Livia J. Washburn is the national bestselling author of the Fresh-Baked Mysteries and has been a professional writer for more than 20 years. She received the Private Eye Writers of America Award and the American Mystery Award for her first mystery, Wild Night, written under the name L. J. Washburn, and she was nominated for a Spur Award by the Western Writers of America for a novel written with her husband, James Reasoner. She lives with her husband in a small Texas town where she is constantly experimenting with new recipes.