Background
Julie McElwain was born and raised in North Dakota, United States.
Julie McElwain is an award-winning author that is responsible for a mystery series of novels about an FBI agent that gets lost in 1815 in England.
North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Julie McElwain majored in textiles and clothing and also studied journalism at North Dakota State University.
North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Julie McElwain majored in textiles and clothing and also studied journalism at North Dakota State University.
(Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star ...)
Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates.
https://www.amazon.com/Murder-Time-Kendra-Donovan-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B012TZEMRU/?tag=2022091-20
2016
(When Kendra Donovan’s plan to return to the 21st century ...)
When Kendra Donovan’s plan to return to the 21st century fails, leaving her stranded in 1815, the Duke of Aldridge believes he knows the reason - she must save his nephew, who has been accused of brutally murdering his ex-mistress.
https://www.amazon.com/Twist-Time-Kendra-Donovan-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B01K30VMLW/?tag=2022091-20
2017
(Still stranded in 1815, FBI agent Kendra Donovan finds he...)
Still stranded in 1815, FBI agent Kendra Donovan finds herself on the trail of a vicious murderer with a shocking secret. October 1815: There is only one place Kendra Donovan wants to travel - back to her own time period in the twenty-first century. But since that’s not happening, she agrees instead to travel with her new guardian, the Duke of Aldridge, to one of his smaller estates in Lancashire.
https://www.amazon.com/Caught-Time-Kendra-Donovan-Mysteries-ebook/dp/B077J88WDL/?tag=2022091-20
2018
(Sam turns to the one person in the kingdom who he believe...)
Sam turns to the one person in the kingdom who he believes can answer that question and solve the bizarre murder the Duke of Aldridge’s odd but brilliant ward, Kendra Donovan. While Kendra has been trying to adapt to her new life in the early nineteenth century, she is eager to use her skills as a twenty-first century FBI agent again. And she will need all her investigative prowess because Sir Giles was not an average citizen.
https://www.amazon.com/Betrayal-Time-Kendra-Donovan-Mysteries/dp/1643130749/?tag=2022091-20
2019
Julie McElwain was born and raised in North Dakota, United States.
Julie attended North Dakota State University, eventually going into journalism. At first, she decided to pursue a fashion degree course, but eventually switched to journalism, and began putting her writing skills to the test in the student newspaper. She graduated with a major in textiles and clothing.
After graduating with a major in textiles and clothing from North Dakota State University, Julie McElwain did some work for numerous print media organizations in California. She spent a couple of years covering the fashion and entertainment industries before she realized that, while she was definitely making a living as a writer, she wouldn’t be content until she produced fiction.
She is best known for her Kendra Donovan series. The books explore the adventures of a tough FBI agent who goes rogue in London in an effort to assassinate the man who killed her team, only to end up in England in the 1800s.
For the most part, Kendra succeeds in her efforts. While she has been criticized for the decisions her protagonist makes, fans and critics alike always praise the author’s mysteries.
Currently, Julie is West Coast Editor for Soaps In Depth, a national soap opera magazine covering the No. 1 daytime drama, The Young and the Restless.
As of today, Julie lives in Long Beach, California.
Julie McElwain's first novel, A Murder In Time, was one of the top 10 picks by the National Librarian Association for its April 2016 book list, and was selected as the mystery to read in 2016 by OverDrive Inc., a digital distributor serving more than 34,000 libraries around the world. The novel was also a finalist for the 2016 Goodreads’ readers choice awards in the Sci-fi category and made Bustle’s list of 9 Most Addictive Mystery series for 2017.
(When Kendra Donovan’s plan to return to the 21st century ...)
2017(Sam turns to the one person in the kingdom who he believe...)
2019(Still stranded in 1815, FBI agent Kendra Donovan finds he...)
2018(Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star ...)
2016Although Julie has never had much interest in historical fiction, the idea for the story came to her after an incident involving an old television. One of Julie’s friends had a son who needed a television set to play video games. Julie had an old television set, the kind that had no remote. She decided to donate the item to the boy. When he accidentally nudged the dial to another channel, the boy, despite being so intelligent, had no idea how to get the television back to the right channel. His equally intelligent friend was just as stumped on the issue. The incident amused Julie to no end. And it got her thinking. What would happen if all the technology people relied on went away? Surely, even the smartest of individuals would struggle to adapt.
Julie loves history. But she had never written about history. But as she followed that one concept down a rabbit trail, a historical tale featuring an FBI stuck in 1815 began to take shape. Julie chose the 1800s because that whole era fascinated her. It wasn’t just the Regency aesthetic but the manner in which 1815 mirrored the 21st century. In 1815, England had just come out of a war. Industrialization was starting to pick up steam and the emergence of new machines was making jobs scarce, thus creating tension and conflict between the poor and the wealthy.
Julie McElwain’s main objective in writing each Kendra Donovan book is to get the mystery right. Sure, the time travel aspect is fascinating. But, at the end of the day, Kendra is using her knowledge of forensics and criminal investigation to solve crimes in 1815. That is the crux of the Kendra Donovan series
To get the mystery and investigative aspect of her Kendra Donovan books right, Julie relies on her so-called murder library which has books on everything from serial killer biographies to investigative techniques. In other words, Julie does research for her book series by reading about murder. She also subscribes to numerous newsletters and blogs that allow her to delve into Regency England. She has visited Britain on a number of occasions. The trips helped her gain a better understanding of the geography and architecture she would be working with.
Despite her love for writing and her willingness to do research for her books, writing never comes easy for Julie McElwain, and that is primarily because she can never find enough time to get immersed in her work. For this reason, Julie relies heavily on her revision sessions to get her books ready. Because she only ever has a few minutes to an hour at a time to get her writing done, she usually focuses on getting as many words on the page as she possibly can, regardless whether or not she’s feeling inspired. She then relies on rewrites, later on, to help her fix any problematic chapters.
Quotations:
“The accouterments of humanity may change, but its heartbeat remained the same.”
“Whoever had said that appearances were deceiving was only partially right; they could also be deadly.”
"I really liked the idea of taking a smart, modern person and tossing them back in time. We have a tendency to think that we’re so much more intelligent than our ancestors. But if you take away our modern inventions, just how smart are we? Would we be able to survive? Once my DSL went out, and I was forced to use dial-up to get on the Internet for about a week. That darned near killed me! I loved putting someone as clever as Kendra, as self-sufficient and independent, in a world that was totally alien to her, and watching how she would cope."
Julie McElwain always loved books and has read over the years hundreds and hundreds of crime mystery novels, starting with Nancy Drew as a child, in fourth grade. The books ignited in her a powerful desire to write mysteries like Nancy Drew. Julie McElwain has read widely over the years, with some of her influences including Nora Roberts, Tami Hoag, and Lisa Gardner. Besides the drama that the era attracted, Julie appreciated the silly celebrity culture that began to emerge, this while political upheaval swept through the land.
When McElwain is not on her laptop, she enjoys traveling, exploring different cultures, spending time with family and meeting friends for Happy Hour. She traveled throughout England, Scotland, and Ireland, and one of her favorite things to do is tour old castles and great estates.
Quotes from others about the person
“Julie McElwain writes like an angel, but it is a devil she chases through the halls of time in this edge-of-the-seat thriller. I was instantly engaged. This is a taut thriller written by a pro. Every page holds a new twist. Prepare for a sleepless night when you pick up this beauty.” - Carolyn Haines, author of Bone to be Wild.
