Bestselling authors and award-winning photojournalists, Joyce and Jim Lavene, are a husband and wife team who started writing novels in 1999 and have had more than 40 books published to date. In addition to their books, the Lavenes have published hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles, including a syndicated garden column for their local North Carolina papers. Somewhere along the way, they decided to write mysteries and since then, they have been hooked on the genre. 

They currently write four mystery series and work for a small newspaper in Stanly County, North Carolina. When they aren't promoting their books, coming up with new ideas for books, or taking photos of sweet potatoes that look like guinea pigs and congressmen who look like sweet potatoes, they spend time with their family (3 children, 5 grandchildren), their dog (Bear) and their cat (Quincy) who “help” them write.