A month-long trip to England during her college years introduced Jo to the joys of Things British. Since then she's been lured back nearly a dozen times, and lived there during her professional folksinging stint. A true Anglophile, Jo wanted to create a mystery series that featured British traditions as the back bone of the plot, while combining the information of an English police procedural and the intimacy of a cozy. The result is her Taylor & Graham mysteries, featuring a CID team of the Derbyshire Constabulary.
Jo's friend, police detective Paul Hornung, co-authors some of her books, contributing plot ideas and writes chapters from a particular character's POV. This collaboration has strengthened the novels by giving a male street cop's viewpoint to the female detective's predominant narrative. Their first collaboration "Horns of a Dilemma" - based on the custom of Turning the Devil's Stone - was published in 2007. Their next work "The Coffin Watchers" is due out in 2008.
Jo founded the Greater St. Louis Chapter of Sisters in Crime, serving as its first president. She shares her St. Louis home with three cats - Dickens, Chaucer, and Tennyson.

Her L&L Dreamspell Books and Anthologies:

Siren Song

Mystery of the Green Mist – Mystery Anthology – Featuring "Crumbling Cottage" by Jo A Hiestand
PMS - Poison Murder Satisfaction – Mystery anthology – Featuring "Cross Purposes" by Jo A Hiestand
Mysteries Dreams and Darkness – Mystery Anthology – Featuring "Now You See It, Now You Don't" by Jo A Hiestand

Other Books by Jo A Hiestand:

Death of an Ordinary Guy
Sainted Murder
On the Twelfth Night of Christmas
Pearls Before Swine
Horns of a Dilemma