Lush, Tamara: - Tamara Lush is a Rita Award finalist, an Amtrak writing fellow, and a George C. Polk Award-winning journalist. She's a former reporter who writes contemporary romance set in tropical locations, and she writes mysteries under the name Tara Lush. A fan of vintage pulp-fiction book covers, Sinatra-era jazz, and 1980s fashion, she lives with her husband and two dogs on the Gulf Coast.