Cathy Pickens

Cathy Pickens is a bestselling American author, celebrated for her mystery and thriller novels. She is most notably known for her series of novels, Avery Andrews, which she began publishing in 2004. Southern Fried was the first book in the series, and it won the 2003 St. Martin's Press/Malice Domestic Award for Best New Traditional Mystery. The series concluded in 2009 with the publication of Cant Never Tell. In addition to the Avery Andrews series, Pickens has also written non-fiction works, including Charleston Mysteries, which was published in 2007.

Pickens has had a varied career, with her writing life beginning as a mystery novelist. Her fascination with the power of real crime stories led to a series for The History Press, starting with Charleston Mysteries and Charlotte True Crime Stories. She is a frequent speaker at mystery conventions, where she discusses topics ranging from Southern mysteries to classic true crime stories to the use of poisons. Pickens has also worked as a trial attorney specializing in complex civil litigation, a university provost, a business school professor, a church organist and choir director, and a ballroom and clog dance coach.

Pickens has served as national president of Sisters in Crime, on the national board of Mystery Writers of America, and as a founding board member of the regional Forensic Medicine Program. She offers workshops on developing the creative process based on her book CREATE! Develop Your Creative Process. Pickens also coaches and teaches new writers through Charlotte Lit, and works with former inmates and those in rehab on starting their own businesses and writing their own stories. She has a strong connection to the South, having grown up in small-town South Carolina, where her family has lived for 300 years. Pickens' key words include: South Carolina, murder mysteries, Clemson University, University of South Carolina School of Law, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America, Queens University of Charlotte, McColl School of Business, creativity, innovation, the creative process, and Charlotte, NC.