Tosca Lee is a bestselling author, known for her thriller, suspense, and historical fiction novels. She is perhaps most famous for the "Book of Mortals" series, which she co-wrote with Ted Dekker. Lee was born in Roanoke, Virginia in 1969 to a Korean father and a Caucasian mother. Her father, a fan of the opera, named her Tosca after one of the most popular performers in Puccini. As a child, Lee was a self-proclaimed geek-nerd who loved science fiction and superheroes. She trained as both a pianist and ballerina, but due to her height and injuries, a career in ballet was not feasible.
Lee went on to attend Smith College in Massachusetts, where she earned a bachelor's degree in English. She then attended Oxford University, obtaining a degree in International Economics. Writing has been a part of Lee's life since she was young, as she won several writing contests as a teenager. One year into college, she told her friends that she wanted to write a novel, and soon after, she wrote the manuscript for her first novel, although it was never published.
According to Publishers Weekly, Lee is a "superior storyteller," and Steven James, a bestselling author, has called her "one of the most gifted novelists writing today." She has received two International Book Awards, Killer Nashville's Silver Falchion, ECPA Book of the Year, and the Nebraska Book Award. Her work has been translated into seventeen languages and has been optioned for TV and film. Lee has also finaled for numerous other awards, including the Library of Virginia People's Choice Award, the High Plains Book Award, a second Silver Falchion, and the Christy. When she's not writing, Lee enjoys watching movies, cooking, traveling with her husband, and sleeping in. She can be found on social media or hanging around the snack table. To learn more, please visit toscalee.com.