Background
Lilley was born in Washington, District of Columbia, the daughter of Arthur Edward Lilley, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Harvard University, and Margaret Evelyn McPherson Ezell, a retired corporate librarian.
Lilley was born in Washington, District of Columbia, the daughter of Arthur Edward Lilley, Emeritus Professor of Astrophysics at Harvard University, and Margaret Evelyn McPherson Ezell, a retired corporate librarian.
She graduated from Wellesley College as a Wellesley Scholar and she later graduated from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
She was raised initially in Connecticut and South Carolina, and then transferred to a high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
From 2008-2010, she served as a member of the board of directors of the Southern California Chapter of the Mystery Writers of America.