Jessica Speart - About Jessica

[Jessica Speart Photo]

[book cover]

Jessica Speart is an investigative journalist whose focus is on wildlife law enforcement, endangered species issues, and the environment. Speart created her sleuth, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Agent Rachel Porter, after years of investigating wildlife and drug trafficking crimes for publications such as the New York Sunday Times Magazine, Omni, Travel & Leisure, Audubon, National Wildlife, Mother Jones, Wildlife Conservation, Earth Journal and Animals Magazine, among others. When she began to find the characters she covered stranger than fiction, she decided to turn her pen toward mysteries.

Prior to writing, Jessica worked as an actress in NYC, where she appeared off-Broadway, as well as in commercials and soap operas.

Gator Aide, Tortoise Soup, Bird Brained, Border Prey, Black Delta Night, A Killing Season, Coastal Disturbance, Blue Twilight and Restless Waters are the first nine books in the Rachel Porter series. The tenth Rachel Porter mystery, Unsafe Harbor, will be published in paperback in October 2006.

Jessica is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.

Join Jessica's mailing list! Sign up to find out about upcoming books and events!

Rachel Porter on TV? Mystery Scene writer Ron Miller's list of 10 Detective Shows I'd Like to See on TV features Rachel at #3!

Articles and Stories by Jessica Speart:

"Death on the Wing" (an original short story)

"Up Close and Dangerous" (an essay by Jessica about researching her books)

Interviews with Jessica Speart:

Crime novels that crusade: More and more mystery writers are using their literary pulpit to take on social issues, from Newsday.

G. Miki Hayden of Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine delves into Jessica's past on the soap opera "One Life To Live," where her character was killed off by a mad scientist with a fake arm, and hears about the time she entered a cage with two mountain lions. Read the article!

Read an interview with Jessica from the Charlotte Austin Review.

Read an interview with Jessica at TartCity.com.