for six Agatha Awards and won three times. Her Agatha wins include the 1990 Best First Novel for The Body in the Belfry and the 2005 Best Novel for The Body in the Snowdrift.^[9] At the Edgar Awards, Page was nominated for the 1998 Best Juvenile with Christie & Company Down East and 2004 Mary Higgins Clark Award with The Body in the Lighthouse.^[10] In 2016, Page was selected to receive a lifetime achievement award at the Malice Domestic convention.^[11]

Personal life

Page is married and has one child.^[1]

References