Zofia Smith left behind a promising career as a journalist when she realized her former employers meant it when they said, "You'll never work in this business again." Convinced by her best friend to move to New Orleans and start over, Zo opened a bookstore in the Crescent City's French Quarter.

For six years, life was peaceful, enjoyable. Bloody Murder made a profit with its focus on mystery books and its regular patrons enjoyed Zo's homemade muffins and fresh coffee.

Things changed one morning when Zofia walked downstairs from her apartment above the store and tripped over a corpse, landing in a heap of blood and muffins. The clues the police found included a knife with a Polish eagle and the corpse's criminal record that indicated he typically worked for a crime family, though not a local one.

Clues came from and pointed to different directions. A narrow miss with a gunshot, mysterious phone calls, and oddly enough to a man Zofia long thought dead.

Kate Kulig was born in Saugus, Massachusetts and denies all responsibility for the hospital burning down at a later date. After growing up in both Wilmington and Andover, MA, she graduated from Hofstra University with a BA in Communications with a minor in English.

Five states (one of them twice), several moves and more than a few careers later, including time spent as a disc jockey, stage manger, delivery driver, bookseller and a memorable temp job counting arrows, she found herself happily in New York City.

When not working at her day job as a project manager, reading, or writing, she can be found prowling Manhattan's ramen shops, traveling to New Orleans, bicycling in Central Park, dabbling in photography, experimenting in the kitchen, playing an assortment of role-playing games, and watching way too many crime shows.