Elaine L. Orr authors five mystery series, including the fourteen-book Jolie Gentil cozy mystery series, which is set at the Jersey shore. "Behind the Walls" was short-listed for the 2014 Chanticleer Mystery and Mayhem Awards. First in her three-book River's Edge mystery series was "From Newsprint to Footprints," followed by "Demise of a Devious Neighbor." Iowa nice meets murder. The second River's Edge book was a Chanticleer shortlister in 2017.
Small-town Illinois is the site for the Logland Series, which features Police Chief Elizabeth Friedman -- a police procedural with a cozy feel. The Western Maryland mountains host the four-book Family History Mystery Series, which began with "Least Trodden Ground." The "Unscheduled Murder Trip" received a B.R.A.G. Medallion. Her newest is the Shore Shenanigans series, which features different groups of visitors to the Cozy Corner B&B at the Jersey Shore. They manage to bring trouble, and local PI George Winters tracks down the culprits.
Elaine also writes plays and novellas, including the one-act, "Common Ground," published in 2015. Her novella, "Biding Time," was one of five finalists in the National Press Club's first fiction contest, in 1993. "Falling into Place" is a novella about family strength as a World War II veteran rises to the toughest occasion. "In the Shadow of Light" is the fictional story of Corozón and her family, who are separated at the U.S./Mexico border.
Elaine conducts presentations on writing-related topics. Nonfiction includes "Words to Write By: Getting Your Thoughts on Paper" and "Writing When Time is Scarce."
A member of Sisters in Crime and the Independent Book Publishers Association, Elaine grew up in Maryland and moved to the Midwest in 1994. Elaine graduated from the University of Dayton with a BA in Political Science and from the American University with an MA in Government. She worked for GAO and the National Academy of Public Administration for many years, and for two Iowa members of the U.S. House of Representatives -- one Republican and one Democrat.
Elaine did some journalism course work at the University of Maryland and has taken fiction courses from The Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD, the University of Iowa Summer Writing Festival, and Georgetown University's Continuing Education Program.
