Joanne Pence is a highly accomplished American author, best known for her mystery novels, historical fiction, and romance novels. She is a USA Today bestselling author and has written under the pseudonym JoMarie Lodge. Pence was born in San Francisco and was raised in a city known for its culinary excellence and cultural diversity, which greatly influenced her writing career. She is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley, where she studied journalism and was a Phi Beta Kappa key. Pence has had a varied career, having worked in operations analysis management in social security administration, as a magazine writer, and as a teacher in Japan.
Pence is perhaps best known for her Angie Amalfi series and its spin-off, the Rebecca Mayfield series. The Angie Amalfi series, which she began publishing in 1993, features fourteen titles and has won numerous awards, including the Best Amateur Sleuth by Reviewers Choice Award, the Romantic Suspense Golden Quill Award, and the Romance Writers of America RITA Award. Pence is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Romance Writers of America, Novelists Inc, and Sisters in Crime.
In addition to her mystery novels, Pence has also written suspense, fantasy, romantic suspense, contemporary romance, and historical fiction novels. She is the author of the Rebecca Mayfield mysteries, which she began publishing in 2017. Her books have won numerous awards and honors, including RWA's Golden Heart and Rita Award nominations, the Independent Book Seller's Golden Quill, the Daphne du Maurier award, the Willa Cather Literary Award in Historical Fiction, and the Idaho Top Fiction Award. Pence currently resides in Boise, Idaho, where she spends much of her time writing her award-winning novels.