Karen Odden
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Karen Odden

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KAREN ODDEN received her Ph.D. in English literature from New York University, writing her dissertation on Victorian literature, and subsequently taught at the UW-Milwaukee. She has contributed essays and chapters on Victorian literature to numerous academic books and journals; she wrote introductions to novels by Dickens and Trollope for the Barnes and Noble Classics Series; and she served as an Assistant Editor for the journal Victorian Literature and Culture. She freely admits she might be more at home in nineteenth-century London than today, especially when she tries to do anything complicated on her iPhone. Karen has written six crime novels set in 1870s England, including her award-winning USA Today bestselling debut, A LADY IN THE SMOKE. Her work has been nominated for the Lefty, Anthony, Agatha, and Derringer awards, and was chosen for Best Mystery Stories of the Year in 2025 and 2026. Her new novel, AN ARTFUL DODGE will be published by Soho Crime in June. Called a "brilliant historical mystery" by PW Review in a starred review, it introduces readers to the clever thief, Kit Jimeson, a member of an all-women thieving gang in London. It will be translated into Greek and Russian. Her first novel, A LADY IN THE SMOKE, was a USA Today bestseller. Her second novel, A DANGEROUS DUET, introduces readers to Nell Hallam, an ambitious young pianist, who stumbles on a notorious crime ring while playing in a Soho music hall. (Translated into Italian.) In A TRACE OF DECEIT, Annabel Rowe, a young painter at the Slade School of Art, must delve below the glitter of the London art world to uncover the truth about her brother's murder. DOWN A DARK RIVER and the sequel UNDER A VEILED MOON feature Scotland Yard Inspector Michael Corravan, an Irish former thief and bare-knuckles boxer, faced with a crimes based on true historical events. (Both have been translated into Russian.) Karen is a member of MWA, serves on the national board of Sisters in Crime, and has taught writing nationally since 2019. A transplant from the northeast, Karen lives in Arizona with her family. Praise for Karen's novels: “Engaging characters, unusual story, and impeccable research make An Artful Dodge a thoroughly engaging novel. The icing on this cake is Odden’s beautiful prose. Here’s a writer who cares about her craft. Brava.” —Sara Paretsky, author of the V.I. Warshawski mysteries, MWA Grand Master, Crime Writers Association Golden Dagger Award “Brilliant . . . Odden matches vivid details of the hard-knock life in Victorian London with complex backstories for her large cast. Readers will be rapt.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An exceptional sequel to Down a Dark River … Odden never strikes a false note, and she combines a sympathetic lead with a twisty plot grounded in the British politics of the day and peopled with fully fleshed-out characters. Fans of Lyndsay Faye’s Gods of Gotham trilogy will be enthralled.” –Publishers Weekly (starred review) of UNDER A VEILED MOON "Sparkling prose, vivid description, a haunting and satisfyingly complex story, and a unique and compelling sleuth in Michael Corravan, a former bare-knuckled boxer turned Scotland Yard inspector, make DOWN A DARK RIVER a must read for fans of any genre of crime fiction.” —Edwin Hill, author of The Secrets We Share "Odden's third effort injects a refreshing level of complexity, both in character development and plotting, into what one typically expects to find in historical cozies. This will appeal to fans of Victorian mysteries, as well as those interested in art history." —Booklist (starred review)
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