Juliet Blackwell

Author profile

gender

female

website

http://www.julietblackwell.net/

genre

Mystery & Thrillers, Science Fiction & Fantasy

About this author

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Juliet Blackwell (aka Julie Goodson-Lawes, aka Hailey Lind) started out life in Palo Alto, California, born of a Texan mother and a Yankee father. The family soon moved to what were, at the time, the sticks of Cupertino, an hour south of San Francisco. Walking to and from kindergarten every day she would indulge in her earliest larcenous activity: stealing walnuts and apricots from surrounding orchards.

By the time she graduated middle school, the orchards were disappearing and the valley at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay had become the cradle of the silicon semi-conductor. A man named Steve Jobs was working in his garage in Cupertino, just down the street. Juliet's father advised his daughters to enter the lucrative and soon-to-f...more Juliet Blackwell (aka Julie Goodson-Lawes, aka Hailey Lind) started out life in Palo Alto, California, born of a Texan mother and a Yankee father. The family soon moved to what were, at the time, the sticks of Cupertino, an hour south of San Francisco. Walking to and from kindergarten every day she would indulge in her earliest larcenous activity: stealing walnuts and apricots from surrounding orchards.

By the time she graduated middle school, the orchards were disappearing and the valley at the southern tip of the San Francisco Bay had become the cradle of the silicon semi-conductor. A man named Steve Jobs was working in his garage in Cupertino, just down the street. Juliet's father advised his daughters to enter the lucrative and soon-to-flourish field of computers.

"Bah" said Juliet, as she went on to major in Latin American Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz (they had, by far, the best parties of any department). Rather than making scads of money in computers, she read, painted, learned Spanish and a little French and Vietnamese, lived in Spain and traveled through Europe, Mexico, and Central America. She had a very good time.

uliet pursued graduate degrees in Anthropology and Social Work at the State University of New York at Albany, where she published several non-fiction articles on immigration as well as one book-length translation. Fascinated with other cultural systems, she studied the religions, folklore and medical beliefs of peoples around the world, especially in Latin America. Juliet taught the anthropology of health and health care at SUNY-Albany, and worked as an elementary school social worker in upstate New York. She also did field projects in Mexico and Cuba, studied in Spain, Italy, and France, worked on a BBC production in the Philippines, taught English as a second language in San Jose, and learned how to faux finish walls in Princeton, New Jersey. After having a son, moving back to California, and abandoning her half-written dissertation in cultural anthropology, Juliet started painting murals and portraits for a living. She has run her own mural/faux finish design studio in Oakland, across the bay from San Francisco, for more than a decade. She specializes in the aesthetic renovation of historic homes.

Finally, to round out her tour of lucrative careers, Juliet turned to writing. Under the pseudonym of Hailey Lind, Juliet penned the Art Lover's Mystery Series with her sister Carolyn, about an ex-art forger trying to go straight by working as a muralist and faux finisher in San Francisco. The first of these, Feint of Art, was nominated for an Agatha Award; Shooting Gallery and Brush with Death were both IMBA bestsellers, and Arsenic and Old Paint is now available from Perseverance Press.

Juliet's Witchcraft Mystery series, about a witch who finally finds a place to fit in when she opens a vintage clothes shop on Haight Street in San Francisco, allows Juliet to indulge yet another interest—the world of witchcraft and the supernatural. Ever since her favorite aunt taught her about reading cards and tea leaves, Juliet has been fascinated with seers, conjurers, and covens from many different cultures and historic traditions. As an anthropologist, the author studied and taught about systems of spirituality, magic, and medicine throughout the world, especially in Latin America. Halloween is by far her favorite holiday.

When not writing, painting, or haranguing her funny but cynical teenaged son, Juliet spends a lot of time restoring her happily haunted house and gardening with Oscar the cat, who ostensibly belongs to the neighbors but won't leave her alone. He started hanging around when Juliet started writing about witches...funny coincidence.
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12 posts
Juliet Blackwell's Blog

Juliet Blackwell isn't a Goodreads Author (yet), but she does have a blog, so here are some recent posts imported from her feed.

NEWS!! GOOD NEWS!!

In case you haven't become a fan on the facebook page, you might not have heard the good news.

Just said "yes" to an offer for Books 3 and 4 of the Witchcraft series...is the world ready for more witchy mayhem and mystery? I sure hope so because book two is with the publishers.

Also, I gave a little interview about Secondhand Spirits over here. Check it out!

Did I mention that I am also going to b... read more »

View more on Juliet Blackwell's website »

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Published on November 10, 2009 18:36 • 193 views

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combine editions
Books by Juliet Blackwell

Average rating: 3.86 · 3,720 ratings · 525 reviews · 9 distinct works

	Secondhand Spirits (A Witchcraft Mystery, #1) 3.84 avg rating — 1,457 ratings — published 2009 — 7 editions	My rating:
	A Cast-Off Coven (A Witchcraft Mystery, #2) 3.91 avg rating — 902 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Hexes and Hemlines (A Witchcraft Mystery, #3) 3.95 avg rating — 596 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	My rating:
	If Walls Could Talk (A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery #1) 3.73 avg rating — 517 ratings — published 2010 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Dead Bolt (A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery #2) 3.87 avg rating — 232 ratings — published 2011 — 3 editions	My rating:
	In a Witch's Wardrobe 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — expected publication 2012	My rating:
	In a Witch's Wardrobe: A Witchcraft Mystery 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2012	My rating:
	Murder on the House (Haunted Home Repair Mysteries, #3) 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — expected publication 2012	My rating:
	Suspense Magazine June 2011 by John Raab, James Grippando (Goodreads Author), Brenda Novak 5.00 avg rating — 5 ratings — published 2011 — 2 editions	My rating:

More books by Juliet Blackwell…

Series by Juliet Blackwell

A Witchcraft Mystery (4 books)
by Juliet Blackwell

3.89 avg rating — 2,960 ratings

A Haunted Home Renovation Mystery (2 books)
by Juliet Blackwell

3.77 avg rating — 749 ratings

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Quotes by Juliet Blackwell

“In fact, people who posses not magic at all can instill their home-cooked meals with love and security and health, transforming ingredients and bringing disparate people together as family and friends. There's a reason that when opening one's home to guests, the first thing you do is offer food and drink. Cooking is a kind of everyday magic.”
― Juliet Blackwell

tags: cooking , magic

6 people liked it

“You know I wouldn't know a Louis Vuitton from a Louis L'Amour”
― Juliet Blackwell, Dead Bolt

1 person liked it

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Novel Ladies: Scoozer's Summer Challenge	18	32	Aug 31, 2009 07:51am
Novel Ladies: NL Summer Challenge 2009: Final Summary	50	60	Sep 11, 2009 07:48pm
GR-101: Book Appr...: Scoozer's 2010 Reading Log	21	11	Sep 24, 2009 11:51am
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M/T Reading Friends: Bouchercon in retrospect	39	42	Nov 05, 2010 01:53pm
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