Jess Montgomery is a published author, known for her historical mystery series, Kinship. The series is inspired by a true-life 1920s female sheriff in Appalachia. Montgomery's debut novel in the series, The Widows, won the Readers' Choice in Fiction for the 2019 Ohioana Awards.
Montgomery is also a columnist for Writer's Digest, "Level Up Your Writing (Life)," and for the Dayton Daily News, where she writes about the literary life, authors, and events of her native Dayton, Ohio. She has received the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from the Ohio Arts Council three times and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House in Columbus, Ohio.
In addition to writing, Montgomery enjoys spending time with family and friends, reading, crocheting, baking, spoiling her cats and houseplants, hiking, and occasionally fishing. She is inspired by her family's Appalachian roots and often incorporates ballads and other elements of Appalachian culture into her writing. Montgomery's love of storytelling can be traced back to her childhood, where she found refuge in reading and making up her own stories. She resides in her native Ohio with her husband and their three cats.