Amanda Stevens was born and raised in the foothills of the Ozarks, an area known for its lakes and mountains, arts and crafts, and—more important to Amanda’s journey—folklore and superstition. She learned from an early age to fear black cats, ladders, and broken mirrors. A risk-taker, she now resides with all three. Amanda has always been drawn to the dark side. Ghost stories remain her passion and she plans a book in the not-too-distant future about Ozark witchcraft. In preparation, she’s started an egg tree.

After high school, Amanda moved to Memphis where she learned two things: 1) despite growing up in a town of just under 800 people, she was a big city girl at heart, and 2) being a tax examiner for the IRS was akin to languishing in a coma. Thankfully, the job was seasonal and finding herself with a traveling husband and a lot of alone time, she became an even more voracious reader—devouring as much science fiction, fantasy, and horror as she could lay hands on while nurturing a burgeoning affinity for romantic suspense.

The eighties brought a move to Texas, enrollment at the University of Houston as an English major, big hair, and the publication of her first novel, a Silhouette romantic suspense titled Killing Moon (inspired by the haunting Echo and the Bunnymen tune). The second book, The Dreaming (™Kate Bush), sold a short while later, and then with the birth of her twins came a four-year hiatus from writing.

After a decade at Silhouette writing for the Intimate Moments, Desire, and Shadows lines, Amanda moved to Harlequin Intrigue where she spent another (very exciting) ten years before the publication of her mainstream psychological thriller, The Dollmaker by MIRA Books. Two more thrillers followed and then another break to figure out, after more than twenty years and fifty books, what the heck she really wanted to write. A Google search for unusual occupations inspired the concept for a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts and voila! A hybrid paranormal/mystery/romance evolved. The Restorer, the first book in The Graveyard Queen series, will hit shelves in May, 2011.

Meanwhile, simmering on the backburner—a paranormal mystery series about a funeral videographer who reanimates corpses, a young adult series that mixes teen angst with anarchy and soul jumping, along with an odd assortment of short stories, online serials, and blog ramblings.

Amanda is a member of the International Thriller Writers, Mystery Writers of America, Romance Writers of America and the Depeche Mode Fan Club. She is a two-time Rita finalist and the recipient of career achievement awards in Series Romantic Suspense and Series Romantic Mystery from Romantic Times Magazine, as well as a citation presented by her peers in recognition of having traveled the farthest to her class reunion. She remains a voracious reader, an Internet junkie, and a bedazzler extraordinaire.

Her real name is Amelia Gray, a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts. Greedy, grasping, ravenous entities that prey on human emotions and devour their life force. In order to protect herself from the parasitic nature of the dead, Amelia has always held fast to her father’s rules. But a haunted police detective has entered her world and now everything is changing…including the rules that have always kept her safe.The Graveyard Queen Series

Never stray far from hallowed ground

Never associate with those who are haunted

Never, ever tempt fate.

My father’s rules.  I’ve never broken them…until now.

My name is Amelia Gray.  I’m a cemetery restorer who sees ghosts.  In order to protect myself from the parasitic nature of the dead, I’ve always held fast to the rules passed down from my father.  But now a haunted police detective has entered my world and everything is changing, including the rules that have always kept me safe.

It started with the discovery of a young woman’s brutalized body in an old Charleston graveyard I’ve been hired to restore.  The clues to the killer–and to his other victims–like in the headstone symbolism that only I can interpret.  Devlin needs my help, but his ghosts shadow his every move, feeding off his warmth, sustaining their presence with his energy.  To warn him would be to invite them into my life.  I’ve vowed to keep my distance, but the pull of his magnetism grows ever stronger even as the symbols lead me closer to the killer and to the gossamer veil that separates this world from the next.