Beth Amos is an American author who has made a name for herself in the genres of mystery, thriller, and suspense novels. She writes under various pen names, including Annelise Ryan and Allyson K. Abbott, to distinguish her professional life as a nurse from her fictional works. In reality, Amos is an emergency room registered nurse in Wisconsin, a profession that has inspired her to explore creative ways of "offing" people in her novels.
Amos has had a varied writing career, which included a stint as a book analyst and independent writing. However, she now solely focuses on fiction, which stands in stark contrast to her life-saving work as a nurse. Despite the differences in her professional and fictional worlds, there is a consistent element in her writing, regardless of the pseudonym used. In her stories, someone always dies, adding an element of intrigue and suspense to her work.
Amos is a USA Today bestselling author, with two mystery series published by Kensington Books. The Mattie Winston books, written under the pseudonym Annelise Ryan, include Working Stiff, Scared Stiff, Frozen Stiff, Lucky Stiff, Board Stiff, Stiff Penalty, and Stiff Competition. The Mac's Bar books, written under the pseudonym Allyson K. Abbott, include Murder on the Rocks, Murder with a Twist, In The Drink, and Shots in the Dark. She has also written three stand-alone suspense novels published by HarperCollins, including Cold White Fury, Eyes of Night, and Second Sight. Additionally, Amos has self-published two suspense novels, Nick of Time and Face of Death. She spent four years as a contributing editor for Barnes&Noble.com and is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers, Inc. Amos is an RN whose past work experience has included everything from birth (obstetrics) to death (hospice), and she currently works in an ER and lives in Wisconsin.